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more that is put into it the more will be gotten out. As an instance of this 

 all ground preparation is now done by hand. Plowing is no longer permitted 

 and a horse is not allowed in the nursery, all of the ground being carefully 

 spaded. We do not, however, mean to convey the impression that this 

 same mode of procedure would necessarily work out as satisfactorily in 

 other regions. 



Time will not permit us to enter into the details of the various nursery 

 operations, nor is that deemed appropriate here. We have therefore merely 

 touched upon what appears to us to be the outstanding features to be con- 

 sidered in the establishment and management of state forest nurseries. 

 (Applause) 



THE CHAIRMAN : I notice we have all been interested in this paper 

 because we want to know more about nurseries. I feel that we are only 

 in our infancy along this line. Now, to me the next subject on our program 

 is the most interesting one that we have. I refer to the subject "Acquisi- 

 tion of Lands for State Forests." This was the subject given to Mr. I. C. 

 Williams, Deputy Commissioner of Forestry of Pennsylvania. I hope some 

 good suggestions that we can use in Indiana will come out from his 

 paper. (Applause) 



MR. I. C. WILLIAMS: Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, in pre- 

 senting this subject to you, (I shall take the liberty occasionally to refer to 

 some of the experiences of my own state and have brought with me a map 

 of Pennsylvania. The black patches upon it represent the present Penn- 

 sylvania state forests. The scale of the map is six miles to the inch. This 

 map will give you some idea of the size of some of our tracts.) 



In any discussion involving a policy of land purchase for forest uses, 

 obviously what first commands attention is some kind of land classification. 

 For the present purpose it is proposed to divide all lands into two classes, 

 agricultural and non-agricultural, or farm land and forest land, it being 

 pretty well understood by this time that all soil not suited for growing 

 farm crops is or may possibly be made suitable for growing a forest crop. 

 Within the class forest land we will regard included all forms of barrens, 

 moors, wastes, undrained swamps, rocky areas, as well as the better moun- 

 tain and upland soil, either too steep, too high, or too poor for productive 

 agriculture. 



To determine what lands, then, are absolute forest or relative forest, 

 in such states as the three represented in this conference, may not be an 

 easy task. In the Appalachian region to the east or in the Rocky moun- 

 tain region to the west, the problem is much simpler; but where the land 

 is generally level, or slightly ridged by low hills, where extended -bodies of 

 woodland no longer exist, and where the farm woods are gradually melting 

 away, the question is reduced to a nice balancing between the demands of 

 the population on the one hand, for the products of the farm, and on 

 the other, for the products of the forest. That we must have both, and 

 in increasing quantities, goes without saying, else there would be no 

 need for such a meeting as this. 



It would therefore seem that a logical approach to the subject would 

 be by some kind of survey and report, made by a properly constituted state 

 authority, now existing or to be created for the purpose, equipped with 



