39G RURAL MIVlUdAN 



conservation of the State's natural resources. 

 Whether it will he ahle to accomplish anything of 

 note remains to be seen. That the legislature failed 

 specifically to recognize the great importance of a 

 land inventory and soil classification is disappointing. 

 It is true that such a soil survey is now under way 

 under the a-gis of the oMichigan Agricultural Col- 

 lege cooperating with the United States Bureau of 

 Soils ; but the plan of the work does not seem to con- 

 form to advanced conceptions of what such a sur- 

 vey ought to be; nor in the work as now carried on 

 is full use being made of all the scientific res(5TH=ces, 

 personal and otherwise, available in the State, 

 through cooperation of its expert talent from its in- 

 stitutions of higher learning, the Geological Survey, 

 and elsewhere. It is evidently too great and broad 

 an undertaking for one investigator or department 

 to have in charge without full cooperation with all 

 available agencies for obtaining the largest results. 

 Such forest policy as the State may be said to 

 have dates from the year 1899 when the legislature 

 created the Michigan Forestry Commission of three 

 persons, including the Commissioner of the State 

 Land Office, whose duty was described "to institute 

 inquiry into the extent, kind, value and condition of 

 the timl)er lands of tlie state; the amount of acres 

 and value of timber that is cut and removed each 

 year and the purpose for which it is used ; the extent 

 to which the timber lands are being destroyed by 

 fires, used by wasteful cutting or consumption, lum- 

 bering, or for the purpose of clearing the land for 



