228 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



May 



magnificent inheritance ? Is there any 

 crime against nature that draws down a 

 more certain curse than that of stripping 

 the earth of all her forests ? 



We do not object to the removal of 

 forest trees after they attain their highest 

 market value, nor do we claim that the 

 most productive land should be given up 

 to timber growing. What the friends of 

 the Ohio forests ask is that all land that 

 can not be cultivated or is cultivated at 

 a loss should be set apart for timber 

 growing. 



Is it not a fact that a majority of our 

 farmers would improve their circum- 

 stances and increase their income by con- 

 centrating their efforts, applying their 

 labor and fertilizers on two-thirds of 

 the land they now too often skim and 

 skin, giving the residue back to timber 

 growing ? 



We confidently look toward two agen- 

 cies that can scarcely fail to encourage 

 and promote the forestry interests of 



Ohio. One is the Ohio State Forestry 

 Society, recently organized, and the 

 other is legislation to which reference 

 has been made. 



The Forestry Society hopes to ac- 

 complish much good by disseminating 

 knowledge of trees and tree planting, 

 by inciting the more general use of trees 

 for shelter, shade, and ornament, and 

 the growing of trees as a farm crop. 



It will also furnish a means of co- 

 operation with the National Bureau of 

 Forestry and the American Forestry 

 Association. 



The forestry bill seeks to encourage 

 the production of wood as a farm crop, 

 and to illustrate by state forest reserves 

 how to conserve and improve existing 

 woodland, and to exemplify the best 

 methods of forest planting and manage- 

 ment. It also aims to advance the cause 

 of scientific and practical education in 

 forestry by bulletins and reports. 



Let us save and improve the forests ! 



STATE FORESTRY IN MINNESOTA. 



BY 



GENERAL C. C. ANDREWS, 



CHIEF FOREST FIRE WARDEN OF MINNESOTA. 



NOTE. The following address, delivered by General Andrews at the last meeting of the 

 Minnesota Forestry Associations, contains so many valuable suggestions regarding the forests 

 of Minnesota, that could be followed with advantage by other states, that we are reprinting it 

 here EDITOR. 



PINE COUNTY, in this state, con- 

 tains 900,000 acres of land, exclu- 

 sive of water. The German State of 

 Baden, which is smaller than Pine 

 county, has 240,000 acres of state for- 

 est, from which it derives an annual 

 net profit of $660,000. The Kingdom 

 of Wiirtemburg is only a little larger 

 than our St. Louis county, but it has 

 418,000 acres of state forest, from which 

 it derives a net annual revenue of $4 

 per acre, which is a great deal more 

 than our American farmers derive from 

 their cultivated land. The Kingdom 

 of Saxony has 432,000 acres of state 

 forest, from which it derives an annual 

 profit of $4.50 per acre. In Saxony 



they have ascertained that the average 

 annual increment per acre is 225 feet, 

 board measure. They utilize there all 

 parts of the tree, even some of the 

 roots ; so from that state forest they 

 have an annual product of 97,000,000 

 feet of lumber, board measure, and the 

 forest remains unimpaired. It even 

 becomes more valuable from year to 

 year. Now, there are larger countries 

 with these state forests. Prussia has 

 6,000, coo acres of state forest, from 

 which it derives $9,000,000 annual 

 revenue, net, and France has 2,000,000 

 acres of state forest, from which it de- 

 rives a net profit of $1.91 per acre. In 

 these cases, of course, the forests are 



