170 



REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



The farmers' interest in forest property — Continued. 



New England, with the exception of Maine and New Hampshire, 

 has nearly its entire forest area in the hands of farmers, and Maine 

 lumbermen having begun a more conservative working of their re- 

 maining forest, that State may be considered equally safe. 



The Northern Atlantic States, with the exception of New Jersey, 

 show a quite satisfactory percentage thus safely owned; the pro- 

 portion of such ownership in New York is increased to 75 per cent. 

 py State lands now under management, and charcoal-iron interests 

 in New Jersey will increase the safe percentage there also. 



It is to be hoped that farmers in the Southern States, who have 

 more than 50 per cent, of their farms in forest, will not part with 

 this portion of their property to sjieculators as easily as developments 

 of the last few years have led us to anticipate. 



It is likely that the area of forest held by farmers is considerably 

 less than it was in 1880, especially in the Gulf States, where Northern 

 millmen have been buying up large tracts of pine and cypress lands. 



The figures of the three States classed as Northern agricultural 

 show some discrepancies, which may be explained by assuming that 

 what was reported as forest in farms contained much that, as waste 

 and useless brush, had been excluded from the total estimate. 



In the prairie States much land is still unsettled, and all the forest 



