220 



THE FORESTER. 



October, 



making lands which are worthless for 

 other purposes, yield a revenue both 

 to their owners and to the Common- 

 wealth. 



This is the home problem. Beyond 

 our political borders we have a natural 

 interest in wide areas of commercially 

 valuable forest in the States to the 

 north. Massachusetts is dependent on 

 those forests in many ways. Many of 

 the streams which rise in their midst 

 furnish water power to important manu- 

 facturing interests in Massachusetts. 

 Those forests have a more or less direct 

 bearing also on the general commercial 

 prosperity of Massachusetts, inasmuch 

 as Boston is the business center of New 

 England. If the forests are mismanaged 

 and wrecked, many lines of business 

 enterprise in Massachusetts will be seri- 

 ously affected. It is impossible, how- 

 ever, for a Massachusetts association to 

 exert any direct influence in other States, 

 but its Forestry Association hopes to be 

 able to inspire citizens in those States to 

 act for themselves and to assist in the 

 work as far as it may be permitted. 



At the time that the initial conferences 

 were being held looking to the forma- 

 tion of the Massachusetts Forestry" Asso- 

 ciation, the organizers placed themselves 

 on record to the effect that unless the As- 

 sociation could have influential support, 

 both moral and material, its field would 

 be restricted and its services be practi- 

 cally valueles. It must be a business 

 corporation in every sense of the word, 

 but any profits which may accrue belong, 

 not to the corporate members as such, 

 but to the Commonwealth of Massa- 

 chusetts and to New England at large. 

 As an earnest of this spirit one gentle- 

 man subscribed $1,100 on the spot. 

 Since then four others have done like- 

 wise. These donations of $1,000 and 

 the life membership fees are invested in 

 the permanent fund, which it is hoped 

 will shortly be swelled by other dona- 

 tions, that the Association may be en- 

 abled to enter upon its career of greater 

 usefulness. 



The Association was barely on its feet 

 and trying its first steps when the hurri- 



cane of war swept down upon the land, 

 and the child was obliged to retire and 

 wait for the storm to pass. At the time 

 of the incorporation, which was in June, 

 1898, the membership numbered one 

 patron (a subscriber of $1,000 or more), 

 tour lite members, and some thirty 

 annual members. Almost immediately 

 after the cessation of hostilities with 

 Spain the Association arose once more, 

 and applications for membership began 

 to come in. The growth has ever since 

 been steady and healthy and the rolls 

 showed on the first of October 5 patrons, 

 18 life members, 239 annual members. 



This growth seems to indicate that 

 there is an intelligent public interest in 

 the subject of forestry and tree-culture 

 in Massachusetts, and the Association 

 has been thus encouraged to apply its 

 energies systematically to increase that 

 interest. During" the past Winter it has 

 carefully prepared a bill providing for 

 the codification and amendment ot the 

 laws relative to the preservation of trees, 

 and has given its support to several 

 other legislative measures bearing upon 

 the forestal welfare of the Common- 

 wealth. Most of the bills succeeded, 

 but most important of all in the eyes of 

 the Association was its own codification 

 bill. This provided that every town in 

 the State should annually elect a Tree 

 Warden, who should have sole charge of 

 and be held directly responsible for the 

 roadside trees and shrubbery. The bill 

 carefully defined his duties and increased 

 his powers. Heretofore the election of 

 a Tree Warden has been permissive 

 merely, and not more than five or six 

 towns ever availed themselves of the 

 privilege. It is now mandatory with all 

 towns. The law having been enacted, 

 the Massachusetts Forestry Association 

 will endeavor at once to interest respon- 

 sible citizens in the several towns of the 

 State in the necessity for choosing none 

 but competent and public spirited men 

 for the post, and offering whatever 

 assistance the Association may be able 

 to render once the Warden is duly in- 

 stalled in office. Naturally the Associa- 

 tion cannot exert any influence in the 



