CO-OPERATION WITH THE) STATES 483 



such planting is about $10 an acre, including the price of the trees, 

 which generally amounts to less than half. If we consider first only the 

 most important stretches of denuded lands, it is estimated that the 

 area totals at least five million acres. The cost of reforesting this 

 would amount to approximately $50,000,000; or, if 100,000 acres could 

 be reforested annually, the yearly cost would be $1,000,000. Even so 

 small a program of reforestation would require 50 years. If private 

 owners would enter into contracts with the States by which the owners 

 would pay the cost of the planting, which would be at least one-half the 

 total, and agree to give the plantation the necessary protection and 

 care, I believe the Federal Government would be justified in encourag- 

 ing the undertaking by sharing with the States the remainder on a 

 50-50 basis, or, to be specific, by making a yearly appropriation of 

 $250,000. 



Some day we shall have in this country a sustained yield of timber 

 year after year. Some day we shall manage our forests with this in 

 view. A few organizations, like the larger pulp companies, are en- 

 deavoring now to place their business on a sustained-yield basis. But 

 in many cases this is scarcely possible on account of the pressure for 

 quick returns and the prevailing method of financing forest lands. 

 The Federal Government and the States should co-operate as far as 

 possible in encouraging and aiding private owners to cut their forests 

 conservatively. The way that appears now to be the most feasible is 

 through some form of loan that will enable timberland owners to 

 secure money from the Government or the States on easier terms than 

 is possible elsewhere, and through a change in the method of taxing 

 forest land. It has been suggested that the provisions of the Farm 

 Loan Act be extended to include the financing of forest properties, and 

 that Federal Forest Loan Banks be established. By whatever plans of 

 finance and taxation the conservative handling of our forests is made 

 possible, the Government and States might co-operate further and fol- 

 low the custom that prevails in some foreign countries of detailing 

 foresters to the owners of the large, so-called commercial timber tracts 

 to assist in the work. 



The conservative handling of forests connected with the farms may 

 be very largely encouraged through the agricultural extension work 

 conducted under the Smith-Lever Law. The appropriation under tliis 

 law for the current year is over $4,500,000, which, for the most part, 

 the States must duplicate. The money is allotted to the States on the 



