33(3 JOURNAL OF FORESTRY 



held by corporations for its mineral possibilities, with its surface neg- 

 lected. The people of western Pennsylvania claim that this land ought 

 not to be allowed to become waste. Certainly it is most important from 

 the viewpoint of watershed protection. Surrounding the present State 

 holdings are other large areas absolutely uncared for. Six million 

 acres, 21 per cent of the State, is not an excessive estimate of the lands 

 that the Forestry Department ought to control. 



The million acres at present owned have cost to date about five mil- 

 lion dollars, one-half of which was paid for the land. At the same 

 price, and this is too low a figure, twelve and one-half million dollars 

 must be paid for the additional five million acres. Costs of survey, 

 examination of titles, and administration will accumulate to a total of 

 nearly twenty million dollars by the completion of the purchase. 



Even with very generous appropriations, without a bond issue there 

 will be relatively small amounts available for reforestation for some 

 years. The failure of the bond issue for roads is not a favorable omen 

 for the success of one for reforestation. Experience has proved that 

 it is easier to obtain appropriations for the purchase of land than for 

 plantation work. 



Silvical and economic considerations point to the reasonableness of a 

 policy directed toward purchase. The central mountainous region of 

 the State, in which a large percentage of the State forests lies, is char- 

 acterized by four main types : 



(A) Yellow pine, occupying the thinnest, highest, and driest soils of 

 the ridges ; largely protection forests. 



(B) Rock oak and chestnut slopes, where the soil conditions are 

 somewhat better than the preceding, but the two often intermingling. 



(C) Scrub-oak flats, the badly burned areas. 



(D) Hardwood benches, characterized by the deepest soils and pos- 

 sessing a good stand of the central hardwood region, chestnut pre- 

 dominant. 



In all of these types except the scrub oak the growth is good. Even 

 where the "blight" is killing the chestnut, the stand is being replaced 

 with a valuable seedling stand. Sample plots on the Mont Alto State 

 Forest, where the chestnut is dying rapidly, gave the following data : 



Hlot I. — Upper hardwood bench, composite forest 12 to 25 years old, quahty 

 II. Overwood recently cleared away. Trees over one inch in di- 

 ameter : 



Rock oak, 1,848 per acre, 74 per cent; chestnut, 488 per acre, 20 

 per cent ; black oaks, 142 per acre, 6 per cent. 



