I?, 



called attention to the marvellous 

 Response by growth of timber originally covering 

 Chairman Michigan, and the rapidity with which 



Hill it had been turned into lumber, giving 



in large figures the amounts that had 

 ne out from the various gateways of the State. For 

 fty years this process had been going on, and nothing 

 has been done to take the place of this forest cover 

 which has been removed. He saw more timber and 

 young pine growing in a trip between London and 

 Southampton than there is anywhere in this country, 

 as a result of artificial plantations; and upon a recent 

 visit in Southwestern France he traversed nearly one 

 hundred miles through solid plantations of trees rap- 

 idly growing into mercantile timber. Fortunately 

 these countries appreciate the importance of refores- 

 tation and by various means are increasing the area of 

 forest cover in proportion to the arable land. In our 

 country we are reaching further and wider now for 

 timber to support our industries, and still thousands 

 of square miles 'that might be growing timber are a 

 barren waste. Considering the needs, it is a crime to 

 allow these lands to continue not only a waste, but a 

 menace. 



In speaking of natural reforestation, he called atten- 

 tion to the rapidity with which poplar covered the 

 land, saying that while this looked very poor and thin 

 to many people, the fact that poplar is so valuable in 

 the manufacture of wood pulp, makes this forest cover 

 of no inconsiderable importance. Poplar has a stable 

 commercial value at the pulp mills and because of the 

 rapidity of growth will compare favorably with any 

 other crop for our northern so called "pine barrens." 



He also spoke of the Chandler Marsh near Lansing 

 and its possibilities in growing a crop of willows, men- 

 tioning the fact that the willow has fine qualities as a 

 pulp wood tree. He believed in twenty-five years 

 that great marsh which is practically valueless today, 

 under a sytematic planting of willow, would, as a re- 

 sult of the growth, be worth $200 an acre. The ra- 

 pidity with which our best spruce is be*ing cut off indi- 

 cates what an important matter it is to have some sub- 

 stitute coming on to take its place. 



Mr. Hill expressed his pride in being a lumberman. 

 He considered the business a legitimate one and an 

 important one. While there had been a great deal of 

 waste in lumbering operations hitherto, the progress- 

 ive men who were engaged in lumbering enterprises to- 

 day, were impressed with the importance of saving on 

 every hand. The planting to replace original forest is 

 a long range proposition, and people who are used to 

 making quick dollars must be educated with regard to 

 forestry in order to put their good money into it. But 

 there is no question whatever but there is money in 

 planting almost any kind of commercial trees. The 

 lumber famine, at present rates of consumption, is 

 certain to come, unless reforestation takes a strong 

 hold of the people, and men with money are induced 

 to invest their capital in growing timber. 



He thought Grand Rapids an appropriate place to 

 launch the new Forestry Association because of its 

 progressive methods and warm interest in industrial 

 enterprises. 



Mr. Alfred Gaskill, representing the United States 

 Forest Service, addressed the meeting on the relation 

 of the Bureau of Forestry to State work, and expressed 



the warm interest of his Bureau in the 

 U. S. forestry movement in Michigan. The 



Forest Bureau is always ready to assist any 



Service commonwealth which makes a move 



itself in matters of forestry. It sends 

 its experts out and is glad to have its representatives 



