REPORT OF SPECIAL FORESTRY COMMITTEE 35 



comes failure and the desertion of such regions, all 

 tending to the injury and discredit of the State. 

 No State has ever profited by attempts to induce 

 settlers to go on land for the purpose of home-mak- 

 ing where the region is not adapted to profitable 

 agriculture. To avoid this the State would best 

 secure such land and, where practicable, devote it to 

 tree growing, thus converting what otherwise would 

 be practically a barren waste into a productive one." 



The only question pertinent to this matter would 

 seem to be whether any of the lands within the pro- 

 posed forest reserve can be better and more profit- 

 ably used for the benefit of the people of the State 

 by planting to trees and by encouraging the growth 

 of the natural reproduction thereon. 



Oftentimes in discussing the general forestry ques- 

 tion with the average citizen he is prone to say, 

 "Yes, such conditions might apply to Germany; 

 such conditions might apply to the mountainous 

 regions of Pennsylvania or New York; such condi- 

 tions might apply to the Southern States where the 

 growing season is long; but in Northern Wisconsin where 

 the growing season is short, the lands and conditions 

 are different forestry cannot be carried on success- 

 fully." Authorities on the subject, however, claim 

 an entirely different state of affairs. Wisconsin con- 

 ditions are ideal for the growing of trees. We do 

 not labor under the handicap of the European for- 

 ests which have been restored and made productive. 

 And we have one great advantage over them; we 

 are not limited to a few inferior kinds or species of 

 trees. Wisconsin can grow white and norway pine, 

 and these are recognized as the most productive and 

 most profitable trees of forest growth. 



When we speak of reforestation we have in mind 

 both the natural reproduction and the artificial 

 planting or growing of trees. In the first, nature is 

 simply encouraged in her effort to re-establish the 

 native species of timber. This is too well known to 

 need much explanation. By the establishment of a 

 forestry protection system, consisting of foresters, 



