432 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



erntnent should act, and he lost no opportunity to Im- 

 press upon others of influence the importance of his 

 subject. 



But what could a private individual do to change a 

 deeply rooted belief on the part of the public that the 

 forests should be destroyed? 



A plan finally occurred to him which proved true to his 

 hopes. He was a member of the American Association 

 for the Advancement of Science, and he reasoned that if 

 he could secure action by that august body recommend- 

 ing that the government take steps in the management 

 and preservation of its forests it would be sure to have 

 weight with the authorities at Washington. 



He accordingly prepared a forceful paper entitled 

 "The Duty of Government in the Preservation of For- 

 ests," and read it before the A. A. A. S. at its meeting 

 in August, 1873. In it he suggested that a committee be 

 appointed to memorialize Congress and the state legisla- 

 tures on the importance of the subject. This was done, 

 and he was made chairman of the committee. 



We cannot here review the many months of anxious 

 labor, interviews, rebuffs, disappointments, and only oc- 

 casional encouragements with which Dr. Hough and the 

 few that were with him met before final action by Con- 

 gress was taken. (See "The Incipiency of the Forestry 



Movement in America," American Forestry, August, 

 1913.) 



At the last moment before the close of the second ses- 

 sion of Congress in which the subject had been brought 

 u]), final favorable action was taken, and the law was 

 passed establishing the Forestry Division of the United 

 States Department of Agriculture. It was a victory won 

 by Dr. Hough and his small band of adherents, which 

 has been of ever-increasing value and importance to the 

 nation. 



As illustrative of the general lack of appreciation of 

 this subject in those days only a paltry appropriation of 

 $3,000 was made for the first year's expenditures of the 

 new division. 



Dr. Hough was appointed the first Chief of the new- 

 division in 1876, and prepared the first reports issued. 

 They have been looked upon as "the foundation upon 

 which our forestry system has been building since," 

 using the words of one of his successors in office. 



In a review of the first report, by an oflScer of the 

 Wurtemburg forest service the following statement was 

 made: 



"It awakens our surprise that a man not a specialist 

 should have so mastered the whole body of American and 

 European forestry and legislation." 



THE FAXON WHITE PINE PLANTATION 



A TWENTY-EIGHT- YEAR-OLD plantation of white 

 ^*- pine is shown in the foreground of the picture, on 

 the side. Mr. Faxon, the owner of this plantation, began 

 planting white pine 36 years ago. He has the honor of 

 having set out the oldest white pine plantation in New 

 York State, al- 

 though he is 

 still a compar- 

 atively young 

 man. For the 

 portion of the 

 plantation 

 which is now 

 36 years old, 

 Mr. Faxon has 

 been offered 

 $500 per acre 

 for the timber 

 "on the stump." 

 As the trees are 

 making their 

 most vigorous 

 and profitable 

 growth at this 

 age, Mr. Fax- 

 on has refused 

 to sell. In the background is shown a white pine stand 

 which occui)ies land that was cultivated when Mr. Faxon 

 was a boy. The pit where potatoes were stored 50 



Photograph by A. B. Brooks. 



THE FAXON PINE PLANTATION AT CHESTERTOWN, NEW YORK 



years ago is still plainly in evidence. A dense stand of 

 natural growth white pine is just as profitable as planted 

 pine. This fact is illustrated by a statement contained 

 in a bulletin of the United States Department of Agri- 

 culture as follows : "Two acres of white pine, near 



K e e n e , New 

 H a m p shire, 

 were sold three 

 or four years 

 -ago, before the 

 war prices, for 

 $2,000, on the 

 stump. The 

 total stand was 

 254 cords, 

 which equals 

 170,000 board 

 feet, or an av- 

 erage of 85,000 

 feet per acre. 

 The trees were 

 from 80 to 85 

 years old ; so 

 the growth on 

 each acre was 

 about 1,000 

 feet per annum and the gross returns about $12.20 per 

 acre per annum." So Mr. Faxon has a property of high 

 actual as well as potential value. 



