"The only land which the State 

 State owns or has title to through delin- 



Forest quent tax, is the land thrown away 



Land by the lumberman as worthless and 



on which he has refused to pay taxes 

 for a long period of years, and such lands have been in 

 the market for forty years without a buyer. It i$ an 

 absurd proposition and unworthy of the State of 

 Michigan, to attempt to locate farmers on such lands, 

 and unworthy of the best business interests of the 

 State that thousands of dollars should be spent in 

 advertising and re-advertising, selling and re-selling 

 these worthless lands. Its tax sales are an abomina- 

 tion savoring only of Shylock, and the farming out of 

 the collection of its taxes to men who have absolutely 

 no interest in the development or sale of these lands; 

 but merely to get one hundred per cent blood money 

 from some individual unfortunate enough to have 

 missed paying his taxes for any special year. If a 

 person neglects to pay his taxes for five consecutive 

 years, this land should become the property of the 

 State. Ten dollars per acre represents only a fair 

 valuation for farming lands suitable for agricultural 

 purposes. All other lands should be held by the State 

 for forestry purposes. The State Land Office, which 

 in the past has been run for the purpose of selling 

 lands, should be used for the purpose of acquiring 

 lands, and forests and forest lands should have a very 

 large part of its care and consideration. There would 

 be no less number of State appointees under the new 

 regime than the old, except that there would be a 

 change of location. Instead of clerks sitting in Lan- 

 sing and large fees paid to the press for advertising 

 and re- advertising worthless lands, this money would 

 be spent in a small army of foresters. 



"This committee would certainly 

 Publicity have a wide field, and it is one of the 



most important. The dense igno- 

 rance on the forestry proposition of the citizens of 

 Michigan must be overcome. Michigan was practi- 

 cally the first State in the Union with its magnificent 

 forests; it is the last to take any action whatever 

 looking to the replacing of these forests. A crop of trees 

 will grow as well as a crop of corn, and is worthy of 

 the consideration of every citizen in the State, whether 

 he be located in the forest counties of Michigan, or 

 whether he be' located in the fertile fields of southern 

 Michigan. Every farmer's woodlot can be made to 

 produce at least ten times as much wood as it is at 

 present doing, with almost no effort on the part of the 

 farmer; and the consideration and study of the forestry 

 proposition by the farmer would convince him that 

 he could raise on the same land, for lumber, trees of 

 double the value that he is now using for wood only. 

 A legacy of rough and poor land, covered with growing 

 forest trees, is just as good a legacy to leave as a de- 

 posit in the bank." 



Annual Report of Forest Warden 



By Filibert Roth, Ann Arbor, Mich. 



The following report on the conditions of the Mich- 

 igan Forest Reserves and the work performed on these 

 Reserves, covers the fiscal year 1904-05; but since the 

 forester's year, like that of the farmer, really ends with 

 the growing season, the statments concerning the con- 

 dition of seed beds, nursery and plantations as well 

 as the growth of timber on the Reserves, on the whole, 

 cover all of the growing season of 1905 and thus brings 

 this matter really up to present date. 



Location and general description of the Reserve 

 lands, as well as the more detailed description of the 



