10 STATE OP MICHIGAN. 



fairs. In advocating the plan tliat our State shall become thoroughly 

 acquainted with the comparative values of its land holdings and handle 

 them with reference to the long future, and having in mind the peculiar 

 capabilities of the varying soils and conditions, we are simply carrying out 

 a movement based upon the best business principles. The State cannot 

 afford to handle its lard holdings in the interest of speculators or local 

 newspapers or political aspirants, or for the purpose of furnishing em- 

 ployment to an army of clerks. 



If it were possible for those Avho formulate the laws of our State to go 

 over the ground and make the notes which have been made by the Forestry 

 Commission, there would be no question as to perfect unanimity of action 

 in moving for an improved plan of handling the State tax lands, and 

 immediate support for measures which shall protect these lands from the 

 sweep of forest fires. 



The friends o^ progressive foresti*y who- have supported the commission, 

 and whose contributions are found in this volume, are actuated by the 

 highest motives of public spiiit, and their words should have great weight 

 in connection with the modflcation of our land methods and in the pro- 

 motion of a reasonable plan of reforestation. The press of the State and 

 the rural organizations have been zealous in their support of our com- 

 mission, and we have utilized to the best of our ability these means of 

 spreading facts which shall influence the views of the people. We can 

 see as a result a greater interest in reforestation. People are interested in 

 acquiring information, and the campaig*n of education is each year pro- 

 ducing results that strengthen the general forward movement. The 

 members of the commission, in acknowledging the cordial support which 

 we have recei^'ed, desire to express our gratitude to all those who have 

 shown their interest in our work by assisting in the propagation of our 

 faith. In presenting this third volume of transactions and supplementary 

 papers, we do it with courage and hopefulness. 



OUR CONTEIDUTORS. 



As a matter of interest and satisfaction to the reader of this volume. 

 a word concerning the gentlemen who have so generously contributed to 

 its pages may not only be permissible, but desirable. Aside from the mem- 

 bers of the Michigan Forestry Commission, Prof. Filibert Koth has given, 

 in attractive fomi, some of the most practical counsel 'concerning the 

 future forest management in our State. Prof. Roth is a German, who in 

 his boyhood learned from practical contact, the details of the most ap- 

 proved forest management in Germany. For years he had the experience 

 of the practical worker in the lumber woods of Wisconsin, and in various 

 capacities served the great lumber companies which successfully prose- 

 cuted their work in the State of Wisconsin. He had opportunities for 

 wide observation upon the plains and mountains of the West before taking 

 up a course of study in the Michigan University. After graduation, he 

 became identified at once with the Bureau of Forestry at Washington, 

 and afterward became an attache of the Department of the Interior, in 

 charge of the Western Forest Reserves. In connection with Prof. Fer- 

 iiow, he was occupied for a time in the organization and development 

 of the forest school in Cornell University. He has written quite exten- 

 sively for the press upon forestry problems, and is the author of a most 



