ECONOMIC. u3 



is the largest owner of pine lands in the world. The people of the state, of 

 the great treeless region that stretches out to the west and north, will soon 

 be bound hand and foot by this many-tentacled pine-land devil-fish. 

 Whatever it may elect to charge for lumber, the puny mortals that crawl 

 beneath its large arms will be compelled to pay, with the result that untold, 

 unrighteous millions will fall into its coffers. Farm, Stock and Home. 



UTILIZING OUR WOODS. 



The Forestry Association has never put a thing in the way of utilizing 

 our forest products, though we have been charged with so doing. What 

 we ask for is a wise and prudent use of what nature has provided for us. 

 We want lumbermen and manufacturers to understand our position and 

 credit us as their supporters in all legitimate and honest enterprises de- 

 pendent on forestry. What we want is this: To improve the forest by cut- 

 ting, save the "fittest" of the younger trees for future use, and retain the 

 forest floor and forest roof intact for the beneficent purpose of preserving 

 the springs of the water-sheds to our lakes and rivers. 



OUR SURPLUS WHITE BIRCH. 



In Minnesota are immeasurable quantities of small white birch (Betula 

 papyracia) that spring up with the poplars on the denuded districts and where 

 the fires have raged. The fires have changed the chemical conditions of 

 the soil injuriously, thus placing forest evolution on the retrogressive line; 

 but the divinity inlaid in nature, ever true to her laws, builds there again 

 as best she can, and builds what is adaptable, thus paving the way again 

 from the retrogressive to the progressive, for the oaks and pines and maples 

 to return and bless humanity. But there are lucrative uses for all things. 

 We should make the most of the situation, despite the raids and ruins men 

 have made of the bounties of providence. The great body of our white 

 birches are young, and altogether too thick for healthy forest growth. If 

 we do not thin them out, nature will. Why not aid in the fitting process 

 for profit? To cut so small trees for lumber would be useless. There are 

 calls for them on profitable lines. 



An enterprising firm in Alpena, Mich., manufactures 15,000,000 thread 

 spools from the young white birch for the Eastern factories. The material, 

 it is said, is getting scarce in that state. That kind of wood also is profit- 

 ably converted into spring bobbins, knife trays, medicine boxes and the 

 like. Why not appropriate such surplus material in our woodlands before 

 the fires get in or nature's art of thinning out destroys it? 



OUR OSIERS FOR WILLOW-WAEE. 



The Red Osier (Salix purpurea), largely grown in our country, is recom- 

 mended, but it does not seem to thrive as well with us as in Europe. The 

 "fittest" has not yet been fully tested for safe ventures. 



It is claimed by men engaged in the business that the Belgian and French 

 varieties thrive best on high ground. It is estimated that during even the 

 first three years the properly cultivated willows, under ordinary circum- 

 stances, will produce from 3,000 to 5,000 pounds of peeled willows ready for 

 market, the price of which is ten cents per pound, wholesale. 



