FORESTRY IN OHIO.

To the Honorable Board of Directors of the State Forestry Bureau :

GENTLEMEN: In submitting to you this, my Fifth Annual Report upon Forestry, let me briefly summarize the work of this Bureau during the year closed, and then call your attention to some of the more pressing needs of forestry. While in the first two years of its existence the work of this Bureau was investigative of the extent, distribution and condition of the forests in the State and of the causes of their decay, it has during the last three years, and more especially during 1889, been advisory and educational, and thereby "it has," in words of Prof. Sargent, "justified its existence." The lamentable condition of our forests, and the causes of their gradual but sure decay, are so well known, that any further efforts to verify an accepted truth seems to be superfluous.

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The great need of information in matters pertaining to forestry has been apparent for many years, but only to a few. It is only of recent time that the people begin to feel it, when failure attends their first efforts in practical forestry. The numerous letters of inquiry received during the past year relate to almost every department of forestry-from the gathering of the seeds and the raising of seedlings to the seasoning of the timber-from the planting of trees for honey to the planting for charcoal to be used for industrial purposes and in the manufacture of gunpowder.

Although, in some instances, it became necessary to institute special investigations, which the correspondents might well have made themselves, it has been my policy to furnish the desired information. More frequently the inquiries made were answered by sending a report and calling attention to certain articles contained therein. It is very significant that such inquiries are received not only from people of this State but from all parts of the Union, which shows that the influence of the Bureau is not limited to this State.

But greater and far more lasting has been the educational influence of this Bureau through the wise distribution of its annual reports, as is evidenced by personal letters, by newspaper reports, and by the re-publication of many of its articles in daily papers, in journals, devoted to agriculture and horticulture, and to the lumbering interest. Even in

Europe these reports are held in high esteem. By your direction nearly all that portion of the reports which were given to Mr. J. B. Peaslee and myself to distribute, namely, 1,000 copies of each volume, were bound and distributed to

1. All large public libraries of the country.

2. All public libraries of this State.

3. All State libraries.

7. All the largest colleges and universities of the country.

8.

All the schools of Forestry in Europe.

9. The more important journals* of agriculture, of the lumbering interest and the wood-working industries.

By this distribution the reports are accessible to millions of readers. True, the postage on them amounts to a considerable sum, yet it is admitted by even the most economical people that it is money well spent.

The demands for the reports of this Bureau are at an increase. A number of requests for copies could not be granted as the supply was exhausted or disposed of by order of your honorable Board. To supply such a former member of the Legislature kindly volunteered to turn his portion of Vol. I over to me.

A great agency in forestal education is the observance of Arbor Day. It is greatly to be regretted that the observance of the day has, during the last few years. been on the decline in this State. Ohio, the State in which the School Arbor Day originated in 1882, can ill afford to ignore this day, yet this is practically the case. In former years, the Ohio State Forestry Association made a special effort to secure the observance of the day in all parts of the State by organizing State and County Arbor Day Committees. The County Arbor Day Committees, at the request of the State Committee, organized township and local Arbor Day Committees. The cost of organizing these committees and of providing them with pamphlets and circulars relating to Arbor Day celebration was borne by the State Forestry

*Several of the journals who received reports kindly furnished me their papers regularly, thus affording me an opportunity to ascertain the results of the latest experience. I hereby gratefully acknowledge the receipt of

