Evidently, ladies and gentlemen, you 



f.f.'if ^*!?' *^ ^°'"®^* see before you a German sentimentalist. 

 Utilization •' , 



Of course, all Germans ( — my pronun- 

 ciation ea-sily betrays, mie' — ) have a strong sentimental vein 

 more or less covered by a skin of good humor. Still, I am 

 free to maintain, that the phrase "Woodman spare that 

 tree" unceasingly ruminated by some eastern sentimental 

 cranks, has done more harm to our trees and to the advance- 

 ment of American forestry than all recklessness of the 

 lumberjack in the backwoods. I, personally, annually put to 

 death hundreds of thousands of trees ; not alone the shrubby 

 specimen fit for firewood only. No, thousands of gigantic 

 oaks and tulip trees up to six feet in diameter — trees born 

 before Columbus landed, trees the equal of which I can 

 never reproduce ! 



PICTURES OF APPALACHIAN FORESTS 



More than that: I skin, — a real forestry-vandal — the 

 bark of the venerable old chestnut oak, and allow the naked 

 body of the tree to go to wa^e in the woods. If I tell you 

 in addition, that hundreds of flowering dogwoods have been 

 extirpated by me, you will dertairily indict me for " cruelty 

 to trees," and L shall never leave this noble city alive. 



Allow me, however, a word of justification before pro- 

 ceeding against me ! 



It is my belief, that this glorious commonwealth cannot 

 have forestry on a large scale ( — that is the only kind I am 

 interested in — ) unless forestry is a remTinerative business. 

 Agrieultore and mining have shown a marvelous develop- 

 ment, because they were found to be well paying inxiustries. 

 Forestry must follow suit, must cease to be a luxury, ii we 

 wamt it to grow strong. And there is many an acre of ground 

 in Kentucky, devoid of mimerals, unfit for th« plow, but 

 productive of trees, which I want to' claim for forestry as a 

 business. Such land will lie idle, unless it is used for tree 

 growth, — and idlers should be. suffered in. political economy 

 no more than, in our family-life. 



Some help will be required to start proper forestry, — 

 just as it was and is the case in other industries, and to- offer 

 such help, we should at once engage in concerted organ- 

 ized action. By proper laws, by educating the peopte, by 



