202 Heport of Farmers' Institutes 



Mr. E. C. Hirst, State Forester of New Hampshire writes as 



follows : 



I have in mind one tract of land that sold for $16 per acre. The bare 

 land would probably have been worth from $6 to $8, but there was a 

 growth of pines on the ground all the way from small seedlings to sap- 

 lings 20 feet high, and this is what made the extra value. 



Mr. B. H. Chandler, Assistant State Forester of Vermont, in a 

 recent letter states : 



In buying land for the state we always take into consideration the 

 young growth in making up our estimate of land value. I consider a 

 fully stocked reproduction of valuable fast growing species on I or II 

 quality soil worth about $10 per acre in addition to the value of the 

 land. 



Mr. E. E. Carter, Acting Assistant Forester of the United 



States Depai-tment of Forestry, Washington, D. C, gives us the 



following information : 



I know of a number of cases in southern Maine where land bearing 

 young rapidly growing stands of pine, containing some merchantable 

 trees but mostly too small to cut even in a portable sawmill operation, 

 have been sold at values distinctly above the usual price of bare pasture 

 or brush land in the vicinity. I personally tried to buy a small tract 

 covered with a volunteer growth of pine from 5 to 30 years of age at 

 the " going " price of pasture land, but the owner, although in straitened 

 financial circumstances, refused to sell at that price, stating that he 

 considered that the stand of pine doubled tlie valvie of the area in question, 

 although the value of the merchantable trees at the local stumpage rate 

 would not have increased the land value more than 25 per cent. 



The timber supply throughout this state is fast becoming ex- 

 hausted. As the above examples indicate, land owners are be- 

 ginning to realize the value of a young stand of thrifty growing 

 timber. The farm Avoodlot should no longer be considered as 

 merely a source of supply for fuel and timber as long as it lasts, 

 but rather it should be treated as a special crop yielding a yearly 

 income indefinitely. 



ITearly every farm contains some unproductive land on which 

 the owner pays taxes at the same rate as on- the remainder of his 

 farm, but gets no returns. These unproductive areas could be 

 fenced and reforested, since very steep land, or rocky, stony land, 

 affords but very inferior pasture, while, if planted to forest trees, 

 it could be classified under Section 16 or 89 of the Laws of 1912, 

 and the assessment reduced to the actual value of the land alone ; 

 or the exemption from taxes may be had for a period of 35 years. 

 The initial expense of reforesting such land by farmers can be 

 kept very low, since in many cases the farmer can utilize labor 



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