HEARINGS BEFORE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE. 419 
how serious the results are is exceedingly important to determine. 
The effect of fires silisculturally is also of vital importance very often. 
For fires do not only influence existing forests; they are an impor- 
tant factor in determining the composition of the forests of the future. 
Mr. Haucen. What are you doing in northern Minnesota? 
Mr. Pricr. There we are putting into effect the provisions of the 
so-called Morris bill, so far as they relate to the Bureau of Forestry. 
The bill provides that the regulations of the forester shall be put into 
effect in the cutting of 95 per cent of the timber on those lands which 
will constitute the Minnesota National Forest Reserve. As you will 
remember, the Morris bill provides that 231,400 acres of the Chippewa 
Indian lands be set aside as a national forest reserve; that 95 per cent 
of the timber be sold, and the rest be reserved. 
Mr. Haveen. Only 5 per cent of it? 
Mr. Price. Yes, sir; but since it can be reserved as we indicate, 
although it seems very little, I think it will be enough to leave sufti- 
cient trees standing after the lumbering is done to serve as a basis for 
afuture crop. There was a great deal of anxiety among some of the 
lumber men when they saw the regulations. It was said by a great 
many, ‘‘these provisions will cause the price offered for the pine”— 
the fact that the tops have to be burned and the lumbering done care- 
fully—‘‘to be very low.” But as a matter of fact more money has 
been offered for that pine than for pine to be lumbered without 
restrictions. 
Mr. Havcen. The market price of lumber was higher? 
Mr. Price. No, sir; there was only three weeks between the two 
sales. 
Mr. Havcen. What is the condition in northern Michigan? 
Mr. Pricr. The condition is generally bad. Lumbered lands are 
practically a waste in many cases. 
Mr. Brooxs. And are we doing anything to reforest these areas? 
Mr. Pricer. Yes, sir; we are in communication with private owners 
in establishing forest plantations in this State and in the Middle West. 
Mr. Haucen. With what success? 
Mr. Price. With excellent success. 
Mr. Haucen. What is your opinion now as to the supply of lumber 
in this region, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin? 
Mr. Price. I think it is nearly gone. 
Mr. Havuaen. Very nearly gone? ; 
Mr. Price. As a factor in the lumber supply. Mr. Gannett in his 
report on lumbering, which came out in the census, showed the grad- 
ual change in the geographical distribution of lumbering, and how it 
has moved southward and westward as the result of waning supplies 
in the North. 
Mr. Apams. You mean the pine lumber supply? 
Mr. Price. No, sir; the entire lumber supply. He gave for the 
past ten years the percentage of the total lumber supply yielded from 
each of the great forest regions,.and showed that it is increasing 
steadily in the Pacitic and Southern States. 
Mr. Havucen. What suggestion have you to make as to the supply 
of lumber in the Northwest, in those States, Minnesota, and Dakota, 
and so on? 
Mr. Price. If they protect the cut-over lands from fire, they will 
