REFORESTATION IN THE MIDDLE STATES 



BY WILLIAM EDWARD HAYES 



THE successful reforestation of the Middle States 

 is a matter which now lies mostly in the hands of 

 the United States Government. This is what pres- 

 ent indications in the States of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois 

 point to. State officials in these three States have used 

 every means possible to bring before the minds of the peo- 

 ple the very serious fact that the natural resources were 

 swiftly becoming depleted. These officials have had a 



ON THE STATE FOREST RESERVE 



Thi is a view of a part of the Ash tract, showing the excellent growth 

 of these tree*. The Ash is probably the most hardy of any specimen 

 in the forest. 



long, hard fight to convince the farmers that the timber 

 question was a grave one. 



The farmers are now convinced. For the most the legis- 

 lators in these States are now convinced. The Farmers' 

 Federation in the State of Indiana, after having been 

 told of the critical need for reforestation in that State 

 despite the fact that it ranked third in the union in agri- 

 culture, has taken a definite stand in favor of providing 

 a means for the revival of the famous hardwood forest 

 for which Indiana was noted for many years. 



The farmers of the State are now engaged in doing 

 just those things which have been brought before them. 

 They have stopped the wanton destruction of their wood- 



171 



lands for the purpose of getting pasture space, and they 

 are now setting about to raise the timber they use in 

 fence posts and joist. 



The Ohio farmer is about the same thing. Hundreds 

 of thousands of acres in the State of Ohio which have 

 been lying idle in the past years will soon be taken over, 

 and reforestation started. At least this is planned, and 

 like in Indiana and Illinois, it will be necessary to have 

 some assistance from the federal government. 



These three States have enjoyed good roads which 

 they could not have dreamed of were it not for the fact 

 that the federal government took care of a certain finan- 

 cial burden which helped carry on the good roads work. 



It is exactly the case in the reforestation problem. 



National Forests in the East have been bought by the 

 government, and a strip of forest land will soon extend 

 half way through the southern Appalachian region, com- 



RECKLESS SPOLIATION OF THE WOODS 



This photograph shows a condition which had to be fought in Indiana 

 and Ohio where timberland was being utterly destroyed for the purpose 

 of getting grazing lands. 



prising of the States of Virginia, West Virginia, North 

 and South Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia. The National 

 Forests are already firmly established in the States west 

 of the Mississippi River. 



In the Middle States no federal provision has as yet 

 been made to assist in the work of reforestation. Illinois, 



