500 JOURNAL OF FORESTRY 



would retain his equity in the land as long as he paid the taxes, but 

 failing so to do for a prescribed period his equity would lapse to the 

 State. Also, if he should want some or all of the land for other than 

 forest use, the payment of the back taxes accrued — as for other lands 

 outside forest selections — and expense for forest work would be 

 required. 



The financial plan is the vital part of the whole idea, for fire protec- 

 tion, improvement work, and management cannot go on without ade- 

 quate funds constantly provided. When the selections constituting a 

 unit for management are approved, the young forest should be evalu- 

 ated, and on this basis the cost by periods of bringing the stand to 

 maturity determined. This cost would be met by the issuance period- 

 ically of bonds, the amount of which would be equivalent to the antici- 

 pated cost and with a safe margin under expectation value. Maturity 

 of the bonds should coincide with the end of the rotations on the unit. 

 Interest on the bonds should be paid out of an annual tax levy for that 

 purpose. The crop receipts would retire the bonds, and the balance be 

 paid over to the owner of the land, or to the State in case the lands 

 belonged to the State. 



Up to this point the matter is one for the State to handle, but there 

 should be a measure of Federal co-operation, not only to hasten action 

 by the States, but in order to produce the greatest national economy. 

 This would be accomplished through national legislation, putting the 

 Government squarely behind such investments (bonds) in forestry as 

 I have described. 



State forest bonds, issued against forest property that is managed in 

 accordance with approved plans, should be given such status as would 

 make them readily marketable. The authority of the Federal Land 

 Banks might be extended to cover such investments. 



I believe first in making the best of what we have that is best, before 

 going to the legislature or Congress with a request for big appropria- 

 tions to purchase non-agricultural lands in all stages of devastation. 

 The acquisition appropriations must be followed by still greater ones 

 for forest replacement, and results are an indefinitely long time in the 

 future. The forest program should provide for building up forests 

 out of the young forests we now have. Outright purchase of lands 

 should be restricted to watershed protection areas and to such tracts as 

 are closely associated with public lands now under some kind of forest 

 management. Advocacy of a policy of land purchase, as the outstand- 



