130 ANNUAL REPORT OF 



Recognizing the truth of these points, the legislature of the 

 state of Minnesota has created a state board of forestry and has 

 authorized it to accept gifts of land for forestry purposes. Al- 

 though tentative only in its immediate bearing, the step was decisive 

 in as far as it acknowledges the advisability of a state forestry 

 system. If the gifts expected to be made by private generosity 

 consist of small and scattering tracts only, the state board will find 

 it difficult to make the undertaking yield immediate returns, espe- 

 cially so if the tracts are entirely denuded of timber. For in that case 

 a considerable outlay is required in order to artificially replant the 

 land, which, if mother-trees were left, would have been done by 

 nature alone. The expense of reforestation, using 5,000 seedlings 

 of white pine per acre, will be about $11.25. The annual appro- 

 priation put at the disposition of the Minnesota State Forestry 

 Board ($1,000) will allow it to annually reforest about 90 acres of 

 denuded land. The development of such plantations is shown by 

 the enclosed photographs taken on the Biltmore estate, where 

 about 300 acres of abandoned farmland -were replanted with white 

 pine. It is worth mentioning that no pine species, in my opinion, 

 is more easily transplanted and raised than white pine. The suc- 

 cess is more certain still, if only a few years have elapsed since the 

 denudation of the land. Before planting, the debris left on the 

 ground should be burned, so as to reduce the danger from fires. 



If land cut over and not bare of timber should be deeded to the 

 state for reserve purposes, a different course must be followed. 

 Artificial planting can be dispensed with, unless the soil is covered 

 exclusively with worthless brush. Protection from fire is the main 

 task. The best specimens of valuable species, if dangerously sup- 

 pressed by worthless poplars or birches, might be given slight 

 assistance. An absolute freeing, however, is not advisable. Every 

 case has its own requirements. There does not exist any general 

 prescription fitting every case, in forestry no more than in medicine. 

 Every case must be dealt with according to its peculiar necessities, 

 always with the best monetary result at stake. In forestry, it 

 cannot be repeated often enough, there is no more room for senti- 

 ment than there is in agriculture. 



Should private generosity put the state forestry board in charge 

 of any virgin forests containing marketable timber, the board 

 should at once proceed to sell the mature and hyper-mature trees 

 to the highest bidder. Whilst these "idlers" are being removed, 

 a young growth of seedlings will establish itself free of charge, 

 provided that fires are kept out. If the cutting proceed gradually 



