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ACCOUNTING DEPARTMENT

This very important branch of the Commission was organized August 1, 1917, with Mrs. Helen Norton-Freeman, an expert accountant, in charge. The following is a financial statement from June 1, 1917, to October 1, 1917:

Appropriation for year ending September 30, 1917..
Inheritance Tax

Total

$100,000 00

214,570 99

$314,570 99

COMMISSION AND ENGINEER'S SALARY AND EXPENSE

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(Seventeenth Annual Report)

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MEMBERS OF BOARD

W. A. GUTHRIE.

CLAYTON D. ROOT.

STANLEY COULTER.

E. M. WILSON.

RICHARD LIEBER, State Forester.

CHARLES C. DEAM, Acting State Forester.

INTRODUCTION

The latest statistics give the woodland area of Indiana approximately at 3,000,000 acres, or about 15 per cent of the total area of the State. The importance of the subject of forestry in Indiana is readily comprehended when the vast investment in forest land is considered.

The timber of the Indiana forests has been considered the best in the world. This recognized high quality has resulted in excessive cutting, until now only a few virgin forests remain, and the wood-working industries of the State import 50 per cent of the timber they use.

Practically without exception, timber is cut without any plan for the perpetuity of the forest. The fate of forests on good agricultural land is proscribed, but there are thousands of acres of cut-over land in Indiana that should never be cleared. Ignorance has permitted the clearing of thousands of acres of non-agricultural land which has become washed, eroded and non-profitable, and which should be reforested.

How owners of non-agricultural lands are to be influenced or compelled to place in perpetuity their lands for forestry purposes is one problem the Board of Forestry is asked to solve. It has been suggested that the State gradually purchase and manage all of the forest land of the State. Some believe that some scheme of taxation, such as to relieve forest land from taxation or put a bounty on timber production would achieve the desired results. Others believe education alone will bring results. The last solution is the only means the board has for securing results. Every means of education has been resorted to, and every effort is being made within our meagre financial appropriation to extend the knowledge of the value of our forests and their management. The scientific demonstrations at the Forest Reserve are being pushed to the limit; press bulletins are regularly sent to the press of Indiana; prizes have been given the pupils of the public schools for writing competitive essays on forestry; the curriculum of the public schools now contains its share of forestry education; an exhibit has been made each year at the State Fair:

traveling forestry exhibits have been prepared; field work is done in the way of woodlot inspection and investigation, and efforts are being made to establish co-operative woodlot demonstration plots on each county farm of the State.

Progress in forestry in Indiana is evident from the increased demand for our annual reports and for literature pertaining to forestry. Since Vocational training and agricultural education have taken such an important place in our system of education, our annual reports are being used in many schools as a sort of text-book on forestry. This is notably true of our 1911 report, which contained a description of the trees of Indiana and their uses. This report has long been out of print and hundreds of requests for it have not been filled. City improvements have resulted in much shade tree planting, which has stimulated a demand from this department for information on the selection and planting of shade trees. Our bulletin on this subject has long been out of print, and should be reprinted, because it is not possible to give inquirers detailed information within the scope of a letter. The future of the Indiana woodlot depends upon the owner's knowledge of its possibilities and management. The high price of agricultural products will soon force woodlot owners to decide whether or not to cut or maintain them. Our supply of bulletins relating to the wood lot have been exhausted, and there are no doubt thousands of acres of forest land that could be saved from the ax and plow and later to be abandoned, if the proper literature was placed before the woodlot owner and supplied to the teachers in the public schools.

The brevity imposed on this report permits only of a synopsis of the work that is being done. For comparison the arrangements of the topics will follow that of former reports.

BOARD OF FORESTRY

The present Board of Forestry was appointed by Governor James P. Goodrich. The members are as follows: W. A. Guthrie of Dupont, Indiana, representing the Hardwood Lumber Dealers' Association of Indiana; Clayton D. Root of Crown Point, Indiana, representing the Retail Lumber Dealers' Association of Indiana; Stanley Coulter from the faculty of Purdue University; E. M. Wilson of Anderson, Indiana, representing the farmers of Indiana; and Richard Lieber of Indianapolis, ex-officio State Forester and superintendent of State Forest Reserves. The board met on July 2d for reorganization, and W. A. Guthrie was elected president of the board. At this meeting Richard Lieber announced that it would not be possible for him to devote his entire time to the duties of the office, and he proposed to the board that if they would employ a trained assistant he would donate his salary for the purpose. His offer was accepted, and Charles C. Deam, ex-state forester, was employed and given the title of Acting State Forester.

