26 MICHIGAN FORESTRY. 



in nearly all states of Europe, and effort is being made everywhere to over- 

 come the great difficulties and restore the poor lands and waste lands to^for- 

 estry as the only form of agriculture which can use these lands, permanently 

 preserve them and actually improve them. 



In this connection, the experience of Great Britain is of interest. Less than 

 thirty per cent of its area is real plow land, another thirty per cent is perma- 

 nent pastures, while the rest, or about forty per cent, is not used for agricul- 

 ture, the bulk of this being waste lands, worthless heath lands, where once a 

 good growth of forest existed and where now the only income from the lands 

 consists of a few tons of wool and mutton or a rent shilling paid by sportsmen 

 for the privilege of shooting a few birds. Land monopoly, together with an 

 utter disregard of forestry, the only good form of agriculture for these lands, 

 has deprived England of millions of dollars of income which she might|have 

 had from these lands, to say nothing of the indirect benefits in woodworking 

 industries which might have thrived, nor of the benefit to climate and the flow 

 of her streams. And yet England pays over $100,000,000 a year to supply 

 herself with timber, and this import has increased with every year for over^^half 

 a century. 



In our own country there was ample and timely warning when the different 

 colonies were first settled and the old world experience was still fresh in the minds 

 of men. As early as 1640 the people of Exeter, N. H., adopted a regulation 

 concerning the cutting of oak timber; in 1701 the governor of New York^ad- 

 vocated that saw mill men should replace young growth on lands where they 

 cut and did not clear. By the year 1800 numerous public efforts had been 

 made to stay the destruction of the forest and to restore it on the non-agricul- 

 tural lands. But all this was in vain, a spirit of recklessness was abroad, the 

 people were waging a war on the wilderness and had no desire to practice 

 forestry. Later on came the railway and the steamboat, the phenomenal 

 growth of our cities, of our industries, the settlement of the prairie, and with 

 these an enormous market for lumber and forest products generally. In spite 

 of the good advice and warnings of the old pioneers, in spite of occasional 

 warnings of contemporary writers, the forest was not merely cleared for plow 

 land, it was not only the slow fight of the settler for a home, but the forest was 

 invaded for timber only, and the destruction of the forest far outran settle- 

 ment. What wonder then that Dr. J. T. Rothrock, the pioneer forester of 

 Pennsylvania, as much as twenty years ago had to report to the people and 

 the legislature that miUions of acres had been denuded in their state without 

 any intention and without any hope of making the lands useful for agricul- 

 ture. The old argument which met former protests and presentations, 

 namely, "Our lands are practically all agriculture lands," was disproved. 

 Miles and miles of blackened hillsides could be and can now be seen in that 

 state along every trans-mountain railway, and the lesson of Europe is learned 

 over again. But, thanks to the untiring efforts of Dr. Rothrock and the 

 friends of forestry (might better be called the best friend-, of the state), the 

 people of Pennsylvania have taken the first big step in the right direction. 

 The state is buying up these waste lands and pays up to 15 per acre for them 

 and has already begun to give them protection and the necessary care to re- 

 stock them with woods. 



The experience of New York was similar. Later than the year 1800 she 

 sold her large holdings of virgin forest in the Adirondacks for about five cents 

 per acre. By the year 1880 the people of the state realized that the destruc- 

 tion of the woods and the denudation of the poor lands had gone too far, and 

 before the year 1900 New York had b'^ii"-h+ l->?f>k r^^ror- a miiiir^r. a^vno ^f ivioop. 



