12 



drains into them bj^ three considerable streams — the Magalloway, the Cnpsuptic, 

 and the Kennebago. The outlet of the system is at the west where the river forLes 

 a way for itself close under the eastern face of the White Mountains. At the east, 

 on the other hand, the upper lakes are closely approached on the high but elevated 

 land by the headwaters of the Dead and Sandy rivers, which run into the Ken- 

 nebec. 



Now, as the Rangeley Lakes, with the exception of Umbagog. are about 1,400 

 feet above the sea. while the country about is, much of it, considerably higher, 

 this Upper Androscoggin country is more elevated than any other area of equal 

 size within the limits of the State. 



Here on the headwaters of the Androscoggin is the chosen home of the spruce. 

 Continuous with the high land of northern New Hampshire, a part of the great 

 White Mountain plateau, this region in its elevation, its uneven topography, and 

 its climate seems to afford that combination of conditions which ministers to the 

 perfect development of the spruce. The timber of the Appalachian Mountains 

 farther south is not known to the writer. It is a fact, however, that no other 

 part of Maine ever had any such spruce stand, and probably no portion of New 

 York or New England as is found from here across northern New Hampshire. 

 Only patches of timber elsewhere stand as thick as does the country here. Much 

 of the timber too is of the finest quality and size. ■•■ * * 



Returning again to Parkertown, let me present some figures that will be used 

 in a further discussion of the problems arising in connection with the manage- 

 ment of the Androscoggin land. First is the detai'.ed statement of the trees 

 standing on a sample acre that, fairly representative of the country in its stand 

 of merchantable spruce timber, was thought to be appropriately such also in 

 respect to the proportion of hard and soft wood in large and small trees. Note 

 particularly the number of large spruce trees as compared with those from 6 to 

 12 inches in diameter. Their relation is no chance or insignificant matter. Much 

 study has shown it to be characteristic of typical Androscoggin spruce land, 

 while from it are drawn hereafter important practical conclusions: 



Trees standing on an acre of uncut land in Touniship 5, Range ■>, Oxford County. 



' One ■worthless tree in each class. 



-X- * * jjj ^jjg estimated scale put upon the sample acre — about 7,400 feet — 

 .'5..')00, or th'-ee-quarters of the whole, was in the shape of trees over 14 inches 

 in diameter 4 feet from the ground. That is a fact to be distinctly marked. 

 Three-(iuarters of the total spruce in the natural stand of the country is mature — 

 ready in the natural cour.se of things to be cut. This is not merely the lumber- 

 man s interest. It is the State's iiiterest. Tn timber like this, growth is balaui ed 



