Large Private Holdings in the North 



263 



The Brown Company owns large 

 areas of land in the United States and 

 Canada. Past operations, on an exten- 

 sive basis, resembled those of other 

 owners of remote areas. In 1940 or so, 

 the company became concerned about 

 its future timber supply. An aerial 

 photo survey was made of its own lands 

 and of other lands tributary to the 

 mills at Berlin, N. H. Reassured by the 

 results, the company built a new sul- 

 fate mill. Additional foresters were 

 employed in the woodlands depart- 

 ment, and mechanical skidders, log- 

 ging arches, portable cut-off saws and 

 pulpwood loaders, bulldozers, as well 

 as mechanical road-building equip- 

 ment were introduced. New portable 

 camps were erected to provide greater 

 comfort for loggers. 



The company is committed to long- 

 term sustained-yield operations. Im- 

 proved cutting practices are being in- 

 troduced. Foresters in key positions in 

 the company have a high degree of 

 authority over the timber-management 

 policies. The Brown Company cooper- 

 ates with other companies in the area 

 in an effort to build up an over-all 

 sustained-yield program that embraces 

 all companies that purchase timber in 

 the same area. 



The Hollingsworth and Whitney 

 Company owns large areas of land in 

 Maine. A forestry program has been 

 under way for a number of years. Re- 

 cently the company made an aerial sur- 

 vey of its lands as a basis for a broad 

 management plan. Forestry practices 

 are being improved on present hold- 

 ings and additional land is being ac- 

 quired. By talks and motion pictures 

 at schools and granges, good forestry is 

 promoted among farmers and other 

 small-woodland owners. 



More than 20 years ago, the Oxford 

 Paper Company was sponsor of a tree- 

 breeding program to develop rapidly 

 growing aspen hybrids for book paper. 

 Fast-growing hybrids were produced, 

 but the company learned that it could 

 use native hardwoods in place of aspen. 

 Pulp and paper and other northern 

 companies have shown an interest in 



the aspen hybrids, however, and have 

 set out plantations. 



The Nekoosa-Edwards Paper Com- 

 pany, the Consolidated Water Power 

 and Paper Company, and other firms 

 in the vicinity of Wisconsin Rapids, 

 Wis., have active forestry programs. 



The Nekoosa-Edwards program, 

 which dates from 1926, has featured 

 plantings on abandoned farm land. 

 The company operates its own nursery, 

 in which operations are highly mecha- 

 nized. Field planting by machine has 

 reduced costs by one-half and has in- 

 creased survival of seedlings. Every 

 year for 20 years some planting has 

 been done by the company. The 

 planted area totals 1 7,000 acres, and is 

 an outstanding venture in forest plant- 

 ing. The company's cutting practices 

 are on a conservative basis. The com- 

 pany owns about 110,000 acres and is 

 acquiring more land so that mill needs 

 can be met entirely from its own hold- 

 ings. Its own fire-control organization 

 includes tank trucks, tool caches, and 

 trained fire fighters. Fire losses since 

 1926 have been restricted to 137 acres. 



The Consolidated Water Power and 

 Paper Company owns and manages 

 160,000 acres. In the past 15 years it 

 has planted 7,000 acres of open land, 

 with varying success, and now has un- 

 der way experiments with direct seed- 

 ing. The company prefers to buy well- 

 stocked lands and follows a diversified 

 plan in procurement of raw material. 

 Part of the needs is met from company 

 lands, part from county forests and 

 national forests, and part from local 

 farmers and other owners of pulpwood. 



The Finch-Pruyn Company in New 

 York has pioneered in forestry in the 

 Adirondacks. Spruce and fir are cut on 

 company land and driven down the 

 Hudson River to the company's mill at 

 Glens Falls. The land has been under 

 forest management for 37 years; the 

 sustained-yield cutting budget was 

 based on a growth rate of two-tenths 

 cord an acre a year. For a long time, 

 all trees to be cut were marked under 

 the supervision of foresters, spruce to 

 a variable limit of 8 to 9 inches in 



