FORESTRY EVENING.

Michigan Horticultural Society.
Michigan's Interest in Forestry -- The Future Problem -- Pine as a possibility for Reforestation.

Charles W. Garfield, Michigan's
forest champion, introduced the general subject of the session in a few
words, in which he recited some of the
struggles he himself has gone through
to awaken proper interest in the Michigan : forestry problem. He told of
how & bill was finally introduced in
the legislature and left to die in the
hands of a committee and of all the
steps that have been taken in the direction of saving the forests.

The first speaker on the evening program was Fremont E. Skeels of Harriette. His subject was: "The Interest of the State in the' Forestry Problem." He said in part:
"I am expected to say something of
the interest the state has in the forestry problem. There are two classes of
these interests -- one embracing those
interests which the state has in -forestry treat it as a cold business proposition, and the other class of interests
which would be shown when treating
upon the subject from the more sentimental views of forestry for the love
of the trees or the beauty of the landscape. We fear that the mass of people of the state still look upon the
forestry agitation with suspicion. The
benefits are too vague; the profits seem

too much of the air-castle brand to
cause them to look with much favor
upon what seems a doubtful undertaking. In discussing & question in
economics we are often forced to consider this question: Can we afford
not to do this thing? We' must consider that the forests of the state have
provided in the way of industry, what
they are still providing, and the
figures are of such magnitude as to interest almost any person who is cap-
able of getting out of the area covered by bis own business affairs.
"Without going into detail, we find
from as careful estimates as can be
deduced from any statistics obtainable that the annual average cut of
lumber of all kinds in Michigan is
about two billion feet. The capital
employed in the manufacture of this
lumber runs far into the millions and
an army of 75,000 men is engaged in
the work in this state. So great has
become the area of stripped lands that
many of the smaller mills have ceased operations and many of the large
ones are seeking new fields in the forests
of the west and south. Others more
fortunate still have tracts of timber
that will keep their mills busy for the
next few years, varying from five to
twenty. Can the state of Michigan afford to loose this great industry? Is
it not of great interest to this commonwealth to make such provision as
will keep a portion of this business,
at least for the future? Yet of all
questions of vital importance to the
welfare of Michigan this forestry
problem has received the least attention. The interest which the state
has shown in the manufacture of sugar
is important, and the cause a most
laudable one, yet the business which
can come to Michigan from this new
industry fades from view in the light
of the more important one she is allowing to slip from her grasp. The

lumbermen themselves are too busy to
look out for any future timber for their
mills, beyond that which they can purchase and hold until wanted for manufacturing, but if the state were to take
hold of the project and make a showing these men would aid us in many
ways. Many of them have already
signified a willingness to deed to the
state their cut-over lands instead of
letting them go back for unpaid taxes. It is not necessary for me to again
cover the ground to explain how
Michigan resorted to extreme means
to get rid of her forests, how she gave
vast tracts of her finest timber to induce railroads and other enterprises
to invade the wooded areas to cut
down and destroy the trees, nor at
what sacrifice to her wealth she sold
her best timbered lands at ridiculously low rates. She but followed the
example of her sister states and in the
footsteps of the national government
We can pot however pass over the
outcome of all this work. These vast
areas given to meritorious enterprises,
or sold at almost gift prices to the
lumbermen and speculators, have been
stripped of their values and are again
the properties of the state, or at least
claimed by the state for non-payment
of taxes. The transfer to the state
has not been made by warranty deed,
we assure you. When the lumberman had taken what he wanted he
ceased paying taxes and by virtue of
the existing laws of this state the
lands were bid in at the tax sales and
in this way again came under public
control.

During the past ten years the railways and highways of the northern
portion of the state have suffered
more damage from washouts, caused
by freshets, than in all their previous
history, and culverts and drainage
have been increased in capacity or
constructed new, where none were
needed before. When these thoroughfares were first constructed, and for
some years of their early use, they
traversed these great forests tracts,
and the earth's surface, like a sponge,
because of the decaying leaf mold and
other forest debris, allowing it to pass
off slowly through the springs, brooks,
and rivers in a clear, limpid flow.

The forests have been cut away, the
fires have burned off the sponge-like
humus of the woods, and when we
have a heavy rainfall there is nothing
to prevent the water from rushing in
torrents to the . lower levels, taking
with it the fertile upper stratus of the
soil. These rivers of a day, or perhaps a week, force great channels
though turnpikes and railway fills,
depositing their load of rich soils and
other debris in the rivers, which carry it along to make room for the steam
dredge, where it is finally left in some
harbor at the river's mouth. The
first arrangement of nature was an admirable one. The wood cutters have
raised havoc with this arrangement,
but reconstruction is already in progress. The success of this great region depends largely upon the assistance we shall render, and it is of
great interest to the state to give aid at once.

"Briefly, then, the solving of the
forestry problem, from a business
view, will show some of the interests
of the state to be: The growing of
the raw material to keep the vast lumber business of the state from being
entirely blotted out, the growing of

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timber upon barren, worthless lands
rather than to induce settlers to eke
out a miserable existence where success in agriculture is impossible; the
effect of adjacent woodland tracts upon the fields and orchards of cultivated lands by the windbreaks which
they furnish; the holding back of the
water after severe rains and heavy
falls, thus maintaining the snow
springs and the brooks and streams
that have their sources in them, in-
stead of permitting it to run off in tor-
rents, making dangerous and expensive breaks in embankments and impoverishing the lands by robbing it of its best soil. 

