PAPERS ON BIOLOGY AND AGRICULTURE 231 



timberland and tended to its conversion into use for 

 farming or pasturage, there was considerable opposi- 

 tion from farmers themselves, if we can believe news- 

 paper reports, to the proposed clause on that subject in 

 the new constitution which read thus: "Areas devoted 

 to forests and forest culture shall be classified for or ex- 

 empted from taxation". 



The main objection stated was that "owners of fine 

 landed estates would escape taxes by listing their grounds 

 as woodland, thus adding to the tax burden of the dirt 

 farmer". The object of the clause was simply to allow 

 some kind of classification of forest land, with exemp- 

 tion perhaps of young timber not yielding any revenue, 

 and the interests of the "dirt farmer" could have been 

 amply safeguarded in the tax law by prescribing that 

 land to be classed as forest must have a certain number 

 of trees per acre, thus avoiding any chance of the wealthy 

 owner of an estate having his few ornamental trees 

 listed as a forest. 



Over against such hastily formed conclusions as the 

 above opposing some sort of forest land classification, 

 are such statements as these from farmer's question- 

 naires : "The average landowner cannot afford to main- 

 tain forest land as taxes, and lack of income on the in- 

 vestment will put him in the County Home". "All of 

 this sandy land is now taxed far beyond its worth. My 

 tax last year on 300 acres was $158.90. My largest in- 

 come from this 300 acres was $275, with 700 rods : 

 fence to keep up". These statements certainly look as if 

 some tax reform was needed, but of course they are only 

 isolated examples. 



As it is at present, matters are largely in the hands 

 of the local assessor as to how much tax is paid upon a 

 piece of timber. So far as we know, no consideration is 

 taken of the age of the timber, its yield per acre, or the 

 nearness to the time for cutting. 



There is not time here to discuss the admitted failure 

 of the general property tax. It may be said, however, 

 to be defective when applied to immature timber "be- 

 cause by taxing the total value of the land and the trees 

 upon it, it imposed an excessive burden upon the grow- 



