The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1901-07-05

to the coast are looking forward to the
time when the bulk of lumber con-
sumed in this state will be brought
from the primeval woods of Oregon
and Washington. For any one who
will need to buy lumber in the next
twenty years it will make differ
ence of hundreds of dollars whether we
go on in our present wasteful consump-
tion of the forest, or whether we in
augurate measures for forest regenera-
ton. Probably there are 90, 600, 900, :
600 feet of pine still standing in Min
nesota, and principally in the counties
of Cook, Lake, st. Louis, Itacsa,
Cass and Beltrami There is still some
left in Carleton, Pine, Kanabec, Mile,
Laos, Aitkin, Morrison, Crow Wing.
Todd, Hubbard and Becker. There
remains much cedar, spruce, balsam
and tamarack, immense quantities of
poplar, and an extensive supply of
other deciduous woods. Most people
know that hardwood timber land has
a natural fertility which makes it
suitable for farming, and when the
timber is cleared from such land, it
is expected that it will ultimately
come under the pillow. 1t lis different
with most of the land which naturally
bears coniferous forest such as the
pine. And herein is the significance
of forestry for the people of Minnesota,
that the pine will in our climate earn
by its growth net income on the
capital it represents of per cent COM
pound interest on refuse land-land
that is too sandy, or too hilly, or too
rocky for profitable cultivation. Air
and water are the principal food of
the pine. No matter how low our tenn
perature falls in winter, or how high
it rises in the summer-no matter
what the vicissitudes of our climater
may be, yet there is the pine, ever
thrifty and beautiful.
A characteristic feature of our rural
landscape is the modest dwelling and
large barn. The large barn How
much is expressed in those few words.
Surely the barn builder 1.-THE farmer)
is one of the principal consumers of
lumber. There are 10, 900, 900 acres of
land in Minnesota suitable for agri-
culture, but not yet cultivated, and
the progress of it's development will
depend not little on ther-cheapness of
lumber.
1t was supposed that under the act
of creating the Minnesota state for
estry board considerable cut-over land
unfit for agriculture would be donated
to the state for forestry purposes. Ex-
Gov. John S. Pillsbury has donated to
the state 1000 acres of such land,
which is all that has been thus far
donated. If the forest resources of the
state are to be perpetuated it will be
necessary for the Legislature to appro-
pirate money for the purpose of pur-
chasing land that is only fit for grow
ing timber. I would recommend an
annual appropriation of 500, 900 for
such purpose, and that the state for
estry board be authorized to begin the
work of planting the land with pine.
Naturally no one tract would. be..very
large. The act creating the...foresry
board makes town boards of supervis-
ors forestry boards, and requires that
they be consulted in the selection of
lands for forestry purposes. The lands
would be largely under the care of To-
cal boards, whose principal work
would be to protect them from fire. 1t
would be about a generation before
the pine would be worth stealing, and
in that time a public sentiment would
have grown up whereby the property
would be comparatively safe from tres
pass.
l would recommend an amendment
to the constitution in substance as fol-
lows:
Land which is unfit for agriculture
and on which forest is systematically
grown in good faith on tracts of not
less than forty acres shall be exempt
from taxation but the forest crop on
such land shall be taxed according to
its value when it has reached mer-
charitable size and the tax shall be a
lien on the land. Provided, that any
land on which the branches and tops
of felled trees shall remain after six
months from the time the trees were
felled shall be assessed and taxed as
other land is assessed and taxed.
The report contains sketches of the
forestry of sixteen European countries