760 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



be overcome by education, and AMERI- 

 CAN FORESTRY proposes to devote some 

 space each month in the future to arti- 

 cles and discussions relative to shade 

 trees, the kind to select for different 

 street conditions, how to cultivate 

 them, protect them from insects and 

 disease and how to treat those which 

 are decaying. 



There is need for experts in shade 

 tree conditions who are competent to 

 fill positions for the care of a city's 

 trees, as it will not be many years 

 before all the progressive cities in the 

 country will have shade tree commis- 

 sions, or departments having power to 

 engage men to care for their shade 



WHILE it may be many 

 years before municipal 

 forestry appeals to a num- 

 ber of communities in the 

 United States, the fact that it could 

 now be profitably conducted by 

 many of them is certain. There 

 are close to nearly every city, 

 particularly in hilly or mountainous 

 sections, tracts of waste land, some 

 once having a luxuriant forest growth, 

 which could be acquired for a com- 

 paratively small sum. On these tracts 

 a city could establish a municipal for- 

 est which would not only be a profit- 

 able investment but could, if required, 

 be used in part as a public park. 



This waste land, planted at slight 

 cost, with seedlings in many States pro- 

 vided free of charge, would in a few 

 years become productive and in a gen- 

 eration or two or three be a source of 

 considerable revenue to a city. 



When it is stated that all of the 

 taxes of many German towns and vil- 

 lages are paid, electric lights, power, 

 paving and all town necessities provid- 



trees. Provision is now being made for 

 the apparent need of these men by sev- 

 eral of the colleges which have already 

 inaugurated, or are contemplating in- 

 augurating, a department for the train- 

 ing of experts in shade tree work. 



Several cities where the value of 

 such trees has been appreciated, have 

 shade tree departments which not only 

 provide for trees owned by the public, 

 but give service for those privately 

 owned, and in every instance, where 

 the management is competent and the 

 appropriation sufficient to meet the 

 needs, the citizens have reason to be 

 proud of the result. 



NO MORE striking demonstra- 

 tion of the value of various ac- 

 cepted systems for protecting 

 the forests from fire can be had 

 than the reports which are now being 

 received of the results of the fire sea- 

 son which has about reached its end. 

 This is particularly so in relation 



ed free of charge out of the revenue 

 derived yearly from municipal forests, 

 the reply is often that conditions are so 

 different in this country. True, they 

 are different, but they are growing less 

 so. Timber in the United States was 

 in the past so abundant that few ever 

 thought of the need of conserving it, 

 but for some years past serious thought 

 has been given to the timber needs of 

 the future and how to provide for 

 them, and the problem is not yet 

 solved by any means. Municipal for- 

 ests would not provide for all that 

 might be needed a hundred years from 

 now, but they would certainly prove 

 a source of revenue to any city owning 

 them. Therefore, as it is quite true 

 there is waste land close to nearly all 

 cities, and as this land could be pur- 

 chased, planted and protected at small 

 cost, good judgment declares that it is 

 practically the duty of wide-awake 

 communities to give some thought to 

 the question of what they may be able 

 to do in this respect. 



to the heavily wooded Pacific slope. The 

 season has been an unusually bad one 

 all throughout the country. Rain has 

 been scarce and hot weather and drouth 

 prolonged, and in addition to the dan- 

 ger thus caused the winter was mild 

 and far less than the normal quantity 

 of snow lay on the forested slopes. 





