in diameter. We have a most serious problem to solve 

 in Michigan and some individual and some party must 

 arise to the situation. The immense area of lands 

 which is owned by the State through tax title ac- 

 quirement, must be handled with reference to the long 

 future of Michigan, and it requires a knowledge of 

 statecraft rather than of politics to take care of this 

 very important matter." 



A resident of the furniture city puts 

 How to the case ill this way : 



Meet the "Forestry is rapidly reaching a po- 



Want sition of vital importance in our State. 



Men are beginning to appreciate that 

 it supports industries that stand second in importance 

 only to agriculture. Men interested in forestry in the 

 State have learned that the forests furnish the only 

 crop, the growing of which constantly increases the 

 fertility of the soil, and the price of the crop itself can 

 be determined with accuracy as to its minimum. 

 Forestry means more to Grand Rapids than to the 

 average city in Michigan because of the large volume 

 of the industries supported by the products from the 

 woods. With black walnut lumber worth $100.00 

 per thousand, and cherry lumber almost impossible 

 to get at $150.00 per thousand; with the price for rail- 

 road ties rapidly increasing and post timber growing 

 rapidly less so that our farmers and telephone and tele- 

 graph companies are wondering where the future sup- 

 ply is coming from, the question is of vital importance. 

 What can we do to recover our forest resources? 



It is perfectly practicable to connect with farming 

 something of forestry so as to add one more means of 

 securing a farm income. The crop is certain and the 

 prices are, in advance, a known quantity. The crop 

 will grow upon the poorest lands, and the only weak 

 point in the minds of many is the time required to pro- 

 duce a crop. We are learning, however, that a crop 

 of fence posts can be grown in twelve years; a crop of 

 railroad ties can be grown in twenty years; that ash 

 and hickory and basswood logs large enough for mer- 

 chantable purposes can be grown in a quarter of a 

 century. And these crops can be so arranged as to 

 utilize 'the waste places on the farm. Every man in- 

 terested in the forestry of our State and in the main- 

 tenance of our wood industries should take a deep and 

 abiding interest in the progress of the forestry move- 

 ment that is now on. A State Forestry Association is 

 organized and its membership should include thousands 

 of interested people. The legislature is already pro- 

 viding for covering the thinner lands of the State with 

 .a forest cover. Everybody should suuport the 

 movement." 



Secretary I. H. Butterfield says: 



The Farm "A forestry plan that provides only 



Woods for large forest areas in unsettled por- 



tions of the country is far from com- 

 plete. Such a plan may provide timber for commercial 

 use, and when forests are located to cover the sources 

 of streams they may to some extent conserve the water 

 supply, but the farm woodlot must be maintained to 

 provide wood for home use, to protect from the sweep- 

 ing winds, to conserve moisture for the adjacent cul- 

 tivated areas. 



"The farm woodlot maintained on each cultivated 

 farm would accomplish all these ends, and with no 

 diminution in production quite probably an in- 

 crease. Rough hillsides and low places may be more 

 profitable for timber growing than to attempt cul- 

 tivation. It may be that people become too stren- 

 uous in draining all the lowland, and that some portions 

 would better be left undrained, or at least drained only 

 to the extent that timber may be grown on them." 



