FOREST commissioner's REPORT. ISO 



place by vail and foiuul it a city of (1,000 inhabitants, that it 

 wouldn't do for a man like niyselt, who wished to see nothino; 

 but woods from morning till night to live in the city. I 

 would get off into the woods themselves and live. How 

 great was my mistake ! The forest was all about us. In 

 five minutes' walk from the center of the city one could step 

 into such fine woods as cannot be found in the whole State 

 of Maine. Spruce and fir trees two to three feet through and 

 all the way up to 130 feet high stood on the ground as thickly 

 as they could stand. There were acres there that would cut 

 more than 100,000 ^I. The previous summer I had cruised 

 all through the spruce lands of the Kennebec, and here on 

 single s(juare miles w'as more timber than on whole townships 

 on that river. And the best of it was that this was no new 

 or exce[)ti()nal thing. The whole area of the forest was doing 

 it. If it hadn't old timber it did have young, which is quite 

 as essential to the result. They were growing that timber 

 right along because they knew how to do it and because they 

 were patient enough to wait for results. 



The financial returns from this forest will l)e of interest. 

 The yearly net revenue derived from its 5,950 acres had 

 amounted in the last few years to fnmi $20,000 to $25,000. 

 The yearly yield of wood had been lOH cubic feet per acre. 

 The revenue paid all the municipal expenses of a city of li, 000 

 people, relieving the citizens from local taxation and paying 

 a bonus to each voter besides. 



Btiden Baden is another good illustration. The city owns 

 10,000 acres of forest land in its immediate vicinity kept 

 under the best of management, just about the equivalent of 

 half a township of our Maine timberland and in much the 

 same kind of trees. The yearly net revenue from this tract 

 as an average from 18«1 to 18111 was nearly $3.50 per acre. 

 That is about the total valuation, timber, land and all, of a 

 pretty good Maine township. A yearly net income of $35,000 

 has here, it can readily be understood, a significance in con- 

 nection with municipal expenses. 



