56 BULLETIN No. 82. 



The promotion of the agricultural interests of private owners by 

 the State is extremely well carried on by the State Experiment Sta- 

 tion, and the promotion of forest management could also be made more 

 or less a branch of the work of the Experiment Station, as is the case in 

 Ohio. 



(2) Create State Forests 



Theoretically the State is the ideal owner of forest land, to be 

 held continuously as such, as it best can afford to practice forestry. 

 Forest management deals with the growing of a crop which requires 

 one, two, or more generations to become ripe, and this time element is 

 the great drawback which tends to deter private owners from properly 

 handling their woodland, while with the State, which considers the 

 welfare of the next as well as of the present generation, this factor of 

 time should have no influence. 



It should be the policy of the State of Delaware to acquire all the 

 land for State forest purposes, which can be procured at a sufficiently 

 low figure, and in lots sufficiently large for convenience of administra- 

 tion and management. The price paid should not exceed $10 per acre, 

 and contiguous holdings of not less than 100 acres and preferably 500 

 acres in extent should be purchased. 



Afforestation of the large area of sand-bar land, owned by the 

 State in Sussex County, has already been discussed and shown to be 

 both practicable and advisable. The boundaries or extent of this State 

 land are not accurately known at present, but are soon to be deter- 

 mined by survey ; those who are best able to judge estimate that its area 

 is at least 10,000 acres. Most of this land should be set aside as a State 

 Forest, since 75 per cent of it can reasonably be expected to support a 

 good forest growth. If pine forests were established on this sand-bar 

 they would not only be an important source of timber supply and 

 revenue to the State in the future, but also a great protective measure 

 in the fixation of dunes. 



State Board of Forestry and a State Forester 



There should be created, in Delaware, a State Board of Forestry, 

 consisting of seven members, including the Governor of the State, the 

 Director of the Experiment Station, the State Horticulturist, and the 

 three members and the secretary of the State Board of Agriculture; 

 this Board to act without compensation, save for actual necessary ex- 

 penses incurred in the performance of official duties. 



