VERMONT AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 47 



How to Make a Beginning, Bulletin io6, New Hampshire 

 Experiment Station, Durham, N. H. 



The following are some of the most practical of the pub- 

 lications of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service: 



Planting of White Pine in New England, Bulletin 45. 



Natural Replacement of White Pine on Old Fields in New 

 England, Bulletin 63. 



The Forest Nursery, Bulletin 29. 



The Wood Lot, Bulletin 42. 



The Forest Service, what it is and how it deals with Forest 

 Problems, Circular 36. 



Circular 36 contains a list of the publications of the U. S. 

 Department on Forestry. To secure it, or any of the above, ad- 

 dress The Forester, U. S. Department Agriculture, Washington, 

 D. C. It may also be noted that the Year Books of the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture and the Reports of the Secretary of Agricul- 

 ture back for nearly twenty years each contain more or less valu- 

 able matter on forestry. 



The importance of the forestry problem to Vermont can 

 hardly be overstated. Out of a total land surface of 5,846,000 

 acres, nearly four millions are of little value except to produce 

 wood and timber. Properly handled, these waste lands should 

 produce for the people of the State a net income of from one to 

 two dollars per acre per year. Under present conditions much of 

 it is producing nothing. 



As being steps in the right direction, I suggest action by the 

 Legislature on the following subjects: 



1st. We should secure accurate information as to our pres- 

 ent forestry conditions. We have now no definite knowledge of 

 our forest resources. This information could be secured either 

 through cooperation with the Federal Forest Service (as was done 

 in New Hampshire) or independently. 



2nd. It will be observed that about half the fires of last year, 

 of which the causes are known, and nearly all the damage, were 

 caused by the railroads. Legislation to lessen this danger seems 

 to be called for. 



3rd. One great obstacle to the planting of waste lands at 

 present is the excessive cost of the little trees. If the State would 

 cooperate with the Agricultural College in the establishment of a 

 forest nursery (a beginning has already been made by the Col- 

 lege), material for planting could be furnished our people at less 

 than half present cost and the expense to the State would be very 

 small. 



4th. LTltimately there can be little doubt but that Vermont 

 will take up the work, already being done in other states, of ac- 

 quiring and planting to forest the worst of our waste lands. The 



