The Illinois forests have yielded for home use and for sale important timber products. About two million acres of land are still in forests, and are better adapted to the production of timber crops than farm crops. A scientific forest policy should be developed so that good crops of timber might be harvested at intervals throughout an indefinite future. With increasing scarcity of timber and advancing prices of timber products, profitable returns may be had by planting areas of the poorer lands of the state in trees which may be used for various pur poses on the farm, on the railroad, or in the mine.
Forests and the pioneer.—Most of the native forests of Illinois occupying good agricultural land have been cleared. Timber not needed for the homestead was burned. This waste of valuable timber was necessary if fertile agricultural lands were to be put to their best use—the production of crops for food and clothing through proper cultivation of the soil. The pioneer in the Illinois forest could not await a market for his timber products. It was necessary to clear the land by burning the timber in order to raise cereals, other crops, and domestic animals that his family might be supplied with necessary food and clothing. In densely forested regions the abundance of timber led to the belief that there would always be an ample supply for future use. Hill lands and poor lands were frequently cleared when they should have been kept in trees and given the necessary care to insure a perpetual supply of timber products whether for fuel, railroad tics, posts, or lumber for building purposes. In many cases land of fair agricultural value may be more profitable to the farmer if preserved as forest than to be cleared and used for farm crops. The annual income from a well-cared-for wood lot may equal or exceed that from the same acreage of farm land. The pioneer or first settler did not carry the destruction of forests farther than his agricultural needs required, as this could not be done, as a rule, during his lifetime. His successors continued the clearing of land so that the timber has been removed from many areas where a well managed wood lot would have been profitable as a source of timber products for local use.
Native trees of Illinois.—A careful study of the forests of Illinois was made in 1910 and published by the State Laboratory of Natural History. The following extracts and the complete list of trees native to Illinois are from this bulletin:1 Museum specimens of native trees.—A very compre
hensive exhibit of the native trees of Illinois is found in the State Natural History Museum at Springfield. Each species of the exhibit is represented by natural sections of the tree showing cross-section, longitudinal section, and radial section. These specimens constitute a permanent display of the more common trees of the native forests of the state, representing 101 species.
Native trees of a small woodland.—A large variety of trees may be found within the limits of a small native woodland. The plants of "Bird Haven," a tract of 1S acres near Olney, Richland County, have been listed by the owner, Mr. Robert Ridgway, America's noted ornithologist. The list given shows how well the term "mixed hardwood forest" applies even to a small tract of the native forests of the Central states.
In addition to the foregoing, the white mulberry (60) is growing spontaneously as an exotic in Bird Haven; it is thoroughly naturalized in Richland County.
While Bird Haven is so well supplied with trees growing naturally, these do not constitute all the native plant life of this small area. Probably no other forest area of Illinois has had all its vegetation so carefully and accurately listed as Bird Haven. Mr. Ridgway's detailed lists show the great variety of plant life to be found on a small area of Illinois woodland. Of woody species growing naturally, there were 60 trees, 17 shrubs, and 12 climbers, a total of S9 native plants. In addition, other woody species native to Illinois have been planted in Bird Haven as follows: trees 13, shrubs 6, and climbers 3, or 22 in all, making a total of woody plants of 111 species. To this number a list must be added of 227 herbaceous plants, growing naturally, making a grand total of 33S plant species accurately determined.
White-pine forest.—A native forest area in northern Illinois is described as follows in a pamphlet issued by the White Pinc Forest Association.
The White Pine Forest consists of a tract of about 500 acres situated in the western part of Ogle County. The main line of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railway from Chicago to Minneapolis passes along the edge of the forest, and the station of Stratford is one mile distant. The picturesque stream of Pine Creek traverses the forest from north to south. In many places the stream runs at the base of high limestone cliffs. These cliffs and almost perpendicular walls are overgrown with ferns and moss in great profusion.