1899. 



AMERICAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION. 



223 



whole tree shows a stunted, starved look. 

 Acres and acres are now in that state, 

 and unless given assistance will die out- 

 right. Several years ago the work of 

 fertilizing the forest trees was begun, 

 and wherever a load of loam, manure or 

 other good rich dressing was spread, the 

 hungry tree responded very quickly by 

 making good growth, a more thrifty look 

 was noticed, and in less than a year they 

 had a vigorous, healthy look, showing" 

 that want of nourishment alone was the 

 cause of their stunted appearance. 



Now that the young Pines, Cypress, 

 Eucalyptus, etc , are up twenty or more 

 feet high, w T ith good soil and plenty of 

 water, most any tree that thrives in the 

 neighborhood will do well. The Willow, 

 the Elm and the Poplar, as well as the 

 Oak and the Maple, are doing very well, 

 and all of the shrubs, such as Rhodo- 

 dendrons, Azaleas and many others 

 very well, indeed, protected as they are 

 by the shelter of the hardier kinds. 



John McLaren. 



Minnesota's Park for the People. 



Symposium of Views of the Forest Expert, the Lumberman and the Press. 



Friends of forestry and others have 

 long wished to have a portion of our 

 northern Minnesota forest reserved as 

 a park, health resort and game preserve. 

 The Itasca State Park already created, 

 of less than 20,000 acres, but for the in- 

 crease of which the last legislature ap- 

 propriated $20,000, has realized this 

 wish only in part. 



Col. John S. Cooper, of Chicago, 

 having come forward with a project of 

 a "national park" of 7,000,000 acres, 

 the happy audacity of his plan has aroused 

 the interest and discussion which are 

 desired. 



I do not suppose that anything like 

 7,000,000 acres will be taken for a na- 

 tional park, but hope that a reasonably 

 extensive area will be appropriated be- 

 fore interest in the subject subsides. 

 The annual report of the Commissioner 

 of the General Land Office shows that 

 the United States still holds in northern 

 Minnesota 6,000,000 acres of public 

 land, stretching (though not all in a 

 compact body) from the eastern limit on 

 the north shore of Lake Superior to the 

 Red River Valley, a distance of 350 

 miles. In the eastern and northern 

 parts the surface is broken, and to some 

 extent rocky. There are extensive 

 swamps, mostly covered with stunted 

 Spruce. But the region as a whole, 



though perhaps of a sombre cast, 

 abounds with clear lakes and streams, 

 is a natural forest of Pine, Spruce and 

 mixed woods ; has always been, and still 

 is, the covert of valuable game, and is 

 well adapted from its prevailing sandy 

 soil and coniferous foliage for a national 

 park health resort. There are spots that 

 are ideal for sylvan beauty. 



Contiguous to these United States 

 lands are, in round numbers, a million 

 acres of valuable Pine and mineral lands 

 belonging to private parties, and a million 

 or more acres ot cut-over lands belonging 

 to private parties ; also about three mil- 

 lion acres of school and swamp lands be- 

 longing to the State of Minnesota as the 

 gift of Congress. Of the 6,000,000 

 acres of United States lands, probably 

 3,000,000 acres are non-agricultural, yet 

 suited for forestry. 



I speak only for myself, but I favor a 

 national park, and one just as extensive 

 as it can reasonably be. I will not- 

 venture now to advise how it should be 

 created. It might be by act of Con- 

 gress authorizing the Secretary of the 

 Interior to select and set apart all such 

 tracts as are unsuited for agriculture, or 

 a commission of disinterested and emi- 

 nent men, such as selected and set apart 

 the national forest reserves, might be 

 authorized to create it. Under the latter 



