a forestry commission of six members, three to serve 

 without pay and three to receive pay. 



Those who are interested in forestry in the United 

 States will watch with deep interest the progress that 

 is being made in this most carefully considered and in^- 

 portant plan of afforestation in the United Kingdom. 

 It should awaken increased interest in the subject es- 

 pecially here in Minnesota, whose natural forest re- 

 sources are so great, and induce thoughtful and pa- 

 triotic citizens of influence to impress upon their repre- 

 sentatives and senators in the legislature the impor- 

 tance of starting afforestation on a proper scale. 



THE OCTOBER FIRES 



IN 1911 the legislature cut the estimate of the Forest 

 Service square in half and looked complacently upon 

 its generosity. The service was new. It took what it 

 could get without murmuring and set bravely and 

 hopefully to work to do the best it could. That best 

 was good : so good that the 1913 legislature was not 

 convinced that they really needed any more. Once 

 more they buckled to their job hopefully, conditions 

 were favorable, and they made a go of it. 



This four-year experiment in economy had suc- 

 ceeded so well that the 1915 legislature was encour- 

 aged to proceed from economy to parsimony, and they 

 cut the half of former years in half again. The story 

 of the man who mixed the sawdust with his horse's 

 feed in ever larger proportions is too well known to 

 need repeating here, but it is none the less true. Both 



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