SOME OF THE UNSOLVED PROBLEMS IN MICHIGAN
FORESTRY.*

BY DR. W. J. BEAL.
In June, 1887, one thousand dollars was placed by the legislature at
the disposal of a forestry commission which made some observations,
held one convention, and published one report. After four years the
act was repealed. Since that time the interest in forestry has
increased as the timber rapidly disappeared.

The legislature of 1899 passed an act to create a second commission
to canvass the subject and recommend legislation in 1901. In the
minds of most people there is a vague notion that something should
be done, but what to do is not clear. A very small number believe it
best to leave the subject, as in the past, entirely to the people in each
locality to do as they please.

In the Report of the State Horticultural Society for 1898, I presented
a paper recommending twenty-five things as already established regard-
ing the management of forests. At this time and in this place it seems
eminently suitable to mention about seventy-five things that should
be investigated or concerning which careful experiments should be
made in the interest of the forests.

There are so many things to be learned, and trees need so much time
to mature, that it is time we were at the subject with energy and
financial support.

It took Germany one hundred years to prove that our white pine
was an excellent tree for producing timber in that country.
In November, 1887, when B. E. Fernow, then Chief of the Forestry
Department at Washington, was asked to name some of the things
most necessary to do regarding the forests of Michigan, he replied,
"On the whole, studies in the natural woods, observations seem to me
more needed than experiments."

Here is an enumeration of some of the work that ought to be done
in Michigan:

1. Have the harbors at the mouth of rivers needed more dredging
since the trees were cut off along the margins of the streams?

2. Note the influence, if any, on different farm crops and orchards
at different distances from forests of various degrees of density and
light.

3. Observe the effects of spring and summer floods and mill-ponds
on timber and note which kinds perish and which continue to thrive,
with the view to learning what may be planted on such ground.

4. Note the effect of drainage of the land on forest trees.

5. Note the physical condition of the soil where excellent trees and
where inferior trees of any promising species may be growing.

6. Study and experiment to learn which species of trees improve the
soil most and which least.

7. Discover the reason why one mixture of trees sometimes changes
abruptly for another growing near by.
8. Discover by experiments in removing all the litter from certain
portions of a forest, every year, once in two years, three years, four
years, or a portion of the litter every year.
9. Compare the litter and soil to the depth of one foot in a good
forest with the soil of a field that has been cultivated thirty, forty,
fifty years or more.
10. Study the regions of sand-dunes and drifting sands in all places
with reference to improvement.
11. Study the root systems of different sorts of trees growing under
various conditions of soil and elevation.
12. Find out the geographical distribution in the State of any one
or each kind of tree and the reasons therefor.
13. Note the distribution of the species in "second growth" on stump
lands in many places, the kinds and the probable sources from "grubs"
or seeds.
14. Make observations on the succession of forests to see if any
further reasons can be discovered, as in case of pines, oaks, maples,
etc.
15. Study the life history of any species, or all in Michigan, by noting
its development from seed to maturity, as learned by studying at one
time trees of all ages in the same forest.
16. What amount of wood by weight or bulk is built per year by a
leaf surface of 1,000 square feet, of one to many species of trees, and
the weight of the leaves in each case exposing the 1,000 square feet
of surface?

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17. How much is the surface of one to many species of trees reduced
in winter compared with summer?

18. Study the rapidity of growth of each kind of desirable tree, each
in large numbers, to learn the most favorable and most economical
place and the least suitable place for growing each.

19. Compare some good maple trees of the same size growing on
good land and on poor in the Upper Peninsula and in Lenawee county
to learn which makes the most wood and which the best wood.

20. Compare the length of the growing season of one to many species
of trees in the Upper Peninsula with the same in Lenawee county.


21. Compare the condition of large trees and of small ones as found
standing in an old pasture with those growing in the woods. When
opportunity offers, see about the rapidity of growth since pasturing a wood lot.

22. Try to learn the conditions or various causes for a large annual
growth or a small annual growth in any one or more trees of one or
more species.

23. On a variety of acres, how many cubic feet of timber are produced in a year?

24. State all of our native trees and shrubs and grade them with
reference to the relative amount of light they need or shade they will
endure.

25. Experiment and observe to show that thin-foliaged trees should
not be planted by themselves.

26. Which species of trees are least liable and which most liable to
serious trouble from insects, fungi, wind, sleet, etc. .?

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27. Compare the economic value of good trees of different species,
taking into account the rapidity of growth and freedom from insects
and disease, and the value of the land on which they grow.

28. Secure seeds of every promising species from ten to twenty other
States and test side by side with Michigan seed to learn where is the
best place to secure seeds.

29. For a series of years, record the seasons when each species fruits
abundantly, noting frosts in spring.

30. Note the ages of different species, as they begin to bear fruit and
as they bear it in abundance, and those rarely fruiting, with seasons
for the latter.

31. Test the vitality of seeds and nuts buried at different depths.

32. Observe the modes and the distances of seed dispersed, and what
becomes of all the nuts and seeds, with many details.

33. Observe when each kind of seed begins to grow and follow up
seedlings to see what becomes of them in certain specified areas.

