36 STATE OP MICHIGAN. 



eral thousand acres ou the Reserve which, if left to themselves will remain 

 bare or very poorly stocked for many years to come, and there are- 

 additional thousands of acres where a small outlay of money will restore 

 to the land those kinds of trees which alone are able to make the best of 

 all conditions, and produce the material Avanted, and in amounts to 

 insui-e a. proper return for the outlay. For these reasons the Avork of 

 planting and seeding was at once begun, and 51,000 plants of forest trees- 

 were set out this spring (1904) covering about 50 acres of lot 8, Section 

 36, T. 25 X., E. -1 W. in Crawford county. The plants were purchased 

 from the nursery and comprised the following: 



30,000 White Pine, 2 years old. 



10,000 Xoi'way Spruce, 3 years old. 



10,000 Scotch Pine, 2 years old. 



1,000 Black Locust, 1 year old. 



The trees were set out in the ordinary slash lands, pretty well cleaned 

 up by repeated flr^es but largely grown over by sweet fern, huckleberry, 

 blackberry, etc., and a scattering growth of Oak, Maple and Poplar 

 sprouts. 



The planting was done by men working in pairs, one preparing a small 

 plot about 18x18 inches, and digging the hole for the plant in the center of 

 the plot while the other man planted the young trees, a supply of which 

 he carried in a metal pail. As is always the case where plant stock is 

 taken from distant nurseries and has to endure the handling in getting 

 out, and selecting, counting, bundling, packing, shipping', unpacking, and 

 handling in heeling in and subsequent removal to the final place, these 

 plants had to endure a great deal and like all conifers, showed the hard- 

 ships at the time of planting. In addition to this, very dry weather pre- 

 vailed almost througiiout planting, but in spite of this, the pine particu- 

 larly took hold beautifully, and it is safe to say that fully 85 per cent of 

 the pine, and over 90 per cent of the locust lives. The spruce, which 

 naturally is more sensitive and less suited to this soil did not nearly so 

 well, but even of this a goodly jier cent is alive at this time, and some of 

 the better plants have made a truly splendid gTowth. The work was 

 done entirely by the help of the neighborhood, almost all yonng men used 

 only to forest destruction and entirely new even to the notion of forest 

 reproduction. But, in keeping with the true American spirit, the men 

 took hold and performed their work well. This statement would be in- 

 complete if mention were not made of the educational value of this kind 

 of work. The same men who began their planting work with doubtful 

 glance and sneer in their speech went away converted, the work had 

 produced a large part of the change from the mere wood butcher into 

 the forester, the man who is interested as much in seeing a tree start 

 and grow as he is in the cutting of timber and its conversion. 



The cost of this first plantation was, naturally, high. The plants which 

 should be raised on the Reserve for certainly not to exceed |2 per thou- 

 sand, cost $5 per thousand, besides long distance expressage and better 

 transportation and labor. Similarly, the planting was done by men who 

 had to be cared for in special camp, everything was new, had to be ac- 

 quired and organized. 



Beside this plantation there was established seedbeds and nursery in 



