74 THE COMMISSION OF INQUIRY, 



APPENDIX 5. 



LETTERS AND STATEMENTS CONCERNING THE CAPACITY OF THE SO-CALLED 

 CUT-OVER LANDS TO REFOREST WITHOUT ARTIFICIAL AID^ ETC. 



Grayling, Mich., March 11, 1908. 



The cut-over lands in this part of the country, as a general thing, 

 reseed themselves, more or less, with pine, without any artificial aid. 

 In most cases, it is mixed with hardwood and scrub oak — I should 

 say, about 33% pine, and the balance, other wood. With a reasonable 

 protection from fire, there would be no danger on that score, but what 

 forestry would be a success. We have under our personal supervision,, 

 some 8,000 or 10,000 acres, that we are holding for forestry purposes, 

 when it comes to such a time that we can get proper legislation, so 

 as to make forestry a practical fact; on this area, fire has done very 

 little damage, and the timber is now from ten to fifteen years old— and 

 if it could stand for ten or fifteen years, in its infancy, without serious 

 injury, I think that now it has got to a point where very little dam- 

 age is likely to be done. On this tract of land, there is, I think, about 

 33% pine, and the balance all kinds of wood, such as soft and hard 

 maple, oak of all kinds, and birch, and on some of the land, in about 

 ten years there will be some merchantable timber. We would be 

 pleased, at any time, to show you several sections of this land that 

 has reseeded itself — but, of course, by the aid of forestry, much greater 

 results could be obtained ; nature, of course, does very well, but it is more 

 or less in patches, and not in uniform growth, covering any great area. 



Yours very truly, 



R. Hanson. 



Hart, Mich., March 17, 1908. 



You will remember that about the first time that this matter was 

 brought up in the State at a meeting was before the State Horticul- 

 ture Society at Ann Arbor. Others, at that time, seemed to be very 

 strongly impressed with the idea of planting trees. I was of the opinion 

 that such a move was nonsense; that all we could afford to do at the 

 present time was to protect the forests from fire. 



My experience in recent years with reference to these cut-over lands 

 has been quite largely in the vicinity of Big Blue Lake, in the north 

 part of Muskegon county and the south part of Oceana county. This 

 land was at one time covered with pine and cut over many years ago. 



Private parties took an interest in keeping these lands from being 

 burned over, and the result has been that a large track of country of 

 poor soil that was cut over years ago is now covered with a second 

 growth of pine and oak. Much of that timber is from three 'to twelve 

 inches through and large tracts have much more pine than is necessary. 