34. Experiment on seedlings of various promising species to learn
most suitable size for transplanting.

35. Experiment on numerous methods for learning the best and
most economical way for securing thrifty young white and Norway
pines planted where they are needed for a forest.

36. Experiment to learn the proper distances for planting white
pine.

37. Observe and experiment to learn the readiness with which some
different species of trees reproduce trees from sprouts.

38. Try different methods of renewing a forest.

39. Try different modes of management in cultivation, in mulching.
and in leaving to nature.

40. Compare trees of all sorts that grow from sprouts with seeding
of the same kinds, for vigor and health.

41. Experiment to see if it pays to thin trees, or lop off the tops of
trees of poor quality as they grow about trees of desirable species.

42. Note the changes for some years that take place in the neighboring young trees that surround the spot where one or more large trees
have been removed.

43. It is estimated that twice as much timber is stolen as is
destroyed by fire. This subject should be referred to an able committee, of whom some should be lawyers, to devise the best modes of
putting a stop to such work. This is the problem of first importance.

44. Enumerate the sources of danger from fires in the State.

45. Where are the fires most frequent and severe? In such neighborhood try by working with the people to induce reform.

46. Work out the details as to origin, course, extent and damage of
some one fire.

47. In some few places prepare open roads and burn every year to
keep them clean, noting results.

48. Make a few experiments on removing or burning the rubbish
where timber has been cut out, to show the cost, to show whether it is
feasible or utter folly.

49. Study the stunted, slow-growing little woody plants as repeatedly killed above ground by fire; see their growth after all trees have
been removed.

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50. Experiment with the common locust in various places and under
varying conditions to learn how to prevent the borers.

51. Test chestnut trees for thrift in many places and under varying
conditions.

52. Test any American trees not found in the State in several places
and grown under various conditions to possibly find some that are
profitable to grow in Michigan.

53. Experiment with perhaps thirty or more species and shrubs to
learn which are best to use as nurse trees to shade the ground in a
forest.

54. Observe trees that have vertical splits and their attempt to heal.
What are such trees? Under what conditions are they most liable to
split?

55. Find out what they are and compare trees that split at the forks
or crotches; also what trees break most by snow and sleet.

56. Compare trees of any species of varying ages to note how rapidly
they must usually grow to be able to recover from injury.

57. Study and compare many trees, noting the successes and fail-
ures in repairing wounds from decaying limbs and other causes.

58. Seek to find the sources of all possible injury to all sorts of trees
and the preventives. Why are there so few pine trees to any acre?

59. Compare the specifie gravity of any kind of wood grown in differ-
ent parts of the State on sand, clay, or rich loam
.
60. Test the weight, strength and durability of wood taken from
different parts of an oak or arbor vitæ.

61. Compare the length and size of fibres of any broad-leaved tree
or tracheids of cone-bearing tree, at different ages or periods of growth.

62. Where land is to be cleared, estimate carefully how much timber
of different grades occur to a certain measured area, and see how it
comes out.

63. Years of work can be profitably employed in comparing the
structure of wood of different kinds at different ages, with the view
of learning its physical peculiarities and adaptability for certain uses.
64. Compare the tops of fifty trees of any species that have grown in
the open with each other, noting whether the shapes change as the
trees become larger.

65. Compare trees of either species grown in the open with trees of
the same species grown in the forest.

66. Note and record the easiest popular points for identifying each
species of tree as seen in winter, as seen in summer.

67. Which species of trees hold their leaves on low branches in a
dense forest; on which species are the lower limbs naked?

68. Observe for some years the kinds, thickness, shape, size of tops
of young trees from two to ten feet high and much crowded to see
about dying branches and dying trees.

69. Compare the appearance, external and internal, of trees grown
north and south.

70. Study pieces of oak openings of "timbered land." and try to make
out all points of difference and try to account for these differences.

71. Pass over an old forest and study it with reference to removing
ripe trees and younger trees of slow growth or poor quality.

72. Note where one hundred, one thousand or more trees are growing
in a forest and try to account for their distribution.

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73. Knowing the nature of the soil for any acre or more, what are the
kinds of timber and the quality, also the kinds of shrubs and herbs?
What kind of roots have the perennial herbs for each kind of soil, as
on hills, upland, river bottom, clay, sand, loam?

74. Note what trees seem to be dying at the top in several forests,
and find the reason.

75. What are all the sorts of trees and shrubs surrounding a first-
class tree and the soil and climate of the locality?

76. Compare a number of trees of a number of species found on the
north slope, on the south, on the east, on the west. Are any species
doing better on the north slope, on the south slope, and which species,
if any, and the probable reasons?

77. Study the sizes and shapes and texture of leaves of white oak as
found on lower limbs in the shade, in exposed places; also note those
at the tops of the trees, and near the center of the top. The same for
any number of other species. If duplicates are observed and com-
pared, all the better.

78. In addition to any of the foregoing, it will be useful to study all
the details possible in a large number of good places in a forest, i. e., in
a good forest. Note, almost by diagrams, the positions occupied by
the leading trees of each species, their relative heights and sizes, the
nature of the undergrowth, the dead leaves, sticks, logs, every detail.

79. After much time in study this many-sided question begins to
make plans for growing good timber to advantage, whether they are
ever carried out or not.