1. The Country Gentleman, Albany, N. Y.

2. The Ohio Farmer, Cleveland, O.

3. The Prairie Farmer, Chicago, Ill.

4. The Kansas Farmer, Topeka, Kas.

5. Farm and Home, Springfield, Mass.

6. The Northwestern Lumberman, Chicago, Ill.

7. The Timberman, Chicago, Ill.

8. The Lumber Trade Journal, Chicago, Ill.

9. The Wood Worker, Indianapolis, Ind.

10. The Mechanic and Builder, New York, N. Y.

Association, which also defray ed the expenses of the celebration in Cincinnati. For the past few years the State Forestry Association has done nothing in the matter, depending upon the State Forestry Bureau to do the work. In the last few years all other States celebrating Arbor Day* excelled Ohio. This ought not to be so. It will be well for this Bureau to take steps now to secure an Arbor Day Celebration in 1891, in every household of the State. If the meetings of the American Forestry Congress be considered an authority on forestal matters, we needs must consider the establishment of schools of forestry a necessity, for at each of its meetings it passed resolutions favoring the establishment of such institutions. The Ohio State Forestry Association, and later, the State Forestry Bureau, have not been slow to recognize the importance of such a measure. In each of my reports I alluded to this need, and I am not alone in advocating this matter. The agitation came to culminating point in the Inaugural Address of his Excellency, Governor James E. Campbell, in which he recommends the establishment of a school of forestry at Athens, Ohio. The friends of forestry in all parts of the State and the Union very justly hailed this recommendation as the commencement of a new era in the history of the forestry movement in America. In due time, Hon. Guy W. Mallon intruduced a bill,‡ providing for the establishment of such an institution at the Ohio University. The bill was referred to the Committee on Colleges and Universities, and will probably come up for action at the next session of the General Assembly.

Another important subject for investigation and experiment, too, is forest-zoology. I have spoken of this on previous occasions, and more especially in the third and fourth annual report. A more extensive treatise on this question will be found in this volume. We need information regarding the occurrence of insects injurious to the forest, and the extent of their depredation; we should know all the friends of the forests, be they birds or animals.§. It has been asserted that in most parts of the entire country, the domestic animals do more injury to the forests than all other foes combined. From what I have observed, not only in this, but also in other States, I believe this statement to be correct. Let the farmers of

*Arbor Day is now observed in thirty-six States of the Union: Pennsylvania observing two, viz.: one in Spring and one in Autumn. See article on Meeting of American Forestry Congress, on another page of this report.

During the past year, several books on Arbor Day Celebration have been published, the last being "Harper's School Speaker, Book First, Arbor Day, etc.," by Dr. James Baldwin, which is much on the plan of Arbor Day Celebration Exercises, by Dr. John B. Peaslee, published in 1884.

†See copy of this portion of his address in another part of this report.

The bill, a memorial and several letters relating to the subject will be found in another part of this report.

It is a fact worthy of notice, that some of the friends of the forest, for example the mole, are by most people considered foes, and therefore destroyed.

Ohio understand that wood-pasture is a delusion, and he will not be slow to protect his woodland against the inroads of cattle and sheep.

From what I have said about the amount of work you will readily see that the present provision to accomplish is entirely inadequate. If the work is to be done at all, it should be done well, and to do this it certainly will at least require one man's entire time and undivided attention. This, of course, can not be done for so small an appropriation as is now at your disposal.

In conclusion, I desire to publicly thank all who kindly contributed the results of their valuable experience and investigation to this report. Special thanks are due to the press, which has always been ready to assist the Bureau in its efforts to solicit information and to promulgate the results of its investigation.

Respectfully submitted.

ADOLPH LEUÉ, Secretary State Forestry Bureau.

A JOURNEY

OF THE

STATE FORESTRY BUREAU THROUGH A PORTION OF THE HOCKING VALLEY ON AUGUST 7TH, 8тH, 9тH AND 10TH, 1889.

[BY ADOLPH LEUE, Secretary.]

INTRODUCTION. To more clearly ascertain the forestal relation of Southern Ohio, and to better understand the needs of forestry in that region than can be done by correspondence, the Board of Directors of this Bureau, at a meeting held in Columbus, June 29, 1889, decided upon holding its next meeting in that section of the State, and authorized Mr. Weltz to make the necessary arrangement for that meeting.

Early in August Mr. Weltz informed the President of the Bureau, Dr. John B. Peaslee, that every thing was ready for a meeting at Lancaster, Fairfield county, Ohio, and for a journey to the Ohio Reform Farm, located in that county The President then set apart the 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th days of August, 1889.

FROM CINCINNATI TO LANCASTER.-The direct route between Cincinnati and Lancaster is the Cincinnati and Muskingum R. R., which, being operated by the Pennsylvania Central, starts from the Little Miami depot. As the Bureau was to meet in the evening of the 7th, Mr. Peaslee and myself took the train which leaves Cincinnati at 11:52 A. M., standard time.

The regions traversed by railroads are generally supposed to be well known, and so they are to people who live along or near such roads and, to some extent, to those who pass over it, but besides these there are very few who have a clear idea of the physical geography of such regions. It is a well known and, indeed, a remarkable fact that, as a general rule, the people of this country strive after a knowledge about distant lands rather than after an acquaintance with their own, always forgetting that to fully understand a foreign country we should be well acquainted with our own. This same longing after a knowledge of distant lands induces thousands of people annually to visit Europe, and, from my own experience with Americans abroad, I venture the assertion that not more than 10 per cent. of all who go to Europe have seen our Niagara, and that less than 5