REFORESTATION IN MASSACHUSETTS 



By F. W. RANE, 



State Foresteb of Massachusetts. 



'S a result of the educational campaign carried on bv the Massachusetts 

 Forestry Department there has been a general awakening on the part 

 of the public, especially land owners, to the opportunities which this 

 field affords for profitable investment and future development by reforestation 

 in the Bay State. This widespread interest has been manifested during the 

 past year by the great number of requests that have been made by clubs, 

 granges, boards of trade, and other organizations throughout the state for 

 lectures on this subject, as well as innumerable requests received by mail 

 for literature treating of the subject. The pres.s has also been no small 

 factor in urging upon the people the importance of reforestation. 



It must be quite obvious to every thinking person that to a state whose 

 present stock of woodland is second and third growth, most of it consisting 

 of sprouted trees which never become timber size, and which has nearly a 

 million acres of land which may properly be classed as waste land, largely 

 abandoned rough fields and .so-called natural pastures growing up to bru.sli, 

 reforestation becomes a question of vital interest. Even forty or fifty years 

 ago there were far-sighted men in Massachusetts who predicted the total 

 extinction of our timber supply unless remedial measures were taken in sea- 

 son to prevent it, and quite a strong feeling pervaded the state in favor of 

 planting commercial trees, but with the decline in farm values the enthusiasm 

 abated, not, however, until fifteen or twenty small plantations had been 

 set out by individuals in their private capacity. These plantations were 

 small, of course, averaging ten to twenty-five acres. 



As the white pine is a natural conifer of Massachusetts, a tree of com- 

 paratively rapid gi-owth, and especially adapted to the soil of this region 

 with its lumber in great demand, it is very natural that it should be given 

 preference over all others in the work of reforestation. In fact, the first 

 work of importance done by the pre.sent state forester after taking charge 

 of the forestry work in this state was to make a study of its growth, with 

 the result that in "Forest Mensuration of White Pine," a bulletin published 

 under his direction, are to be found fairly complete data concerning the white 

 pine. This bulletin shows, for instance, that the age at which a plantation 

 should be cut to yield the highest net returns is 50 years, and that an acre 

 of pine planted on average soil will produce at the rate of 900 board feet, 

 or more, per year. This information is of great value to farmers, as it 

 makes clear to them how the waste land of farms may be utilized and made 

 to become of constantly increasing value. Supposing the value of land at 

 the time of planting to be |(>.00 jter acre, the cost of planting flO.OO, taxes at 

 two per cent, an acre of pine will yield four per cent on the money invested, 

 and 1270 besides, a total of between six and seven per cent. These figures ai-e 

 based on the present prices of lumber, and not the probable prices fifty years 

 hence. 



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