ties have adopted the title of "city forester," and so obtained a more
complete park organization on paper, why not make the improvement real
by adopting the rest of the European practice and creating city forests
for these new officers to handle? That would indeed be a real
improvement, and one without which any city park system is lamentably
lame.

Nearly every large city has some large park within in limits kept in a
more or less natural condition as a recreation ground for its people,
thus recognizing its influence for health and social betterment. How
much it would increase this influence if there were a considerable tract
of forest within easy reach of the city! How much better approach it
would make to the city than the unsightly waste places so often
encountered! How much better setting it would make for the suburban
residence sections!

Such a municipal forest is not a Utopian dream, but a practical thing
well within the reach of almost any city. The law passed by the last
legislature makes it possible for a city to purchase land for such a
purpose either within or without the city limits. The activities of the
present park boards show that money can be obtained to carry out such
plans. The establishment of the forests would be less expensive than is
generally imagined. The amount of money expended on the Gateway Park in
Minneapolis would buy hundreds of acres of city land within fifteen
miles of the city. With the aid of a municipal nursery, such as every
park system should have, this land could be planted up at a total
expense, for stock and labor, of six to eight dollars per acre. The cost
of maintenance would be limited to the patrol of the tract to prevent
fire and trespass. Of course, there might be no money revenue from the
forest for many years, but in a comparatively short time it would begin
to fulfill its purpose as a park, and once the timber is mature, there
would be a continuous net annual income of from five to ten dollars per
acre. Suppose that the city had 10,000 acres of such forest paying a net
annual revenue--in addition to its full services as a park--of from
$50,000 to $100,000 toward the maintenance of the other city parks, and
it must be remembered that for every dollar of net revenue the forest
would pay an additional dollar or more in wages to swell the coffers of
the city;--certainly that would be something very much better than
anything that the city has at present.

St. Paul, wit