1899- 



AMERICAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION. 



224 



THE FORESTER. 



A MONTHLY MAGAZINE 



Devoted to Arboriculture and Forestry, the 



Care and Use of Forests and Forest 



Trees, and Related Subjects. 



ANNOUNCEMENT. 



The Forester is the Official Organ of 



The American Forestry Association, 



Hon. James Wilson, Sec'y of Agriculture, 

 President. 



the office of publication is 

 No. 117 Corcoran Building, Washington, D. C, 



where all communications should be addressed. 



The subscription price is One Dollar a year, 

 and single copies are sold at ten cents. 



Make all checks, drafts, etc., payable to The 

 Forester. 



The mission of The Forester has been, 

 and will be, to advance the interests of 

 scientific forestry and related subjects in every 

 practicable way. One of these ways, and an 

 important one, it believes, is to afford through 

 its pages ample opportunity for an intelligent 

 discussion of the problems involved, though 

 not accepting responsibility for the views ex- 

 pressed by others. Even fair-minded men 

 may oppose when they do not know the whole 

 truth ; but when opportunity is given for learn- 

 ing the facts, The Forester will have confi- 

 dence in the decision of its readers. 



the Chicago Record, while the third expresses 

 the views of the Chicago Inter-Ocean. 



"Prompt action" is the watchword of the 

 Minnesota National Park and Forestry Asso- 

 sociation, to secure the reservation of valuable 

 lands in the northern part of that State as " a 

 park for the people." And with such experi- 

 enced leaders and successful business men in 

 charge of the project, there is the hope of great 

 things resulting from the present trip of Con- 

 gressmen and public-spirited citizens to inspect 

 the country. 



The general approval of the plan could not be 

 evidenced more clearly than by the thorough 

 agreement of the daily press and the lumber 

 journals on the point of the advisability of the 

 new reserve. Of the articles included in the 

 symposium in this issue, the first is taken from 

 the St. Louis Lumberman and the second from 



For the diffusion of general and particular 

 knowledge regarding the achievements of the 

 United States in every branch of science re- 

 lating to agriculture, including forestry, during 

 the nineteenth century, the 1899 year-book of 

 the Department of Agriculture will be ex- 

 tremely valuable. Ooe of the first thoughts 

 in arranging the scope of the coming volume has 

 been its distribution at the Paris Exposition. 



The Division of Forestry will contribute a 

 short history of forestry in the United States, 

 and also an account of the efforts of private 

 land-owners to apply the principles of forestry. 

 More has been done in this direction than is 

 generally supposed. The owners of wood- 

 lands in many instances have handled their 

 wood crops with prudence, and have shown 

 the desire and the ability to preserve the forest 

 without ceasing to use it, and farmers in the 

 treeless districts have improved the agricul- 

 tural resources of their lands by tree planting. 

 Where private owners have utilized mer- 

 chantable timber without injuring its product- 

 ive power, and to establish new forests, there 

 has been the intention and idea of true for- 

 estry. In the Spruce lands of the Northwest 

 small trees have been left standing, so that a 

 second crop is assured. In New England White 

 Pine has been planted in waste places with 

 encouraging results, and the same can be said 

 of Larch in Massachusetts. In the treeless 

 States of the West, the Osage Orange, the 

 Catalpa, Maple, Elm, Box Elder, Scotch Pine 

 and Norway Spruce have acted spendidly as 

 windbreaks, and along the banks of the streams 

 the planting of trees has done good service in 

 fixing eroding soil, preventing the increase 

 of floods, checking excessive surface drainage, 

 arresting the formation of gullies, and other- 

 wise conserving the fertility of the soil. 



It is desired to secure from the public at 

 large such information as will be pertinent to 

 a complete review of the forest interests of the 

 United States. Any one who has practiced 

 forestry, on whatever scale, will be supplied 

 with full information by communicating with 

 the Division of Forestry. 



The press of news matter has necessitated the 

 insertion of several additional pages in this 

 isue, and the withholding of two valuable 

 papers intended for this issue, which will ap- 

 pear next month. 



