244 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Dckj. 



REPORTS OF COMMITTEES PRESENTED AT 

 THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE STATE 

 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE, HELD AT HARRIS- 

 BURG, PA. , JANUARY 28 AND 29, 1903. 



REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON FORESTRY. 



Bt Br. J. T. ROTHBOCK, Chairman. 



Your chairman of the Committee on Forestry is again glad to 

 report progress for the past year. In the nature of the case, 

 progress is all he can report, for the work never will be ended so 

 long as men use timber, or so long as general prosperity is based 

 upon abundance of raw material. From the cradle to the grave, 

 there is not an hour in which he can dispense with wood. Remove 

 it from our grasp, and civilization would disappear from the earth. 



The year elapsing since we last met has been one of marked ac- 

 tivity in forest work. The State is now in actual possession of at 

 least 360,000 acres, with about 200,000 acres more in process of 

 acquisition. The average price paid per acre for all this land has 

 been about |1.90. The quality of the land and the quantity of the 

 timber have not been the only factors in determining the price 

 paid. For the same character of land and the same quality of 

 timber a higher price would, should and must be paid when the 

 pm'chase is made near a region with large interests at stake, and 

 requiring protection, than when the adjacent territor}^ is barren. 



We may cite the case of the Mont Alto Reservation, in Franklin 

 and Adams counties. This occupies the larger part of the South 

 Mountain range, and lies in the fertile region between Chambers- 

 burg and Gettysburg. Yast agricultural and manufacturing inter- 

 ests are concentrated there. Timber is needed for fencing, for 

 building and for fuel. Abundant water is needed for farming and 

 for power. That mountain range is the one available spot to satisfy 

 the demands of Cumberland, Franklin and Adams counties, from 

 which the timber and water flow must come. The streams there, 



