FORESTRY
The study of this subject is a novel one for women's clubs, but it is of
great interest. Women who desire an intelligent view of their own
country should certainly take it up and understand what is being done
to-day and what is planned for the future. Books to be read are: A First
Book of Forestry, by F. Roth; A Primer of Forestry, by Gifford Pinchot;
and The Forest and Practical Forestry, the Department of Agriculture.
I--INTRODUCTORY
All uncivilized nations ruthlessly cut off their forests for fuel and
timber, both ignorant and indifferent to the result of the destruction.
Where there are no trees, the water-supply dies away, the soil then
becomes infertile, and the population is threatened with famine. China
is practically denuded of trees, after unknown centuries of waste. India
has numberless hillsides and plains once wooded, now bare and parched;
and so of many other Oriental countries.
II--THE BEGINNINGS OF FORESTRY
Early in the sixteenth century there was a certain realization of the
danger of neglect of trees; Sully, the great minister of France,
suggested that some restrictions should be laid on cutting, and some
study of forestry made by the government. Germany also followed the same
course, and England, which began to feel the shortage of timber
severely, practised more careful cutting and set out certain
plantations. The great landowners everywhere cared for their timber in
their private parks, and cut only when necessary. At the beginning of
the eighteenth century planting was begun in Scotland and later in
Ireland, and it is interesting to note that now the planted areas exceed
the natural growth in these two countries. Foreign trees were also
introduced at this time, and in many cases flourished even better than
the natural growths.
III--PRESENT CONDITIONS ABROAD
Practically now every civilized country practises forestry in a greater
or less degree. Germany has nine schools where it is taught, and there
are four and a half billion acres under government care. France is
equally careful, and every forest is guarded, though its schools are not
as many. England has a forest policy which calls for the planting of
nine million acres, ten thousand each year. Russia has such enormous
forests that as yet the care of her trees does not seem to her
critically important, yet she too is beginning to conserve her
resources. Italy has been almost stripped of her forests by neglect, but
she is at last waking to her peril and beginning to foster what is left.
In India an interesting work is being done by the English, who are
establishing schools for the natives to teach forestry; this in time
will make the country far more fertile than now. New Zealand, always
progressive, has a well-planned system; Argentine, Hawaii, and Terra del
Fuego practise the science.
IV--THE PAST IN AMERICA
Forestry was begun at home by one man, Jared Eliot of Salisbury,
Connecticut, who in 1730 began to cut his trees systematically for
charcoal furnaces. But unfortunately no one followed in his footsteps
because our forests were so rich that it did not seem necessary;
thirty-six per cent. of all our area is in trees. This fact has made us
reckless; whole hillsides have been constantly stripped by farmers for
wood, or to make arable land. Great trees have been cut down when
smaller ones would have done quite as well. Worst of all, the lumbermen
of the Middle West and South have swept clean enormous areas of land,
cutting down large and small pines alike, and leaving nothing but
stumps.
Even more destructive have been the forest-fires which have sprung up
through carelessness or drouth, and suffered to burn unhindered till
they died out. As late as 1910 twenty-five million dollars' worth of
natural timber was destroyed, partly in the Far West and partly in the
East. Of late, too, certain insects have made havoc with large tracts,
and hills have been left bare and brown where they have been.
V--CONSERVATION
In 1882 the Forestry Association was formed to correct existing evils,
to care for standing timber, and to restock where that was necessary.
There are now over six thousand members of the association, and a paper
of great interest is published, called _American Forestry_, which gives
practical suggestions. This association has accomplished marvels in the
few years of its existence. In 1899 there were thirty-six
forest-reserves in the West. In addition, many States have their own
reserves.
VI--RENEWAL
In addition to caring for existing trees, others now are planted. Some
States have bounties for this purpose; others maintain nurseries where
saplings are raised and set out; seeds are sown; foreign trees are
introduced; in our public schools our children are instructed in the
growth and care of trees, and many have Arbor Day, when trees are
planted and exercises held to impress the children with the importance
of the occasion.
VII--SCHOOLS OF FORESTRY
There is a definite plan to have forestry taught in every State, and
short courses have been added to the curriculum of the State
universities. Yale and Cornell have forestry schools, and Harvard a
forestry course. At Biltmore, North Carolina, there is an excellent
school with exceptional forest advantages. Clubs can send for catalogues
of these schools.
VIII--THE RETURNS
Forestry does not aim to produce immediate commercial returns; indeed,
from that standpoint the returns are slow; yet in the end these are
greater than when the science is disregarded. Trees must be regarded as
a crop to be cut only in small sections rather than as a whole. But the
system once thoroughly established, the returns are steady and sure.
Timber is cut exactly at the right time instead of at haphazard, and so
is of the right size and age. Fuel is gathered from trees meant for that
purpose, and timber for building purposes from trees meant for that
alone.
In addition to the commercial results there are also others. Parks are
set aside for recreation and beauty, and game is preserved rather than
destroyed. Hillsides are renewed; winds are kept off; our watersheds are
protected, and rivers and streams kept full, and the land fertile.
IX--FAMOUS TREES
Add to this study program two more meetings. Have one on Famous Trees
and Forests, naming among others: The Cedars of Lebanon, the historic
King's Oak which sheltered Charles I., the Charter Oak, and others;
note also the famous redwoods of California; the Burnham Beeches; the
historic Sherwood Forest; the New Forest and Dean Forest of England; the
Black Forest of Baden and the forests of the Vosges Mountains of France.
X--TREES AND FORESTS IN LITERATURE
The last program of the year may be on the general subject of trees and
forests in literature. Read or recite from such poems as: A Forest Hymn
and the Planting of the Apple Tree, by William Cullen Bryant; Christmas
in the Woods, by Harrison Weir; Forest Pictures, by Paul Hamilton Hayne;
the Summer Woods, by William Henry Burleigh; The Primeval Forest, from
Evangeline, by Longfellow; The Holly Tree, by Robert Southey, and The
Trees and the Master, by Sidney Lanier. Read from The Quest of John
Chapman, by Newell Dwight Hillis, and also from The Forest, by Stewart
Edward White.