746 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



the citizens of the United States, have. Some 

 of the foreign countries have only enough 

 lumber for home consumption while some 

 have not enough and must import. Why 

 should the United States produce so little 

 lumber? It has plenty of land and excellent 

 soil for growing trees. It is because the 

 people of the United States have been con- 

 stantly destroying what in former days were 

 large forests. It will take several years to 

 replace these forests. Many people who 

 plant trees will possibly meet with failure 

 because of their ignorance of how to do it, 

 but after they have studied out their mistake 

 let them replace the trees that failed and 

 they will probably meet with better success 

 the second time. 



We are surprised to learn that of all the 

 forests of the United States four-fifths are 

 owned privately. The owners of these for- 

 ests ought also to comply with the laws 

 governing United States forests. Owners 

 should see that all decayed and dead 

 branches are removed as they obstruct the 

 growth of the young trees. The trees should 

 not be cut down until they are of a certain 

 age because the lumber is not very good and 

 this would be very wasteful indeed. 



Many forests have been ruined by fire. 

 Extreme care should be taken on the part 

 of every person to prevent these fires. Some- 

 times picnic parties select a wooded place 

 as their picnic grounds, build little fires to 

 cook some of their food and after they have 

 finished their merry-making and departed to 

 their homes one might see a wavering line 

 of blue smoke arising from the place where 

 the picnicers had built their little fire. If 

 there happen to be any dry twigs or branches 

 near this fire it will not be long before one 

 might see little tongues of flame reaching 

 out to grasp all within their reach and this 

 is the way the fire spreads until after a 

 while the whole forest is ablaze and the 

 people who resided near-by would be seen 

 running panic-stricken out of the way of the 

 angry forest fire. Trees would be falling 

 upon each other, one might hear branches 

 and twigs snapping as the leaping, roaring 

 fire takes them as its victim. 



The New England States have been very 

 successful in planting trees and so has Prus- 

 sia. The United States has trees both in the 

 eastern and western parts, but the middle 

 northwest is very needy in this respect. 

 Wherever there are trees the land is al- 

 ways worth more than where there are none, 

 because the forests retain the moisture and 

 soil. This soil is much better than the dry, 

 hard, baked soil of the prairies. The soil of 

 the prairies is good in itself, but might be 

 bettered if there were more moisture. To 

 get this there ought to be more forests. 



Vegetation depends largely upon moisture 

 and moisture depends largely upon forests. 



As forests serve as wind-shields all North 

 Dakota people should be very interested in 

 planting trees, for the wind is exceedingly 

 strong here at times. The wind dries up 

 the moisture in any treeless country, but 

 the moisture can be retained for a great 

 length of time in a wooded country. 



The parts of our country that are wooded 

 are famous for their beauty, such as Cali- 

 fornia, Wyoming, and other States. An un- 

 wooded country cannot be compared with 

 a wooded country because the wooded 

 country is far more beautiful and fascinating 

 It usually has better soil and more moisture 

 than the unwooded. It is pleasanter to the 

 eye, as it roves over the earth's surface, to 

 see beautiful trees with occasional springs 

 and streams here and there, than to see 

 nothing but treeless plains as far as the eye 

 can see. 



The foregoing reasons are the most prom- 

 inent for having forests and for preserving 

 them. The State of North Dakota is a 

 pleasant place to live in, but its lands might 

 become more valuable and more pleasant to 

 live upon if forests were planted and pre- 

 served. 



The Indiana Prize Essays 



To encourage the study of forestry among 

 the pupils of the public schools the Indiana 

 State Board of Forestry offers four prizes 

 of $10.00 each for the best essays on for- 

 estry. The contestants for the first prize 

 are limited to the pupils of the seventh 

 grade country schools. The second prize is 

 for the pupils of the eighth grade country 

 schools. The third prize is for the members 

 of freshman and sophomore classes of the 

 high schools of the State. The fourth prize 

 is for the members of the junior and senior 

 classes of the high schools. The conditions 

 are as follows: The subject must be: "To 

 what extent should Indiana be reforested ; 

 give reasons." The essay must be a hand- 

 written manuscript in ink, containing not 

 more than one thousand words. The essay 

 must be in the hands of the Board on or 

 before May 1st, 1911. Former prize essay 

 winners are not eligible. The essays are to 

 be graded on the basis of 70 points for 

 thought, 30 points for composition, manu- 

 script, etc. The Board wishes original 

 thought and no credit will be given con- 

 testants who copy verbatim works on for- 

 estry. If direct quotations are used they 

 should be indicated by quotation marks and 

 their source given in a foot note. 



