48 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBOR ICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



of the important reasons for not continuing to permit the 

 unregulated denuding of mountains and hills. Coal, oil, and 

 gas, especially in the eastern states, have increased in price very 

 rapidly. More and more projects are under way for the 

 impounding of water for power purposes. As this development 

 proceeds, the afforestation of heavily lumbered mountain slopes 

 by the state becomes of increasing importance. 



Fourth. — The recreational features of state forests are by no 

 means unimportant. The American public has always been 

 accustomed to free access to all forest land for recreational 

 purposes, but in the older settled states trespass regulations 

 are being enforced more generally, and public pressure for 

 recreational tracts will become strong just in the proportion in 

 which the public is restricted in its opportunities for indulging 

 this natural and wholesome desire. It is not planned to trans- 

 form state forests into parks, but simply to provide for the use of 

 such tracts by the out-of-door public by making good trails and 

 roads, clearing observation points, protecting springs, and good 

 camp sites, and leasing privileges under proper regulation. 



The most encouraging fact about state forestry is that while 

 state forests are serving the public in four important ways, they 

 can also be made financially profitable through the sale of forest 

 products. Nearly all public expenditures supported by taxation 

 are of such a nature that the returns to the public necessarily 

 take the form of better facilities for the living conditions, safety, 

 and progress of society. State forestry offers an opportunity to 

 return public benefits in a number of different ways, and at the 

 same time provides a substantial revenue which can be used for 

 other public purposes. It is fortunate that public sentiment in 

 the United States is fast becoming crystallised on these points. 



