356 



FORESTRY. 



lished, where, under competent directors, vari- 

 ous methods of tree-planting and culture would 

 be tried, and different kinds of trees would be 

 planted, and their adaptations to soil and cli- 

 mate tested, and thus their comparative merits 

 ascertained. 



At such experiment stations would naturally 

 be trained up a class of men who would be 

 qualified to be intrusted with the management 

 of the public forests. In process of time, with 

 the establishment of a proper forestry system, 

 there would come into being forestry schools, 

 essentially like those of Europe, though modi- 

 fied by our peculiar circumstances. 



The history of forestry in this country is 

 briefly this. A few examples of the cultivation 

 of forest-trees are. to be found reaching back 

 as far as a hundred years. But about forty 

 years ago, the Messrs. Fay made the experiment 

 of planting between 300 and 400 acres of poor 

 stony or snndy land in Eastern Massachusetts 

 with forest-trees. A few others have followed 

 their example, and reclaimed in this way con- 

 siderable tracts of the worthless sand-barrens 

 of Cape Cod. Occasional plantings on a 

 smaller scale have been made elsewhere, but 

 it is only within a few years that the trees 

 on the earliest of these plantations have 

 reached a stature to show the result of the 

 experiments, or call attention to them. Most 

 of these experiments have been successful and 

 encouraging. 



About twenty years ago, the late Hon. 

 George P. Marsh, who had long been a resi- 

 dent abroad as the representative of this coun- 

 try in European states, published " The Earth 

 and Man, or Physical Geography as modified 

 by Human Action/' One of its longest chap- 

 ters was devoted to a discussion of the subject 

 of forests and their influence. His work, a 

 later edition of which bears the title " Man 

 and Nature," is the best treatise on the sub- 

 ject in the English language, and is constantly 

 referred to as an accepted authority even by 

 writers in Germany and France, where the 

 literature of forestry is very voluminous. 



Ten years subsequent to the publication of 

 Mr. Marsh's book, the subject of forestry was 

 taken into consideration by the American As- 

 sociation for the Advancement of Science, and 

 a memorial was sent by that body to Congress, 

 calling attention to the rapid destruction of our 

 forests and the dangers threatening the coun- 

 try in consequence, and asking for some appro- 

 priate legislation on the subject. In 1876 Con- 

 gress directed the Commissioner of Agriculture 

 to ascertain the facts in regard to our forests, 

 the best means of preserving and renewing 

 them, the influence of forests upon climate, 

 and the system of forest management in use in 

 other countries. As the result of this action, 

 agents have been employed by the Department 

 of Agriculture in making investigations, and 

 their reports have been published. These re- 

 ports contain a large mass of information, and 

 have been widely distributed. 



A Forestry Association was also formed a 

 few years ago, which, in 1882, was merged in a 

 Forestry Congress, instituted at that time. This 

 body, composed of persons in this country, and 

 also in Canada, who are interested in forestry, 

 has held three sessions, the last of which was 

 at St. Paul, in August, 1883. Papers relat- 

 ing to forestry were read, and discussions en- 

 sued. The discussions and recommendations 

 have been widely published, and have led to 

 important legislative action in several of our 

 own States and in the Dominion of Canada. 

 During the past year a State Forestry Associa- 

 tion has been formed in Ohio, and measures 

 have been taken to establish experiment sta- 

 tions in that State. Commissioners of forestry 

 have also been appointed in several of the 

 States, and instruction in forestry is given in 

 connection with some of the agricultural col- 

 leges. 



But perhaps the most important indication 

 of an awakened interest in forestry is seen in 

 the recent movement for the preservation of 

 the great Adirondack forests in New York. 

 Mr. Marsh, in his book already alluded to, 

 called attention to these forests, and urged the 

 importance of their preservation, in order to 

 maintain the proper flow of that great highwny 

 of commerce, the Hudson river, as well as on 

 other accounts. But his words were unheeded, 

 or, if heeded, they resulted in no efficient action 

 until recently. But at last public attention has 

 been aroused to such an extent that the Legis- 

 lature of the State made a small appropriation 

 a year ago for the purchase of a portion of 

 the Adirondack lands with a view to recloth- 

 ing them with forests. More recently a move- 

 ment has been made, led by the Chamber of 

 Commerce of New York, designed to secure 

 further legislation on the subject, and an 

 appropriation sufficient to purchase such an 

 amount of land as, in connection with what 

 the State now owns, will insure the protection 

 of the head- springs of the Hudson and other 

 important streams. 



Forestry is receiving increased attention also 

 in Great Britain, on account of its bearings 

 upon her Indian and Australian possessions. 

 The destruction of the forests there has gone 

 on with alarming rapidity. India has actually 

 imported railroad -ties from Norway and Swe- 

 den, because her accessible forests had been 

 stripped of the proper timber for such use. The 

 attention of the British Government has been 

 aroused by this condition of things, and meas- 

 ures have been taken for the preservation of 

 the remaining forests and the planting of new 

 ones. Though having no forest schools of her 

 own in which to train up persons competent to 

 direct the management of forests, the Govern- 

 ment for several years has sent a number of 

 pupils annually to the French and German 

 schools, to be trained for the Indian nnd Colo- 

 nial service. The reports for the past year 

 show a very encouraging condition of the 

 forests both in India and Australia. Large 



