124 Forestry Quarterly. 



is reported that a single tract of spruce on the northern slope of 

 the Presidential range was recently purchased by the company 

 now cutting there for $600,000. 



What can be done to prevent the rapid disappearance of the 

 spruce forests on the high slopes and in the places of particular 

 scenic value ? This question is hard to answer. The principle 

 of state interference by restricting the cut to a given diameter be- 

 low which the operator may not fell his trees has been proposed 

 in previous sessions of the legislature and defeated. This princi- 

 ple appears to be contrary to American independence, curtailing 

 a man's right to do what he will with his own, and while there 

 are instances of similar paternalism in our government — confisca- 

 tion of diseased cattle for instance — the farmers to a man are op- 

 posed to such restrictive legislation for forest cutting. Moreover, 

 no restrictive law has been formed by zxvy of the states that cover 

 the multitude of varying conditions in the forest. The principle 

 of state ownership alone remains, and the education of private 

 owners to better methods. While New Hampshire has no state 

 debt, it is not a rich state. The burden of taxation is felt, partic- 

 ularly in the hill towns from which the forest has been removed. 

 Population in these towns has greatly diminished, and the fami- 

 lies remaining have difhcult5Mn supporting the schools and many 

 miles of road. In the legislature members from these rural 

 towns, not yet aware of the true significance of the forest, have a 

 preponderating influence, and refuse to submit to further taxation 

 for forest purposes. The}^ do not yet realize that New Hampshire 

 can do in proportion to her means what Connecticiat, Massachu- 

 setts, New York and Pennsylvania are already doing. State 

 ownership, therefore, cannot be brought about except gradually, 

 and meantime the virgin forests are rapidly disappearing. 



A solution has been proposed through an appeal to the federal 

 congress for a national reservation in the White Mountain region 

 similar to that proposed in the Southern Appalachian Mountains. 

 It has been objected that it is inexpedient for the United States 

 to interfere with the forest management of any single state, but 

 the interstate character of the White Mountains is sufficiently 

 established b}^ the fact that the waters flowing from them — the 

 Androscoggin, the Saco, the Merrimack and the Connecticut 

 rivers — su]:)ply power to more factories than any other waters in 

 the country, and their even flow is of vast importance, and that 



