276 THE FORESTER. December, 



possible obstacles in the path of the future tion to a wise supervision of timber prop- 

 onward march of progress, leading toward erties. But the character of such methods 

 and to the goal of successful forest meas- of preservation must be wise and prac- 

 ures, so that we may be strong enough and tically planned. Some of the purely theo- 

 wise enough to avoid the stumbling blocks retical may be wise, but the average mill- 

 and remove the boulders of all opposition. owner has had considerable experience with 

 We shall thus be able to leave for our the holder of theoretical ideas on this sub- 

 posterity a grand inheritance the sublime ject and looks with suspicion and disfavor 

 forests which the good Father Protector upon the " unhappy dreamers," as one of 

 has given us in all their primeval grandeur. the prominent lumbermen described the 

 Let us all, as many are now doing, labor type. 



to preserve or reproduce, by decades of wise But let one fact be understood and appre- 



forest enactments, this generous, this bene- ciated to the greatest extent: the Califor- 



ficent gift. nia lumberman recognizes with all of us, 



We all love to linger, as true worship- that only with the proper care of the for- 

 pers of Nature, in the restful calm of the ests of this State and of the Coast, under 

 vast forests, indulging in an almost Druid- a wise preservative policy, conservative, 

 ical reverence of the mighty giants of the yet radical, can our water supply of the 

 Sequoia groves ; listening to the music of future be assured, and the prosperity of 

 the waving branches which sang their the agricultural classes remain a compara- 

 songs of creation long before the Infant's tive certainty. He continues in this line 

 wail, from His cradle in the manger, of thought and reasons rightly that, with 

 heralded the advent of a new faith. We, the well-being of the latter class, will come 

 everyone of us, delay our hurrying foot- the growth, the advancement and the pros- 

 steps to draw fancy sketches of all of perity of the commercial, the mercantile, 

 Nature's loveliness and drain to the full our the manufacturing and the social divisions 

 flagon of poetic inspiration, while rejoicing of the commonwealth. Knowing these 

 that the world has been moulded in so truisms and appreciating their great bear- 

 beautiful a conception. But in our peace- ing upon the welfare of the Golden State, 

 ful wanderings we never encounter the the lumber manufacturers and the posses- 

 importunate exactions of the tax collector, sors of the timber lands are heartily in 

 or discover, on a bright and sunny morn- support of the preservation of our State 

 ing, that our notes have matured at the and Coast forests. 



bank. We theorize and sup at the board Now for the direct consideration of the 



of fancy; but the lumberman, the owner practical aspect of the present question of 



of these same preserves, while feeling and forestry. For the sake of brevity, I will 



appreciating the natural beauties of his divide the subject into two sections : First, 



possessions, has with him the omnipresent the difficulties opposing forest regulations 



sense of business responsibility. He has on this Coast ; and secondly, what meas- 



paid with funds and labor, and, to preserve ures will meet with the sanction of the 



his integrity and status as a man, must lumber manufacturing interests, 



open some avenue toward the successful The first difficulty met with is the enor- 



future possession of a new dollar lor an mous amount of the standing timber of 



old one. to-day in this State, since the lumberman 



There may exist a misapprehension that is prone to think only of the present and 



the lumbermen of the Pacific Coast are not of the possibly exacting demands of 



opposed to any efforts being made to pre- the future. It has been found, also, that 



serve the forests, because of a possible when the mighty mammoths of the forest 



encroachment on their rights as lumber- have been felled, there appears and spreads 



men. A thorough canvass of the larger over the lands so cleared a dense under- 



mill operatives and holders of extensive growth of the wild blackberry, with which 



timber lands in California failed to discover is mingled the purple Ccanothus, collo- 



a single individual or company in opposi- quially known as the California lilac. 



