No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 475 



Under the new laws, laud suitable for forestry purposes held in 

 ownership by tlie counties must be olTered for sale to the Department 

 if required. The price to be paid is the amount of taxes due, plus 

 interest and costs. 



For a number of years forest trees seedlings were sold by the De- 

 partment at cost of growing. Many thousands of young trees were 

 distributed over the State by these means and ])aid for by citizens 

 inteiested in tree planting. Tlie new act permits the Department of 

 Forestry to distribute excess trees, in stock, for the asking, under 

 reasonable provisions relating to ])lanting, growing, and subsequent 

 sale. This puts the distribution of trees in line witli the distribution 

 of fish and game, which has long been done in a similar way at the 

 expense of the State. 



In an attempt to procure a more efficient execution of the laws 

 relating to game, fish, and forestry, a new act of Assembly requires 

 all the employes of these three departments to protect the interests 

 and assist in executing the laws of others. 



When the Department of Forestry was established in 1901, a limit 

 of $5.00 per acre was set for the ])urchase of lands. This was a safe- 

 guard which we believe was properly inserted in the law at the time. 

 The problem of buying Innds for State forestation then was a new 

 one and such a check relieved the Department of an untold probable 

 amount of pressure which otherwise probably M^ould have been 

 brought upon it to purchase lands at high price. At the last session 

 of the Legislature the limit of price was increased from $5.00 to 

 $10.00 per acre. This will enable the Department to purchase a 

 number of small interior holdings actually worth more than $5.00 

 per acre, and thus enable a better consolidation of the State Forests. 

 This is valuable from the viewpoint of protection as well as from 

 desirability of solidified land ownership. 



The experiment of the Department entering into co-operative rela- 

 tions with the act of 1913, has been a success. The Department is 

 now actively co-operating with the Pocono Fire Protective Associa- 

 tion and with the Central Forest Protective Association, each of which 

 organizations are interested in large areas requiring better protection 

 and ultimate forestation. An amendment to the law of 1913 enlarges 

 the powers of both the Department and the local organization and 

 gives them a better working program. 



In order that local development may not be hindered by the pres- 

 ence of large bodies of State land acting as a barrier to a greater 

 or less degree, the recent Legislature enlarged the powers of the De- 

 partment with respect to granting rights of way. It ought not to 

 be the policy of the State Government to set up any obstruction in 

 the path of private local improvement, especially when such improve- 

 ment is dependent upon a right of passage through lands which other- 

 wise would be closed to entrance. 



The school code of Pennsylvania provides for a State School Fund, 

 to which moneys shall be added from time to time as they are de- 

 rived from various sources. Originally it was provided that 80% 

 of the net proceeds of the State Forests should be added to this 

 fund. The difficulty of calculating net proceeds when the fifty or 

 more State Forests are tnken into consideration, as well as the re- 

 duction from 10.0% to 80% of these proceeds as an addition to the 



