6 FOREST COMMISSIONER'S REPORT. 



the atti"activeness of our forest regions, for the reason that 

 we are behig greatly benefited and enriched by them, every 

 year. 



In assuming the duties of this office, however, I did not 

 understand that it was expected I should study Maine forests 

 with an esthetic view, but more especially with reference to 

 deriving some practical knowledge that should be of material 

 benefit, yet having no source from which to derive informa- 

 tion relating to the subject of forestry as applicable to Maine, 

 I have not been able to accomplish as much as I hoped to do 

 in the way of actual results, to embody in a detailed report. 



Before g-ivins; such details as we have been able to obtain, 

 however, I wish to give a brief outline of the system of lum- 

 bering that has been followed in this State through the years 

 past in order to show, in part, the basis of our reasoning. 



The 'Tine Tree State" as Maine is commonly called, is 

 almost a mis-nomer at the present time, for although Maine 

 is known as the state of magnificent forests, it is to be regret- 

 ted that the pine tree has become, comparatively, a thing of 

 the past. 



Within the memory of very many of our older inhabitants, 

 in speaking of the timber lands, only the value of the pine 

 was taken into consideration in fixing prices, even spruce, 

 which has since become so very valuable, being considered 

 of so little value as to enter as a very small factor in their 

 calculation. 



No one seemed to dream that the spruce growth would ever 

 yield such enormous revenues as they have since done — far 

 exceeding those from pine — and stranger still, that cedar lands 

 were formerly regarded as absolutely worthless and marked 

 as waste lands on their charts and plans but have since proved 

 to have been the most valuable, per acre, of any of the tim- 

 ber lands, having yielded in many instances thirty dollars and 

 forty dollars per acre. 



An old lumberman has told me that in Washington county, 

 he could once obtain permits to cut spruce directly on the 

 banks of good driving waters at a mere nominal price, but 



