9S6 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XII. No. 313. 



class most directly interested is that en-- 

 gaged in forest industries and manufac- 

 turing enterprises deriving raw material 

 from the woods. It is very gratifying to 

 the State that as a general rule men of this 

 class are stanch friends of improved for- 

 estry, and some of the most energetic pro- 

 moters of this cause, both in and out of the 

 Legislature, are among the great lumber- 

 men. 



Of course, it cannot be expected that en- 

 tire unanimity should exist as to the best 

 means of reaching the desired end. In 

 particular, the policj'^ of placing consider- 

 able areas of forest land under State man- 

 agement is apt to encounter objections from 

 the residents of the counties in which these 

 forests will necessarily be located. They 

 fear, on the one hand, that the reservation 

 of those tracts will hinder the progress of 

 settlement, and on the other hand, they de- 

 sire to see all land in private hands, so that 

 they may be taxed for the support of local 

 government and improvements. Both these 

 objections are, to be sure, based on imper- 

 fect knowledge, and are short-sighted 

 enough. Yet they are made in good faith 

 by men of intelligence, standing and influ- 

 ence. They must be overcome by practi- 

 cal reasoning and the spread of correct in- 

 formation. 



Perhaps the most serious problem to be 

 solved in Wisconsin, as well as its neigh- 

 boring States, is what shall be done with 

 the immense areas of denuded timber lands 

 which are now growing up into vast wil- 

 dernesses of worthless scrub, subject to the 

 ravages of fire, and a constant menace to 

 the standing timber adjoining. There are 

 no physical obstacles to the reforestation of 

 these tracts. But the financial and political 

 diificulties are enormous. Most of these 

 lands are the property of the lumber com- 

 panies which harvested the timber. ]S"ot a 

 little of it, however, has been sold for taxes 

 and bid in bv the counties. These do not 



know what to do with those lands, and 

 from time to time sell them to speculators 

 at nominal prices, sometimes for less than 

 a dollar forty cents. Now there can be no 

 question that much of the land of this 

 kind is fairly good agricultural land, al- 

 though it cannot be compared in quality 

 with the hard-wood lands where the timber 

 is still standing. But the greater portion is 

 barren sand just good enough to bear a fair 

 crop of pine, but unfit for agricultural 

 crops after the slight accumulation of hu- 

 mus is exhausted. To persuade ignorant 

 settlers to locate on such lands and to try 

 to make them into farms is little short of 

 a crime. 



The great mass of the people of northern 

 Wisconsin are well-meaning, upright folk, 

 and they know well enough that much of 

 this land is unfit for settlement. But it is 

 not possible to draw a hard and fast line 

 between the fit and unfit land, and the 

 temptation is great to find invariably that 

 the really unfit land is just beyond the 

 boundaries of the next township. So the 

 settlers continue to take up these sand bar- 

 rens, with disastrous results to themselves 

 and no permanent benefit to the community. 

 The only feasible way to put these lands to 

 the use for which they are adapted, and by 

 which they can ultimately yield a profit, 

 would be to place them in the hands of the 

 State for rational forest management. 



A number of owners of large tracts of 

 land of this class have expressed their 

 willingness to cede their holdings, which 

 are practically valueless to them, to the 

 State, if it will take proper care of them. 

 It is probable that the solution of the prob- 

 lem will be approached from this direction. 

 But in order to make this possible, some 

 legislation will be needed, and for that pur- 

 pose the friends of forestry in Wisconsin 

 look forward to the meeting of the Legisla- 

 ture during the coming winter. There is 

 the best possible reason to believe that a 



