A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 799 



in this activity occurs in the Middle Atlantic States, the Lake States, 

 the New England States, and some parts of the Central States. In 

 the regions where public interest in forestry is general private land- 

 owners have taken kindly to the idea of planting worn-out fields and 

 pastures. Forest planting was one conception of forestry that they 

 could readily grasp. Sentiment, more than economics, has been 

 responsible for a big part of the planting by individual land owners. 

 Water companies on the other hand have planted rather extensively 

 for the protection of watersheds, and States and towns have freely 

 planted on State forests and on town forests. A temporary peak in 

 planting operations by private owners seems to have been reached. 

 Stock from State nurseries is not moving to private owners quite so 

 freely as formerly. The water company lands are pretty well planted 

 up; farmers and other private landowners are affepted by the 

 depression. 



Of all the States, New York has today the most ambitious reforesta- 

 tion program. It entails the buying over a period of years of 1 million 

 acres of land for State forests, and the planting of such portion of 

 that total as is not satisfactorily stocked with forest trees. Marginal 

 and submarginal farm lands will make up the bulk of the area to be 

 purchased under this program. Most of this will have to be refor- 

 ested. Approximately 1 billion trees will need to be grown in the 

 State nurseries during the next 10 or 11 years to meet the needs of the 

 State alone in this reforestation program. 



The other States will doubtless continue to produce enough trees 

 in their nurseries to meet the public demand and to meet their own 

 needs for planting on State forests. Available figures indicate that 

 to the end of the year 1931, 271,811 acres of land had been planted by 

 the States on State forests. 



Insofar as the State organizations are concerned, they have devel- 

 oped the personnel and forest nursery facilities sufficient to take care 

 of any probable demand for forest planting stock. They can easily 

 expand their nurseries if necessary. Their policies are pretty much 

 the same in respect to distribution of trees from State nurseries. 

 Trees are sold at cost of production to the landowner, for forest plant- 

 ing only. Under their laws some States furnish political units such 

 as towns, counties, and boroughs with free trees for planting in the 

 community-owned forests. The States do not raise ornamental stock 

 for distribution to the public. 



Comprehensive efforts to stimulate State-wide programs of planting 

 all land that appears better suited to forest production than other 

 purposes have not been made. The nearest approach to it has been 

 in Pennsylvania and New York. Both of these States have devel- 

 oped nurseries that have turned out millions of trees each year, which 

 have either been sold to private landowners or planted on publicly 

 owned lands. Still there has been no definite goal set up, no actual 

 survey of the situation to find out how much land needed planting, 

 nor a policy, comprehensive program, and means provided to bring 

 these lands into forest productivity. 



There is no exact knowledge of the amount of land that needs 

 planting. Many areas which appear to need planting today may re- 

 clothe themselves with trees in 10 years. Areas which do not need 

 it today may become hopelessly devastated by fire next year or the 

 year following. There are, however, in some States vast areas of 



