.298 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



turies wore away and the great migrations came, wood 

 was once more destined to play a leading role. On 

 wooden wheels and in wooden boats man went forth to 

 the ends of the earth — from Asia westward to Europe — 

 and from Europe across the Atlantic to the New World. 



As man pushed forward the frontier of civilization, 

 commerce grew. We marvel at the millions of tons of 

 freight transported annually on steel rails and steel 

 ships ; but centuries must pass before steel's tonnage 

 can equal the traffic that has gone up and down the 

 highways of the earth in wooden ships and on wooden 

 wheels. 



But wood has done more than provide man with his 

 necessities and comforts. His earliest efforts in sculp- 

 ture and carving were formed from wood. There stands 

 today in the Gizeh Museum in Egypt a wooden statue, 

 the oldest record of man's achievement in sculpture. If 

 Moses saw it, he must have looked upon it in wonder, 

 for it was 2000 years old before he was born. We think 

 of wood as something perishable, as something that 

 soon decays ; yet here is a wooden statue, 6,000 years 

 old — older than any stone or marble statue in existence. 

 In passing it may not be amiss to remark that the oldest 

 living things on earth are the giant Sequoia trees of 

 California. 



And in music — from the first hammerings on a wooden 

 tom-tom to the symphony orchestra — wood instruments 

 have thrilled man in all ages. No instrument of brass 

 can produce the range and variety of tones or approach 

 the human appeal of the wooden violin. The metal 

 strings of the piano get their tone and quality from the 

 white pine sounding-board. 



Sometimes, too, I surmise that wood has been rather 

 lavishly used in making the heads of some of our 

 statesmen. 



In this land of ours, wood — and especially white pine 

 — has been a powerful influence in shaping her destiny. 

 When the colonists came to New England and New 

 York they found an abundance of white pine distributed 

 over the country. The ease with which it could be 

 worked made it readily accessible for sheltering the set- 

 tlers and their stock. And later it gave expression to 

 their culture and love for the beautiful in those stately 

 houses and those dignified churches which still stand 

 as sound as when they were built and give inspiration 

 for so many of the beautiful architectural designs of 

 today. 



The history of the early Colonies repeated itself in 

 the upbuilding of the great Middle West. The pioneers 

 who came to the Mississippi Valley settled along the 

 rivers and creeks where there was timber available or 

 where it could be transported by water. The necessity 

 for wood, with which to build their homes and barns, 

 and for fuel, kept them from the more fertile prairies 

 ready for the plow that lay back from the streams. As 

 the settlers became more numerous the great white pine 

 forests bordering the Great Lakes and the Mississippi, 

 Chippewa and St. Croix Rivers were tapped, and they 

 have ever since been serving the needs of the country. 

 Fortunate indeed were the settlers to have such an abund- 



ant supply of wood that was light, easily transported, 

 easy to work, durable and good for practically all uses 

 to which a soft wood can be put. 



It is impossible to conceive the development of the 

 Middle West without the white pine forests of Michi- 

 gan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. Certain it is that the 

 fertile plains of this great granary must have lain un- 

 productive many years longer had not such an adaptable 

 building material been so close at hand. And think what 

 it means today that this vast region is producing food 

 for us and for our Allies. The products from "the 

 bread-basket of the world" — from the country of white 

 pine houses and white pine granaries — may save civili- 

 zation from the deadliest attack ever aimed at its pro- 

 gress. 



And in this world crisis we of America and our Allies 

 once more turned to wooden ships to save the day — to 

 keep the supply of food unbroken for those who fought 

 with us that democracy might rule the world and that all 

 peoples might live together in peace and justice. Wood 

 has been a powerful factor in the upbuilding of civiliza- 

 tion — and we in our day have seen it one of the deciding 

 factors in saving that which it has through the countless 

 ages so laboriously helped to build. — (White Pine Mono- 

 graph.) 



USE OF CUT-OVER LANDS 



A PRELIMINARY study of cut-over timberlands in 

 -^*- the south, with a view to determining their best 

 utilization, is being planned by Dr. H. C. Taylor, chief 

 of the new Bureau of Farm Management of the Agri- 

 cultural Department, and Dr. L. C. Gray, head of the 

 new Division of Land Economics in that Bureau. Co- 

 operation in this work is expected from State authorities, 

 especially those connected with state agricultural colleges 

 and experiment stations, and also from the various organi- 

 zations interested in the development of the south. 



The work this year will be limited by the appropriations 

 made by Congress for the Bureau of Farm Management, 

 which are not as large as requested by Secretary Houston. 

 In considering the problem of utilizing southern cut- 

 over lands to the best advantage, it is planned to first 

 mobilize data already in the possession of various 

 branches of the government that bear upon the subject. 

 If funds admit this will be followed up next year with 

 a more extended investigation in a number of localities 

 in the southern states. These investigations should in- 

 clude an intensive study of certain questions related to 

 the colonization and development of cut-over lands and 

 this should result in assembling a mass of detailed data 

 that will be of great use in bringing about agricultural 

 development in the southern states, particularly the 

 coastal plain area extending from Virginia to Texas, in 

 which is situated the bulk of the pine stump lands. 



T> B. MILLER has been appointed State Forester of 

 -"-*•* Illinois and assumed his new duties on July 1. The 

 state forestry work is under the direction of the State 

 Natural History Survey Division and is located at Ur- 

 bana. 



