FOREST PLANTING IN THE UNITED STATES. 139 



Considering the work which is being done by States, municipalities, 

 corporations, and individuals, the present operations in forest plant- 

 ing in the East far exceed any similar activities in the past. More- 

 over, the planting now being done is based upon sound business prin- 

 ciples, and is bound to show satisfactory returns, the effect of which 

 will be widely extended planting throughout the Eastern States. 



PLANTING IN THE MIDDLE WEST. 



The Middle West can best be considered under three headings: The 

 White Pine belt; the main agricultural region; the semiarid region. 



THE WHITE PIXE BELT. 



Land on which White Pine has been the predominant tree occupies 

 large portions of the States of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. 

 This discussion refers to those cut- over and burnt-over areas of White 

 Pine land which, on account of their ston}^, sandy, or otherwise infertile 

 condition, can not be converted into productive farms. (PI. Ill, fig. 2.) 

 That it is well suited to the production of timber, its original condi- 

 tion proved, and the only hope of ever making it profitable is to put it 

 again into forest. That the present supply of White Pine is already 

 very short is indisputable. Over large areas where it grew best it is 

 already exhausted, and in the remaining districts it is greatly dimin- 

 ished. Except where recently lumbered or yet uncut, reproduction 

 has failed. Protection from fire is as important here as on the cut- 

 over lands in the Eastern States, and may be accomplished in the same 

 way. For large tracts adequate systems of protection may be devised 

 without proportionately great expense, but small tracts surrounded 

 by land loosely administered can not easily be protected. 



The restocking of White Pine lands seems to be a State rather than 

 an individual or National problem. Conditions favor its management 

 in large tracts for the production of standard dimension lumber. This 

 will require a rotation of from sixty to eighty years a period too 

 extended for individual enterprise. The National Government could 

 well afford to undertake the work, provided it owned the land. 

 But land of the character in question has mainly become alienated. 

 The States own very large and increasing holdings, on account of 

 school grants and tax forfeiture. Probably the next decade will be 

 marked by a systematic attempt at the reforestation of their waste land 

 by all three of these States. 



Gen. C. C. Andrews, State chief -fire warden of Minnesota, speaks 

 thus of the condition in his State : a 



It is estimated that there are in scattered localities, and principally in northern 

 Minnesota, 3,000,000 acres of waste, sandy, hilly, or rocky pine forest. Hence, if 



"Seventh Annual Report of the Chief Fire Warden of Minnesota. 



