- DISCUSSION". I/ 



the most wonderful wealth of forest lands, they have paid the 

 least attention to forestry as a science until comparatively re- 

 cently. In our own State anybody who goes from New 

 Haven to Hartford will see regions that were once covered 

 with pine forests and now are comparatively naked. That is 

 but a sample of what can be seen in many sections. It should 

 not be so, and our farming population needs to be awakened 

 to the fact that something should be done to re-cover those 

 sections of our State with trees. Now we want to have it 

 brought home to you, and brought -home in every possible 

 way, that forestry consists in preserving our woodlands for 

 the owner's profit and for the public good. There should be 

 some systematic effort to help the farmers to see that their 

 woodlands may be made profitable pieces of ground and 

 sources of income, as well as their tilled fields. There are cer- 

 tainly lands that can be made profitable as woodlands that are 

 now nearly worthless. There are many kinds of trees that are 

 indigenous to the soil of Connecticut, that may be profitable 

 to raise and care for. In this State we now utilize for manu- 

 facturing purposes many kinds of woods which in former 

 days were scarcely utilized at all. For instance, the white 

 birch is now used for spools and other articles. It was once 

 considered worthless, but now has been very extensively cut 

 off and is even growing scarce. So, too, the dogwood, that 

 beautiful tree, is becoming scarce in many parts of the State 

 because of its high price for use in the manufacture of shuttles. 

 Many other kinds of trees are becoming relatively scarce, some 

 more than others, and what we want to do is to disseminate 

 among the people of this State an understanding of how to 

 manage woodlands, how to care for them, and how to harvest 

 the crop of wood and timber to the best advantage, and witH- 

 out destroying the forest. We want the farmers to learn that 

 there is a practical side to this subject, and that forestry proper 

 is not a modern sentimental fad. I do not want to see the 

 interest in tree culture stop with the efforts to set out shade 