FOREST RESERVE

The Forest Reserve is located one mile north of Henryville, or nineteen miles north of Jeffersonville. It may be reached by the Pennsylvania Railroad or by the traction line.

Every year the Forest Reserve becomes more widely and more favorably known. Visitors from many states and from all parts of Indiana visit it. A few go for recreation, but the majority go for the purpose of studying the various experiments in progress. Some are interested in the recovery of washed or eroded hillsides; some in the improvement of their woodlots; some in planting shelter belts about their homes, and some in ornamental planting. Teachers from the surrounding towns and cities bring their botanical classes to study the native trees and shrubs. Nature study clubs find it a mine of interest and instruction. Visitors are always welcome and are shown every courtesy.

OFFICE WORK

The office work consists for the greater part in taking care of the correspondence, in making permanent records of the forest planting experiments at the Forest Reserve, and of the field work done.

LIBRARY

The library now numbers 1,915 titles. The greater part of the library consists of reports, bulletins and circulars relating to forestry from the United States Forest Service, and from the several states.

PRESS BULLETINS

Since the present Board came into office in July, 1917, press bulletins have been issued upon the following subjects:

August 18-Wood Fuel as a War Measure.

August 25-Forestry Exhibit at the State Fair.

October 13-Prizes Offered to School Children.

November 20-High Price of Coal Makes Wood Cutting Profitable.

These bulletins were printed in a large number of newspapers of the State, and have attracted much and favorable editorial comment because of their timeliness.

PRIZE ESSAYS

Four prizes, aggregating $40.00, were given this year to the pupils of the public schools for the best essays on "The Utility of the Forests." The prizes were awarded as follows:

High School-First prize, Inez Jackson, Osgood; second prize, Herbert S. Meinert, Hope.

Grades-First prize, Mary E. Campbell, Bloomington; second prize, Georgia Holderbaum, Larwill.

The fact that essays came in from every part of the State shows the Interest and scope of the effect of such propaganda.

FIELD WORK

Woodlots and forest planting were inspected in several counties, and seventeen special investigations and recommendations were made. This branch of the work is making increased demands upon the time of the Acting State Forester, and is of very great promise for the future de

velopment of scientific forestry in the State. It is planned during the coming year to undertake a series of co-operative plantings in various parts of the State in connection with county and State institutions.

EXHIBIT AT STATE FAIR

The State Fair was held September 3-7, 1917. An attendance of several hundred thousand at the State Fair offers an unusual opportunity of presenting the subject of forestry to the public. This department owns a building, 24 by 36 feet, in which a permanent exhibit is installed. The principal features of the exhibit were: A dendrological exhibit which shows sections about sixteen inches in length of the bark and wood of every tree, shrub and woody vine that grows in Indiana. With each section, in most instances, was shown a Riker mount of a specimen of the leaves and fruit. Boards, plain and quarter-sawed, unfinished and finished, of the principal woods of the State were shown. Mumford pictures of all the birds of economic importance to our forests were arranged and mounted. Under the picture of each bird was a drawing showing in percentage to what extent it was injurious and beneficial. Photographs of Turkey Run and McCormick's Creek State Parks and Frankfort and Attica Municipal Parks were shown. Photographs of the work in progress at the Forest Reserve was an interesting feature. Insects injurious to forest trees, such as tne bag worm and locust borer were shown. Charts and photos illustrating the selection and planting of shade trees were shown. There was an educational exhibit of what some of the schools of the State are doing in teaching of forestry. The different kinds of medicinal roots, barks, seeds, etc., found in our forests were exhibited. On the outside of the building an erosion model was in operation which attracted much attention. Trees were brought from the Forest Reserve to show the effect of soil, etc., on rate growth. Two of the trees were ash, which were planted at the same time and in the same field and were ten years old from the seed. One of these trees grew in poor ground and was under ten feet in height and a little over an inch in diameter at the base, while the other tree shown, which grew in rich soil, was thirty-three feet high and 5 inches in diameter at the base. Another example was that of two yellow poplars, which were planted at the same time in the same field and were twelve years old from the seed. The one that grew in poor ground on a washed slope was less than eight feet in height and about an inch in diameter at the base. The other, which grew in richer soil at the base of the slope, was thirty-four feet high and 64 inches in diameter at the base.

The subjects of the exhibit that attracted the most attention are arranged in the order of importance and are as follows: The dendrological exhibit was the most attractive and the erosion model second. Then the birds, shade tree exhibit, insect work, Forest Reserve, educational exhibit, wood finishes, etc.

Attendants explained the exhibit and distributed literature until the supply was exhausted. Our register showed we had visitors from every part of the State and from many States.

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