Sise of State Forests 527 



quired. Five large and eleven small forest-tree nurseries are 

 operated in connection with State Forests in Pennsylvania. The 

 amount of nursery work which a forester must attend to will in- 

 fluence very decidedly the amount of forest land which he can 

 handle in connection with the nursery. The number and kind of 

 his assistants is a very potent factor. One forester, without 

 trained assistance, cannot manage a nursery with an annual yield 

 of one million seedlings and at the same time handle properly a 

 State Forest of 25,000 acres. The area under the charge of a 

 forester should have such a size that his entire time will be com- 

 pletely used up without being overburdened either by ofifice duties 

 or by technical forestal activities. In addition to his official duties 

 he must have time for personal development as well as scientific 

 and managerial investigations. Last, but by no means least, he 

 needs some time for his family. His isolated location brings 

 many family tasks to him which men with homes in more popu- 

 lous regions are not required to fulfill. 



8. The Situation, Form and Coherence of the Forest. 



A certain amount of State-owned forest land may be so sit- 

 uated with regard to other State-owned forest land that it will 

 become necessary to include the former in a State Forest even 

 though its acreage may be somewhat excessive or somewhat be- 

 low that which a forester could carefully and conveniently handle. 

 For example the Stuart State Forest, named after ex-Governor 

 Stuart, contains only 8,749 acres. It is located in eastern West- 

 moreland and western Somerset counties. It is so distant from 

 other State-owned forest land that the acreage cannot be in- 

 creased. Contemplated purchases may increase the acreage. 

 Hence its isolated situation primarily determines the area of this 

 State Forest. 



The form of the area also influences the total acreage which a 

 single executive officer can handle. If the area is in a compact 

 block approaching a square or regular in outline one can handle a 

 larger area, other things being equal, than if the area is decided- 

 ly elongated and very irregular in outline. The Poe State Forest 

 is on an average two miles wide and 14 miles long. The distance 

 around this area is about 45 miles, while it contains only 14,000 

 acres. The same area could be in a block with a perimeter of less 



