156 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 



of deciding whether idle lands were better 

 adapted for farming or forestry purposes. 



Experts believe that the Government should 

 spend at least $2,000,000 a year in the purchase of 

 new National Forests. About one-fifth of all our 

 forests are now publicly owned. One of the best 

 ways of preventing the concentration of timber 

 in private ownership is to increase the area of 

 publicly owned forests. Such actions would pre- 

 vent the waste of valuable timber and would aid 

 planting work. For best results, it is thought 

 that the Federal Government should own about 

 one-half of all the forests in the country. To 

 protect the watersheds of navigable streams the 

 Government should buy 1,000,000 acres of wood- 

 lands in New England and 5,000,000 acres in the 

 southern Appalachian Mountains. The National 

 Forests should also be extended and consolidated. 



Federal funds should be increased so that the 

 Forest Service can undertake on a large scale the 

 replanting of burned-over lands in the National 

 Forests. As soon as this work is well under way, 

 Congress should supply about $1,000,000 annu- 

 ally for such work. Many watersheds in the 

 National Forests are bare of cover due to forest 

 fires. As a result, the water of these streams is 



