120 STATE OP MICHIGAN. 



show his interest in desiring State tax lands to go under the control of 

 the Forestry Commission, provided he have no axe to grind, and provided 

 he have implicit confidence in the wisdom and skill of the commission. 



"Lands, like other private property', are held by the owners for the 

 returns they yield, and the owners as yet have scarcely begun to undei'- 

 stand that it pays better, as a rule, to protect a forest in harvesting the 

 timber crop than to destroy it. A knowledge of how to bring about the 

 desirable result is still more restricted, while trained men capable of 

 advising forest owners in the matter are very few indeed. The object 

 of the present undertaking (practical assistance to farmers, lumbermen 

 and others in handling forest lands) is to show that improved ways of 

 handling forest lands are best for the owner as well as for the forest, by 

 assisting a few owners to make trial of them and then publishing the 

 methods and results for the benefit of all." — Circular No. 21, Bureau of 

 Forestry. 



It is well for every farmer to know the effect of forests on lakes, streams., 

 winds, the prevalence of insects, crops of the farm and orchard, but you 

 can never expect him to plant a single tree on his land because the forest 

 area of the State has dwindled below twenty-five or thirty per cent. He 

 will plant only for what seems to him to be a prospect of profits to himself 

 or his descendants. 



Good examples of planting and management by many farmers scattered 

 over the State are of the very greatest importance in arousing an interest 

 in forestry. Let such men talk on every suitable occasion about the 

 merits of their work, and let them take pains to show their neighbors and 

 friends what they have done, following the example of a successful 

 breeder of horses, cattle, sheep, pigs or poultry. 



There is no better way in which to interest a farmer in forestry than 

 to induce him by direct contact to take proper care of his wood-lot and 

 to plant a small area to forest. The State, through its commissions, 

 needs imperatively, not only lecturers in the field, but itinerant instruc- 

 tors who shall patrol portions of the State, showing people what to do 

 and how to do it. By way of illustration, let me quote you a few sen- 

 tences from a recent paper that I read at a meeting of the State Academy 

 of Science. It was entitled "College Extension Work in Agriculture." 



"Forty-seven years ago last May, the first agricultural college in Amer- 

 ica, almost in the wilderness, opened its doors to students. The condi- 

 tions of farmers as a class were far from encouraging; most of them 

 deemed an education of little value. In 1862, Congress granted means 

 soon available for each state to establish an agricultural college. By 

 slow degrees for many years these schools made little progress. * « * 



"For a long time many farmers persistently maintained that no agri- 

 cultural college could be organized that would benefit a farmer in his 

 business. The courses of study in such colleges did not attract as many 

 students as seemed desirable. By slow degrees preparations were made 

 and the 'war carried into Africa,' in other words, '^Mahomet went to the 

 mountain.' The farmers were to be reached and aroused. In a small, 

 crude and expensive way a half dozen or more farmers' institutes per 

 year were held in different portions of our State, as well as in many other 

 states. This was the beginning of agricultural college extension, which 

 was designed to help every young man or woman or older person who 

 had any ambition to become more competent to successfully meet the 