"The people of this state are bound
to face this proposition in time. Nature has done about all she can do,
unaided to restore the forests.
Should her efforts be unassisted much
longer, fire and thieves will destroy
all that she has done. The state
should start the work in time to use
the progress already made."

Following Mr. Skeels came John P.
Brown, secretary of the Indiana Forestry association. His subject was:
"What shall Michigan do to perpetuate her forests and continue her
manufacturing interests?" He said in
part as follows:

"The subject of forestry has attracted the attention of the world's statesmen for several centuries, while the proper management of forests, for
their perpetuation, both as a means of
revenue for their individual owner
and for the nation, as well as a regulator of climatic conditions, is to-day
the subject for thought in all the older countries of the world. America,
with her unequaled wealth of forests a
century ago, has been wasteful in the
extreme and is the only nation of importance which has no system for the
management of her forests. As a people we have slight appreciation of
their importance. It became necessary to destroy much of the timber in
order to make homes, farms, and
states, so much labor expended in
clearing up the land, we have come to
think of the forests as an incumbrance
possessing no value except that established at the saw-mills; we scarcely
realize their consequence, their necessity, the wonderful influence they exert upon a nation and upon every individual, upon each occupation and
industry. If the state has an interest
in the permanency of her manufactures and a continuous timber supply
it must be public policy to take such
steps as will insure this result and to
adopt a settled economic -policy with
reference to the forests.

"The United States has disposed of
the cream of her timber lands, which
are now held by private individuals,
and no administrative policy has
been provided except for the limited
forest reservations. It must devolve
upon each individual state to carry
out such method as will best serve the
interest of that region.

"We have left Wisconsin, Minnesota,
Michigan, West Virginia, Kentucky,
Tennessee, Arkansas and Missouri,
with the northern portion of Alabama,
Georgia and Mississippi to supply
the markets of the interior manufacturing states-a total of 147,000 square
miles of timber land, or 12.5 per cent.
of our original forest domain, a larger portion of which has been logged
and can not afford very much good
timber. Under the present rate of

consumption and relatively small increase from new growths, I ask you
how long will this small per cent. of
forest continue to supply the manufactories of Michigan and her competitors in other states?"

In discussing "The pine as a factor
in the restoration of cut-over lands,"
Prof. V. M. Spaulding, of Ann Arbor advanced the theory that nature
is forever trying to put back what
man has taken away, and to bring
conditions back to what they naturally were. If man would keep his
hands off part of the pine problem is
solved. Man is the disturbing factor,
and still holds the balance of power,
so that it simply becomes a question
of ways and means, time and outlay,
before Michigan can be reforested. If
the work of reforesting should begin
now, Prof. Spaulding said, three
varieties of pines should at once be
introduced, the jack pine, the Norway
and the white pine.

The last regular speaker was Dr.
W. J. Beal of the State Agricultural
college, who was assigned to talk on
Some Important Features of the Fire
Problem." An outline of his talk is
as follows:

"In a report covering forestry made
twelve years ago I said the subject of
forest fires in northern Michigan was
the one question demanding most
careful attention. Since that time
timber has become scarcer and has
raised rapidly in price, so that the
subject of stealing timber has surpassed in importance that of fires. The
chief sources of fires take rank in the
following order, beginning with those
occurring most frequently:

"Burning brush and other rubbish
in clearing land for crops.

"Setting fires by railway engines.

"Fires started by hunters, tramps,
adventurers, etc.

"Fires started by hunters, tramps,
adventurers, etc.

"So long as the present condition
in northern Michigan prevails there is
little encouragement for any person,
corporation, or even the state, to attempt to grow timber with the view of
any profit. But this condition of
things must not prevail; we won't let
them. I have no patent panacea to offer you as a sure preventive of fires,
but we must keep making a diligent effort along this line, feeling certain
that much good will be accomplished.

"Light and leachy soils that bear
cone-bearing trees are more likely to
suffer from fires than other lands.
Where the soil is suitable for farms
and the country becomes older and
more thickly settled, the risks from
fires in the forests will diminish. Perhaps there is a smaller proportion of
rascals to the quarter section, and
thieves are more likely to be detected
in the old country.

"One of the most economical schemes
that I have to suggest, and the one
the state has usually been following
for most of its existence, so far as immediate cash expenditure is concerned,
is to keep pretty quiet and wait till
other states about us have spent time
and money and thought in solving
the problem satisfactorily. But in
all seriousness, we have already waited too long, and the people begin to
realize that we have been loosing every
year a hundred times as much as it
would have cost to execute some pretty effective laws, and now at the close
of 1900 we have inaugurated no plans.

"I place a good deal of stress on

education, though in some regions, I
admit, the difficulties seem to be well
nigh unsurmountable, but the conditions can be improved. A good
system of earnest tire wardens, who
will hustle around after the guilty
with as much persistence as a man
working for a clerkship in the state
house, or for his election to the legislature or to congress is about what
we want to prevent forest fires. Every
little while one warden after another
should show the citizens the bad results
of forest fires. Besides talking agents
must have attractive printed matter
to reach people through the mails.
Some of the printed matter should
contain graphic accounts of great
losses of property where great fires
have
authorities have been able to select a
tax commission and the people have
voted to have the constitution amended that railways shall be taxed like
other property, it may be, while the
people are about it, they can devise
some plan which shall prevent these
roads from blowing live coals along
their lines into dry fields and forests.

"We cannot accomplish everything
in forestry at once. After beginning
any great enterprise the subject continues to grow on those who are engaged in the work. Work and thought
and experiments suggest new things to
be tested, new laws to be enacted."

The session closed with a general
discussion.