4i6 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION. 



October 



symmetry of the crown. This greater 

 number of limbs, together with the 

 more persistent short needles, gives its 

 crown a peculiar appearance, a greater 

 density and increased capacity, and has 

 led to the designation of it and other 

 members of this group as Spruce Pines. 



The behavior of the Jack Pine in the 

 woods is good. It stands considerable 

 crowding; in fact, it rather needs crowd- 

 ing to clean sufficiently to make a use- 

 ful timber. It is well able to cover the 

 ground, and successfully keeps out 

 weeds and brush, at least on the poorer 

 lands. 



To recapitulate, we have, then, in 

 these sandy districts, locally known as 

 " Jack Pine Plains " and common to all 

 Lake States, a peculiar and yet ver}- 

 important condition. They are single- 

 crop lands, sparsely settled in spite of 

 the ease of clearing and working. They 

 are farmed, but with poor and uncer- 

 tain results. They are lands of small 



value, even in the older settled districts, 

 shunned by every one acquainted with 

 their real value. They are capable of 

 a good growth of jack pine timber, and 

 in most cases a systematic handling of 

 these woods will render possible the re- 

 turn of better species. 



In this way abandoned farms and 

 waste lands will give way to the for- 

 est. A precarious crop of uncertain 

 value is replaced b}' a fully assured crop 

 of material which does not spoil in the 

 bin, and for which there is always a 

 market, and at present a steadily growl- 

 ing market. In addition, the return to 

 the forest will secure this land against 

 impoverishment and will do much to 

 improve it. So that, even if a small 

 amount of agriculture is to be carried 

 on, the fields will enjoy the protection 

 of the forest against the cold and dr}' 

 winds which prevent the crops from 

 taking hold, and which move and bury 

 the very fields themselves. 



THE TRESPASS PROBLEM, AND HOW TO SOLVE IT.=== 



By Ernest Bruncken, 



Secretar}- I^ate Wisconsin Forest Commission. 



NEARLY a hundred years ago, in 

 Germany, G. L. Hartig, one of 

 the founders of modern scientific for- 

 estry, said in his text-book: "Among 

 the many evils to which forests are ex- 

 posed, timber stealing stands at the 

 head, because it is so general and so 

 very inj urious. ' ' Yet the timber thieves 

 of his day and country were individuals, 

 going stealthily into the woods with 

 hooks or hatchet, to take a little brush- 

 wood for fuel, or at most cut a few sap- 

 lings to supply their w^ants as small 

 artisans. Hartig could not have con- 

 ceived of the American trespass prob- 

 lem, where wealth}' corporations set up 

 sawmills on land that does not belong to 

 them, and cut down whole forests in 

 utter disregard of boundary lines and 

 proprietary rights. 



The trespass nuisance is so peculiarl}' 

 irritating that one is apt to apply to the 



culprit names of which ' ' thief ' ' is the 

 mildest. Yet the American people have 

 done no less than to train, by solemn 

 enactments, lumbermen to become tres- 

 passers on public property. 



From the beginning the legal princi- 

 ple has been upheld and I do not at all 

 claim that it was a wrong or unwise 

 principle in itself that the unoccupied 

 public lands are subject to utilization by 

 whosoever chooses, unless there is a 

 specific statute to regulate or prohibit 

 such use. This doctrine was reiterated 

 but a few 5^ears ago by the Supreme 

 Court of North Dakota, in the case of 

 Matthews vs. The Great Northern Rail- 

 way Company (72 N. W. Rep., 1085), 

 where it is held that there is an implied 

 license to the public to go on the unap- 

 propriated lands of the United States, 

 pasture cattle thereon, make and dis- 

 pose of hay, cut and remove timber and 



*Read at the Summer Meeting of the American Forestry Association. 



