THE PERIOD OF BEGINNINGS 33 



iccount of the forestry exhibit at the exposition, and an appeal for 

 )etter methods in the United States. 



STATE ACTION 



Several of the states early evinced an interest in forest problems. 

 In 1867, commissioners were appointed in Wisconsin to "ascertain 

 and report in detail to the legislature certain facts and opinions 

 relating to the injurious effects of clearing the land of forests upon 

 the climate; the evil consequences to the present and future inhabi- 

 tants, the duty of the state in regard to the matter ; what experiments 

 should be made to perfect our knowledge of the growth and proper 

 management of forest trees ; the best methods of preventing the evil 

 effect of their destruction ; what substitutes for wood can be found 

 in the state, and generally such facts as may be deemed most useful to 

 persons desirous of preserving and increasing the growth of forest 

 and other trees in the state." In fulfillment of this modest duty, the 

 commission made some investigations and submitted a report, point- 

 ing to Palestine, Egypt, Spain, and Southern France as dreadful 

 examples of national ruin due to forest denudation. Somewhat 

 strangely, this commission expressed a very reasonable and judicious 

 opinion as to the effects of forests on rainfall. From some writings of 

 this time, one might almost believe that forest denudation was the 

 most common cause of the fall of nations. 



Early in the same year that the Wisconsin commission was making 

 investigations, T. T. Lyon and Sanford Howard sent a memorial to 

 the legislature of Michigan, in which they claimed to have noticed 

 unfavorable changes in climate due to the destruction of the forests. 

 In response to this memorial, the legislature appointed a committee of 

 investigation, and this committee made a report in February, 1867, in 

 which, like the Wisconsin commission, they put great emphasis on the 

 climatic influence of forests. They also prepared and introduced into 

 the legislature a bill providing for timber culture. 



In 1869, the Maine Board of Agriculture appointed a committee 

 to present to the legislature suggestions as to a forest policy, and to 

 call the attention of Congress to the subject. ^^ The question of forest 

 conservation had been discussed in New York even during the time of 



35 Hough, "Report on Forestry," I, 207. 



