318 



FOKESTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



in 1875, for the advancement of the purpose, 

 and to collect and disseminate information on 

 the subject; it was merged, in 1882, in the 

 newly organized American Forestry Congress. 

 The latter organization was formed at a pre- 

 liminary meeting held in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 

 April, and an adjourned meeting held in Mont- 

 real, Canada, in August. At the Cincinnati 

 meeting, George B. Loring was chosen presi- 

 dent of the organization, and vice-presidents 

 were designated for eleven districts represent- 

 ing geographical and botanical areas in the 

 United States and Canada. Sections were or- 

 ganized on the " Use of Forests," " Conser- 

 vation and Practical Forestry," "Influences," 

 and "Education," in which eighty-tive papers 

 on topics related to the main subject were read 

 or filed. Committees were appointed to re- 

 port upon forest experimental stations, forest- 

 fires, and injuries to forests by cattle, the best 

 methods of tree-planting, and forestry educa- 

 tion, and also to present memorials to State 

 Legislatures upon the establishment of State 

 Forestry Commissions. The meeting closed 

 with an "arbor-day," signalized by the plant- 

 ing of "memorial trees " in the park, which it 

 was hoped might help to enlist popular interest 

 in the objects of the meeting. At the Mont- 

 real meeting, a union was effected with the 

 American Forestry Association ; the constitu- 

 tion of the Congress was completed and 

 adopted ; and fifty-eight papers were read or 

 filed. The Congress, by resolution, declared 

 it to be its duty to draw the attention of the 

 national and State governments to the neces- 

 sity of protecting effectually the forests against 

 fires; and a committee appointed to carry this 

 resolution into effect made arrangements for 

 the preparation of especial papers on forest- 

 fires and on the white pine. Action was taken 

 to encourage the formation of local forestry 

 associations. 



LEGISLATIVE ENCOURAGEMENT OF TREE- 

 PLANTING. By the " Timber Culture Act " of 

 the United States, as amended in 1878 f a head 

 of a family, who is twenty-one years of age, 

 may, upon the payment of fees amounting to 

 about fifteen dollars, enter upon not more than 

 160 acres of prairie-land or land otherwise de- 

 void of trees, for the cultivation of timber. 

 He must then break five acres of the land and 

 cultivate it, during the first year after entry ; 

 five acres more during the second year, and in 

 the third year must plant with trees, tree- 

 seeds, or cuttings, the five acres first broken, 

 and so on, till one fourth of the tract has been 

 thus put under cultivation. At the end of eight 

 years, or within five years afterward, upon 

 showing that he has put the required amount 

 of land under the cultivation contemplated, 

 and has planted it with suitable trees not few- 

 er than 2,700 to the acre, of which not fewer 

 than 675 to the acre are living and thrifty, he 

 is entitled to a patent for the whole tract he 

 has entered, upon payment of an additional fee 

 of four dollars. A list of trees suitable to be 



planted is specified in the law, which the de- 

 partment has declared to be intended only as a 

 general guide, and not designed to exclude any 

 trees recognized in the neighborhood as of 

 value for timber, or for commercial purposes, 

 or for fire-wood and domestic use. Of the 

 various State laws that have been enacted 

 to encourage the planting of trees, that of 

 Iowa is regarded as well adapted to the pur- 

 pose. It provides that for every acre of for- 

 est-trees planted and cultivated for timber 

 within the State, the trees on which are not 

 more than twelve feet apart, and are kept in 

 a healthy condition, the sum of one hundred 

 dollars shall be exempted from taxation. A 

 law passed in Canada in May, 1882, provides 

 that for every acre of land planted in trees the 

 planter, being the owner or tenant thereof, 

 shall be entitled, after the trees have been 

 planted for three years, and shown to be in a 

 vigorous and healthy state, and provided the 

 land is securely fenced against both sheep and 

 cattle, to receive a land-order for the purchase 

 of other land, not exceeding twelve dollars in 

 value. No land, however, can be acquired 

 under this law, except it be of at least fifty 

 and not more than a hundred acres in extent. 

 If the plantations are not sufficient to fulfill 

 this condition, the defect may be made up in 

 money. A law of the Province of Quebec, 

 passed in 1882, imposing restrictions upon the 

 firing of wood in forests, limits the time in 

 which brush may be burned for clearing lands 

 to between the 1st of July and the 1st of Sep- 

 tember. In the State of Maine the practice 

 now prevails of cutting out only the large 

 trees from the woods and carefully protecting 

 the remainder. This allows the forests to be 

 profitably worked at stated periods of from 

 fifteen to twenty years, and insures their per- 

 manence. A forestry commission has been ap- 

 pointed in New Hampshire, and has already 

 instituted measures for collecting information 

 relative to the clearing of the forests of the 

 State, and the injury caused thereby to the 

 water-supply. A similar commission has more 

 recently been appointed by the Legislature of 

 Vermont, and is instructed to investigate the 

 whole subject of the condition of the for- 

 ests, and the measures needed for their pro- 

 tection. 



SPECIES FOR FOREST-PLANTING. The kinds 

 of trees which it is found most profitable to 

 plant vary with the localit}'. For the prairies 

 and plains of Kansas and Nebraska the cotton- 

 wood and black walnut are most in favor for 

 general purposes, and next to these the box- 

 elder and some kinds of maples. The cotton- 

 wood fixes itself readily in the soil, grows with 

 great rapidity, and is good for fire-wood and 

 for general domestic purposes. It has also 

 been found to be very useful in furnishing a 

 shelter for the more delicate species which 

 may be destined ultimately to be more valu- 

 able ; and, at whatever age it is cut, it always 

 makes a good return for the care that has been 





