1902. 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION. 



411 



tained; natural fire lines, such as 

 :Streams, lakes, and swamps which do 

 not burn over, were located and con- 

 nected by a simple system of artificial 

 fire lines. This system of fire lines, with 

 other data, such as the location of danger 

 points, lines of patrol, and vantage 

 points for lookouts, were recorded on a 

 fire-service map. 



The organization recommended is a 

 superintendent (or forester) in charge of 

 the Reserve, with foura.ssistants, to serve 

 during the summer season. The super- 

 intendent should be empowered to hire 

 extra help during the dangerous sea- 

 sons of the early spring and autumn. 

 The function of the force is not so 

 much to fight fires as to prevent them. 

 The cost of this organization would be 

 about $3,000 a year, or five cents per 

 acre. With consolidation and exten- 

 sion of the Reserve the cost would be re- 

 duced to less than one cent per acre. 



Under a competent organization com- 



plete protection against fire will be ab- 

 solutely assured over considerable areas. 

 Wherever protection is certain, planting 

 would become perfectly feasible. Where 

 planting is necessary these lands could 

 be planted with pine at an average cost 

 per acre of not more than eight dollars. 

 This sum would cover the cost of rais- 

 ing seedlings in seed-beds, transplanting 

 to the nursery, and the final transplant- 

 ing of the three-year-old .seedlings at a 

 distance of 6 x 6 feet. Thinning and 

 tending are considered unnece.s.sary. 

 The investment at 3 per cent compound 

 interest would amount to $35 per acre 

 at the end of fifty years. The value of 

 the product at the end of this period, 

 roughly estimated at 40 cords per acre, 

 would be $120, assuming a stumpage 

 price of $3 per cord. This represents a 

 net gain of $95 or $1.98 an acre per 

 annum. This e.stimate is for White Pine; 

 the figures given are purpo.sely conser- 

 vative. 



MANAGEMENT OF MICHIGAN HARDWOOD FORESTS. 



By Walter C. Winchester, 



Manager of the Foster-Winchester Lumber Company. 



IN this paper I will endeavor to put 

 before your a.ssociation some of the 

 reasons, as they appear to me, why the 

 hardwood timberlands of Michigan are 

 not lumljered so as to make it possible to 

 harvest continuous crops of saw timber. 



There are two main reasons : First, 

 the profit that can be realized at the 

 present time in cutting the lands clean; 

 :second, the excessive taxation on tim- 

 berlands makes it unprofitable to hold 

 them for the time neccs-sar}^ to grow a 

 second crop. Added to the.se reasons 

 is the indifference to the public welfare 

 by many holders of timberlands. 



The lumber manufacturer buying tim- 

 ber at the present time naturally cannot 

 be in sj'mpathy with the movement for 

 conservative lumbering under existing 

 tax laws. It is simply a business prop- 

 osition of whether he can make more 

 money by cutting all the timber on the 

 ground at once, and utilizing the small 



timber for cord wood, charcoal, etc., or 

 whether he can make more money by 

 holding the younger timber for a con- 

 tinuous crop. 



A big start in the right direction can 

 be made by procuring the enactment of 

 laws that will encourage the cutting of 

 mature timber only. As timber is ad- 

 vancing rapidly in price timber-holders 

 are ready to cooperate in any plan that 

 will insure them a profit in future years. 



The price of hardwood and hemlock 

 lands in Michigan have advanced very 

 materially during the last ten years. 

 Lands that could have been bought ten 

 years ago at $5 to $7 per acre are now 

 selling at $20 to $25, and even higher. 

 Hemlock bark commands double the 

 price it did three years ago. 



The lumberman, buying timber at 

 these prices, is compelled to realize 

 everything po.ssible from the wood and 

 by-products in order to make a profit. 



*Read at the summer meeting of the American Forestry Association. 



