108 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
they could reach. After three years’ 
active operations in one location, they 
seek new fields of labor, leaving behind 
them scarred trees, which in a few years 
will perish by storm and fire. And when 
the mill men and the naval stores men 
shall have gotten through, we fear Flor¬ 
ida will in smut and ashes regret the im¬ 
providence which has sacrificed its future 
wealth for a present pittance. 
HOW SHALL WE RESCUE THE FUTURE? 
The natural inquiry is then what can 
best be done either to preserve or renew 
our forest growth. It goes without say¬ 
ing that these lands which have been 
stripped of their timber will not, except 
in selected spots, be occupied by culti¬ 
vators of the soil for a long period to 
come. A portion, no doubt, will be en¬ 
closed for grazing lands, where the con¬ 
ditions are suitable for such a purpose, 
but the great body, comprising millions 
of acres, will lie out, to be overrun an¬ 
nually by fire, and what little chance they 
might have for improvement will thus 
be prevented. 
This destruction of forest growth is 
by no means peculiar to the Southern 
States. Michigan, Wisconsin, Minneso¬ 
ta and other Northwestern States for¬ 
merly covered with pine forests have 
been made barren by the immense de¬ 
struction of timber for export, and a 
consequent exposure to forest fires, 
which it is claimed have destroyed ten 
times as much timber as the mills have 
cut. So far as Florida is concerned, this 
source of destruction is only to be feared 
in tracts which have been boxed for tur¬ 
pentine ; the open pine forests here do 
not suffer like the close-grown pine for¬ 
ests of the Northwest, where a fire once 
started will burn over thousands of acres, 
until it reaches a water course or is 
checked by abundant rains. 
The United States Government has 
recently given special attention to for¬ 
estry and made it one of the special 
branches of the Agricultural Depart¬ 
ment. Upon application, a special 
agent will be sent to inspect large bodies 
of timbered lands, and will through sub¬ 
agents go over a tract of timbered land, 
designating such trees as should be re¬ 
moved and the treatment best calculated 
to improve or restore the remainder. 
The American Forestry Association 
was organized in Washington in 1882. 
The United States Secretary of Agricul¬ 
ture is now the president. It issues a 
monthly magazine called The Forester 
at one dollar per year. The States of 
Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and 
others have Forestry Commissions es¬ 
tablished by law. 
DUTIES OF A FORESTRY COMMISSION. 
The Michigan law requires the Com¬ 
mission to “institute inquiry into the ex¬ 
tent, kind, value and conditions of the 
timber lands of the State, the amount of 
acres and value of timber that is cut and 
removed each year, and the purposes for 
which it is used; the extent to which the 
timber lands are being destroyed by 
fires, used by wasteful cutting for con¬ 
sumption, lumbering, or for the purpose 
of clearing the land for tillage. It shall 
also inquire as to the effect of the dim¬ 
inution of timber and wooded surface in 
lessening the rainfall and producing 
droughts, and the effects upon the 
ponds, rivers, lakes, and the water pow¬ 
ers and harbors, and affecting the cli¬ 
mate and disturbing and deteriorating 
natural conditions, etc.” The Commis¬ 
sion was directed to prepare and report 
