gravel and sand which are carried down on valley- 

 lands. The soil would have no protection from ero- 

 sion on hilly lands. Without forests, there would be 

 no leaf mold on the ground, to check rapid off-flow 

 of water which causes floods in the rivers. There 

 would be no wood for fuel in homes and factories if 

 there aren't trees. There would be no wood for tele- 

 phone posts, pillars in mines, bridges, houses, boxes, 

 sidewalks, furiture, and for ship-building. There 

 would be no pleasant woods to use for summer and 

 health resorts. And the birds and animals would 

 have no woods for their homes. When our forests 

 are gone, it will be necessary to build of brick and 

 stone, which costs more. This may force many people 

 into tenement houses, thus having an important social 

 effect. Trees grow very slowly for the first ten 

 years, then grow faster for several decades, then 

 slower again. It takes, therefore, a long time before 

 a tree is large enough to be of value. We should 

 protect our present trees so they will last until the 

 trees which are planted, will be large enough to use. 



The state is at present paying fifty thousand dol- 

 lars a year to protect its forests. Two-thirds of 

 this is used in fire control. It is now necessary for 

 each forest ranger to cover from twenty to thirty" 

 townships. If the bill now up before the legislature 

 passes, it will yield three hundred and thirty thousand 

 dollars annually. This would provide one ranger for 

 four townships, so they could do much better work 

 in saving forests from destruction. Such a fund 

 would also start more planting of forests. 



We must continue planting trees if we are to- 



