132 A STUDY OF FOREST CONDITIONS 



sections were leased for ninety-nine years or other long 

 periods. As a rule the leases are now held by lumbermen 

 who have either cut off the timber, or intend to do so. When 

 cutover the land is neglected, and when the leases expire, a 

 large part of the land will come back to the State without 

 any possibility of its yielding an income to the schools for 

 an indefinite time. In the future, therefore, in lumbering 

 the school lands, the State should insist that they be kept in 

 a productive condition, so that the object of the lands, to 

 provide a revenue for the schools is not defeated. This 

 can be accomplished by imposing certain restrictions on the 

 cutting, such as are outlined under the chapter on "Man- 

 agement." 



The school sections which have not been leased for long 

 periods are controlled by the township trustees and the 

 County Superintendent of Education. They should either 

 be leased for agricultural purposes at an annual rental, or if 

 timbered, the standing timber should be sold and removed. 

 When a sale of timber is made, a contract should be entered 

 into with the purchaser similar to that previously suggested, 

 in order to prevent the destruction of young growth and 

 preserve the yielding power of the forest. 



