A Suggestive Word from &. University 

 Professor. 



T THE HEAD of the new Forestry Department at 

 the University of Michigan is Professor Chas. A. 

 Davis. Acting under the instruction of the Board 

 of Regents, Mr. Davis has taken a great interest 

 in the problem of forestry in our Slate, and in a 

 letter to the President of the Forestry Commission, wherein 

 he discusses various phases of the Michigan problem, he makes 

 the following suggestions : 



"If the plan of allowing corporations to lease forest lands 

 that are not suitable for general agriculture could be coupled 

 with the requirement or condition that each of such corpora- 

 tions shall be obliged, by the terms of their contract with the 



State, to employ a graduate of some one of the several schools 

 of forestry, who shall act as superintendent and regent of 

 the property, it would make a fairly satisfactory arrangement, 

 which should, at the same time, give the holders of the lands 

 good results for their support, as the graduates of these 

 schools are supposed to be trained in the management of fish 

 and game production as well as in forestry proper. The cost 

 of such a man should not greatly exceed that of an ordinary 

 superintendent, who would have to be employed any way, and 

 the returns in the way of more skilful management and the 

 better protection of game and fish, would easily make up the 

 difference. The question of taxes on these properties, if the 

 State should enter upon a plan of this kind, would be one that 

 must be very carefully worked out. In making these sugges- 

 tions I have in mind lands that will not be included in a 

 State preserve, where all game should be completely protected 

 excepting such as escape from the reservation." 



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