298 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



The Association of American Colleges and Experiment Sta- 

 tions met at Columbus, O., November 15 to 17, and the INIassa- 

 chusetts State Forester was asked to deliver the following paper 

 before said association : — 



Forestry: the Part that Colleges and Experiment Stations mat 

 PLAY IN ITS Development. 



I feel complimented in being asked by the officials of this association to 

 discuss this subject at this time. 



I take it for granted at the outset that forestry is already acknowledged 

 to be a subject worthy of consideration by our colleges and universities 

 and well adapted to a place in their curriculum; also that experiment 

 station officials feel that were they able to enlarge their staff by the addi- 

 tion of a forester, results could be expected in this line of agricultural 

 development in their respective States. 



Forestry is nothing other than an agricultural crop which dcnxinds 

 modern methods of culture and management, as other plants, for both 

 economic and aesthetic results. The forest crop, or forestry, at once calls 

 to mind a large class or group of plants of the vegetable kingdom whose 

 fundamental importance to a State or nation is necessarily closely related 

 to its success and progress. Wood or lumber finds innumerable uses. 



When our forefathers came to these shores they found magnificent 

 primeval forests in all their glorj^, — a vast field of grain waving before the 

 wind as it were. Individual specimens of white pine in New England, 

 Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota; black walnut in Ohio, Pennsyl- 

 vania, West Virginia and Kentucky; black cherry throughout the eastern 

 United States; chestnut from Massachusetts to Georgia; tulip tree 

 throughout the Appalachian range, • — all these and many more species 

 could be found that would cut from 3,000 to 6,000 feet board measure 

 from a single tree. What has become of these monarchs of the forest? 

 To-day we point with pride to the forests of the great west and northwest 

 which still remain, but how long will these forests continue to stand, 

 judging from the wasteful methods of the past? Because the east wasted 

 its birthright, now the west claims similar privileges. 



We have possessed a nation flowing with milk and honey, figuratively 

 speaking, streams teeming with fish, precious minerals, coal, oil and 

 natural gas in abundance, wild animals and game of a large variety, 

 forests nearly everywhere, excepting on the rich prairies, soils adaptable 

 to most any kind of a crop, etc., and what have we accomplished with 

 this heritage thus far? We have built and established a nation great 

 among the nations of the world. This we Americans are proud of, and we 

 have every reason to be, as our record shows. It was but yesterday our 

 ancestors arrived here, and to-day we are a world power, — in point of 

 time but a brief minute compared with the lives of nations. 



In the development of the nation we have not wanted for natural re- 



