964 JOURNAL OF FORESTRY 



particularly aggravated in town and country governments. In Massa- 

 chusetts, for example, the county committees which have had charge 

 of the mountain reservations have ignored the possibility of securing 

 technical assistance gratis from the office of the State forester and have 

 allowed the reservations to be ravaged more than necessary by fire and 

 insects. 



Inordinate expenditures by the State for purposes of timber produc- 

 tion, then, may be politically ill-advised as well as economically unnec- 

 essary. But in projects where the fulfillment of purposes other than 

 timber production is desired, the possibility of deriving some returns 

 from that source may, of course, render the project financially possible. 

 Without such revenue the cost of purchasing and maintaining tracts, 

 needed perhaps primarily for recreation, would involve expenditure 

 beyond the pocketbook of the State. Forest reserves almost always 

 serve more than a single purpose, and the various purposes ought to be 

 considered together as well as separately. 



Considered simply as financial projects, however, without regard to 

 the other advantages in public ownership, investments in forest lands 

 should, at best, be made only when they promise to yield the rate of 

 interest usual for public securities, and such investments should be 

 based, as sound business procedure would dictate, upori accurate under- 

 standing of the rate of tree growth, the hazards to which the growing 

 stand is exposed, and conservative estimates of the value of forest 

 products at the time the crop will mature. 



The wisdom of projects of land purchase varies with the particular 

 circumstances. It would, for example, seem poor business administra- 

 tion for the State to enter the market for land which is coming into its 

 hands anyway, as by abandonment through non-payment of taxes. 

 The entrance of the State into the market as a buyer of such lands 

 would render it exceedingly difficult for State officials to prevent im- 

 proper inflation of values. 



On the other hand, even in regions where land is reverting for taxes, 

 purchases of land by the State are not infrequently advisable as a 

 means of straightening boundaries and eliminating private ownership 

 within State-owned areas. The acquisition of land which thus simpli- 

 fies administration is frequently proper, since it permits important 

 economies in annual expenses for administration and protection. 



Unique problems are presented in regions where extensive areas are 

 kept undeveloped because of speculative mineral value. In such regions 

 general principles are set at nought by local conditions. Even separa- 

 tion of the title to minerals and surface and public ownership of the 



