1900. 



AMERICAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION. 



275 



Even the beauties of the ocean are en- 

 hanced by a forest-clad shore. This may 

 seem like a low view to take of nature's 

 beauties, but inasmuch as woodlands are 

 an essential feature in every beautiful 

 landscape, I use it as another argument 

 why forestry should interest us." Pro- 

 fessor Wm. H. Brewer of Yale, before 

 the Washington County (Conn.) Agricul- 

 tural Society. 



& 



In his address at the recent 

 meeti "g f the Michigan 

 Hardwood Lumber Asso- 

 ciation, Mr. D. H. Day, the President, ex- 

 pressed his belief that the cutting in 

 southern Michigan is excessive as follows : 

 " The hardwood lands from which we 

 are getting our Maple, our principal wood, 

 are fast being depleted. We have the 

 best Maple in the world ; I do not know 

 where it is to come from when our stocks 

 are gone. Under these circumstances it 

 looks foolish to me that we should waste 

 our patrimony, getting nothing for it, and 

 deliberately destroying the ' goose that 

 lays the golden egg.' Certainly, we all 

 must do a reasonable amount of business 

 to keep our plants in good shape and our 

 localities employed, but there are gentle- 

 men here whose mills cut from ten, twenty 

 to thirty millions of hardwood. I say to 

 these men especially, you are the ones to 

 lead off in this movement. A reasonable 

 reduction in such plants will have the de- 

 sired effect. I do not say the smaller mills 

 should not cooperate ; they should ; but, 

 as I said before, we all want to keep in 

 operation, and must cut a fair amount and 

 do so at a reasonable price ; but to these 

 large plants these night and day opera- 

 tors I say, gentlemen, go slow; your 

 lumber is worth more to you in the trees." 



j 



In commenting on this the American 

 Lumberman said : 



" A heedless activity in production is 

 doubly dangerous in that it hazards present 

 profits and unnecessarily sacrifices an asset 

 which is growing more valuable every 

 year. A certain rate of production must 

 be maintained in order that there may be 

 economy in manufacturing cost, but many 

 mills are being crowded to their utmost 



capacity when a distinct saving could be 

 made by a more moderate rate of output. 

 Doubtless there are many mills which 

 would better shut down and pocket a defi- 

 nite present loss rather than an indefinite 

 but larger prospective one. 



" Conservatism is particularly important 

 and certain to bring good results in the 

 lower peninsula of Michigan because in 

 that territory the timber is fast disappear- 

 ing. The Maple timber of that district is 

 probably the finest in the world, and it is 

 as certain as anything can be that the trees 

 will increase in value more rapidly than in 

 size, and that both combined will hand- 

 somely pay for holding them. And yet 

 the Maple producers are cutting them away 

 as rapidly as possible and in excess of the 

 market demands." 



<* 



" The Ontario Government 

 Recent Canadian i nnwrl -in OrrW in 



Legislation. f s P_ assec 



Council requiring tanbark 



cut on Crown lands in Ontario to be con- 

 sumed in the country. In other words, 

 the exportation of tanbark cut upon the 

 lands mentioned is prohibited. In taking 

 this step the Government has adopted the 

 policy urged upon them by the tanners of 

 Ontario. These gentlemen waited upon 

 the Provincial Cabinet some time ago and 

 pressed for some measure that would re- 

 strict the shipment of tanbark from Onta- 

 rio. They stated that the supply in the 

 United States was limited compared with 

 that in Ontario, and American tanners 

 were supplying themselves from this Pro- 

 vince and conserving their own resources. 

 The run upon Ontario bark was therefore 

 so great that it would exhaust the material 

 in a short space of time unless a stop were 

 put to the drain. Canadian tanbark, it is 

 argued, is superior to the raw material 

 used by tanners in anv other part of the 

 world, and if preserved for the use of the 

 manufacturers of this country will enable 

 them to turn out more finished products. 

 The present Order-in-Council went into 

 effect on May ist, but does not affect tan- 

 bark on the lands of settlers. 



"The usual methods of obtaining tanbark 

 are so wasteful that any effort to check the 

 waste should be heartily approved. In 



