24 ANNUAL REPORT OF 



after six years' absence in a foreign war, he returned- to a 

 country reduced, as Carlyle says, ' ' to skin and bones. " 



The value of the 10,000,000 acres of state forests in 

 Germany, being on land unfit for agriculture, is 1700,000,- 

 000, an amount equal to the total assessed valuation of 

 property in Minnesota. The average net revenue there- 

 from is $23,000,000. And the forests are more in the 

 nature of a park than of a wilderness. From the city of 

 Freudenstadt, of 6,000 inhabitants, in the Black Forest, 

 one can, in five minutes, step into the deepest woods. 

 The principles of forestry are the same here as in Ger- 

 many, but owing to the denser population, cheaper labor 

 and higher value of products the profits of forestry there 

 are much greater than could be expected here for a time. 

 However, they would be fair here, and prove from the 

 start the mother of wages. The sun, air and rain — all 

 great factors in forest growth — are ready to go into part- 

 nership with our state in the forestry business, the state 

 to furnish its sandy soil as capital, and receive all the 

 dividends. 



Our state received as a gift from Congress school lands 

 which will finally yield a permanent fund of $25,000,000. 

 Minnesota owes a debt of gratitude to the Union for this, 

 which she cannot better pay than by putting her best 

 foot forward on the forestry question. 



THE SENTIMENTAL SIDE. 



The science of forestry has to do only with the dollars 

 and cents that can be got out of the forest. It is purely 

 economic. But there is a sentimental side of the forest 

 which appeals to people generally, and which should be a 

 powerful ally to forestry. The forest is nature's loveliest 

 work. The ocean, lofty mountains and great rivers are 

 sublime, but there is also something in them that is 

 dreadful. We can go into the forest; we can handle it; 

 we feel invigorated by its air, solaced by its tranquillity, 



