FOREST COMMISSIONER'S REPORT. 15 



fertile soil as renders it certain that unless in the future there 

 shall be nothino; in a<j:riculture, this is destined to be a farm- 

 ing country. The coast region of the State as well, carry- 

 ing the impetus of earliest settlement, possessed of established 

 transportation and a number also of natural advantages, we 

 can safely count on as devoted mainly to commercial and 

 manufacturino; interests. 



Of great bodies of territory, however, it seems that an 

 entirely different future is to be predicted. Washington 

 county, for instance, north of the coast line, and the great 

 plateau country centering on Moosehead lake and containing 

 the head waters of all four of the great rivers of the State, 

 possess little to attract any but the tourist and lumberman. 

 Rough land, with seldom either a deep or fertile soil, far, too, 

 from present centers of population, these tracts seem to be 

 destined permanently to the production of timber. As Scan- 

 dinavia is to Europe, the source of its oldest and finest tim- 

 ber, so, it appears, will the rough lands of jNIaine and New 

 Hampshire, and the mountain ridges of the Appalachian sys- 

 tem to the south, be to the eastern United States. 



Taking for granted these predictions, and the continued 

 importance of the lumber business in Maine, what is the 

 State's interest in the matter? It lies, broadly speaking, in 

 the directions of economy and the steadiness and permanence 

 of business. It demands that our resources shall be used to 

 best advantage. It demands that our standing timber be not 

 wasted or exhausted, that growth be utilized to best advan- 

 tage, that the future producing power of our forests be not 

 destroyed. That this is the interest and right of the com- 

 munity should be distinctly recognized, but on the other hand 

 it is seldom antagonistic to the interest of any class. The 

 State's interest does not require that timber should be cut at a 

 loss, nor does it demand that growth should be left for the 

 future that is worth more to-day. The interests of the State 

 and of individuals are generally identical, and whatever in 

 the way of forest study the State might attempt would result 



