574 REPORT OF STATE GEOLOGIST. 



from an economic standpoint. Most of the remaining forms of the 

 group have, under existing conditions, but little immediate value. 

 The rapid reduction in the numbers of those of the first importance is, 

 however, a sufficient argument for the careful preservation of these 

 apparently worthless forms. It is unnecessary to mention these forms 

 in detail; in a general way, they may be considered as including all the 

 larger species for which, at present, there seems to be no demand. The 

 present impoverished condition of our forests is very largely the result 

 of the neglect of such precaution on the part of preceding generations 

 of landowners. 



KEFORESTRATION. 



The removal of the timber covering has brought about, in many 

 regions of the State, marked physical changes. Changes so great in 

 some cases as to completely change the agricultural capacity of the 

 soil. Denuded hills have their soil carried by the rains to lower 

 levels and their slopes become scarred with constantly increasing gul- 

 lies and ridges. In other places, the soil water level has been lowered, 

 because of the increased evaporation of water from the soil, brought 

 about by the removal of the forest covering. In such cases, the soil 

 soon becomes valueless for agricultural purposes, and is allowed to run 

 to waste, often becoming a center from which noxious weeds are dis- 

 seminated. The recovery of such areas is possible through reforesta- 

 tion. The most satisfactory species for such reforestration must be 

 determined, large!}-, by local conditions, in part, perhaps, by the pur- 

 pose in view. The recovering of a denuded area with forest vegetation 

 is one problem, to re-cover it with such forms as will have a merchant- 

 able value in a reasonable time, is an entirely different matter. There 

 are really two kinds of reforestration desirable in Indiana. The re- 

 planting of denuded areas about dwellings and school houses and 

 along roadsides, and that which is a genuine reforestration, the re- 

 claiming of areas which have been made waste land because stripped 

 of the timber. The two problems are evidently different and the pro- 

 cedure must necessarily differ. 



In the first case, what is desired is to secure shapely trees, which fur- 

 nish good shade and are without bad habits, such as root sprouting, 

 frequent dropping of parts or liability to visitation by insect pests. 

 Native trees are by far the most desirable for this purpose, since they 

 are of all forms the most perfectly adapted to our conditions. In en- 

 tering upon this work two or three things should be borne in mind. 

 One of these is the fact that rapidly growing forms are usually short- 

 lived and are especially apt to become unshapely unless receiving spe- 



