Rapid Progress Being Made. 



The state forest service is making rapid progress. This is 

 evidenced by the fact that it was "ready" to meet the emer- 

 gencies that arose. More money is needed to carry on the 

 work, however. Legislators, all of them anxious to expend 

 the state's money in the wisest possible manner, will do well 

 to consider the necessity of going the full length in protect- 

 ing the forest regions. 



Losses During Last Decade. 



During the past 11 years the forest fires have cost Minne- 

 sota more than $4,000,000, according to figures prepared by 

 the United States Department of Agriculture and the State 

 Forestry Bureau. This covers only the loss in merchantable 

 timber, etc. The loss in wages to the laborers cannot be 

 estimated. The more merchantable timber that remains 

 standing waiting for the cutting, just that much more wages 

 will there be for the men employed in the lumber industry. 

 How important it is to preserve the forests, looking at it 

 from this one standpoint alone! 



"Thanksgiving." 



With the exception of one month the fire losses in Minne- 

 sota during 1913 have been small. The doxology may well be 

 sung at Thanksgiving time. 



To secure a merit badge in forestry, boy scouts are required, 

 among other things, to identify twenty-five kinds of trees. 



One of the principal by-products of the national forests of 

 Japan is furnished by mushrooms, which have yielded in one 

 year a revenue of a million dollars. 



Articles of clothing from wood fiber arc being made in Europe. 

 The material for a suit costs about fifty cents. Clothing made 

 of this material, ho-icevcr, cannot be washed. 



