CHIEF FIRE WARDEN. 53 



THE ORIGINAL PINE FORESTS DISAPPEAR. 



One of the richest pine timber regions of the northwest 

 was the Saginaw and Huron Shore districts of Michigan. 

 In 1893 there was cut in that district, 858,000,000 feet of 

 pine; but the supply of pine timber had so diminished 

 during the next ten years that in 1903 only 52,000,000 

 feet were cut. The number of feet of pine logs cut in 

 Minnesota the season 1902-1903 was 2,000,000,000. 

 The amount of pine lumber cut in the year 1903 

 by the mills in the districts of Duluth, Minneapolis, 

 above Minneapolis and St. Croix was 2,200,628,000 

 feet; being over two billion feet. A comparatively 

 small amount of this may have been from the 

 forests of Wisconsin. A liberal estimate places the re- 

 maining standing pine in Minnesota at 28,000,000,000 

 feet. Anyone can judge for himself therefore, how soon 

 this forest capital will be exhausted and say whether it is 

 not time to begin a system of reforestation by utilizing 

 waste land in the production of pine timber. 



PRACTICAL FORESTRY. 



In a certain sense it is forestry when we cultivate trees 

 for a wind break on the prairie or to add beauty to a lawn 

 >r to prevent the earth from washing away on steep hill- 

 sides; but strictly speaking forestry is the science of rais- 

 ing timber trees for profit. Forestry is the science of 

 leriving good money returns from land which cannot 

 >rofitably be cultivated in raising grain or other field 

 :rops. 



Let us suppose that the state or some institution of 



learning holds a thousand acres of natural forest, that it 



Loes not need to convert the timber immediately into 



loney but is able to treat it on scientific forestry princi- 



)les. Now, how will it begin to manage this forest? 



