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"That in clearing the ground care be taken to leave one acre of trees 

 for every five acres cleared, especially to preserve oak and mulberries, for 

 silk and shipping." It will thus be seen that the seed of practical forestry 

 was sown in the virgin soil of Pennsylvania at its birth as an English 

 colony ; and to those of us who now live there it is a matter of lasting 

 regret that the wise injunction of the founder was disregarded for two 

 hundrded years. 



Knowing conditions best as we have them in Pennsylvania, I crave your 

 indulgence if the methods in use there for making state forest purchases 

 be used as an illustration. The state of Pennsylvania is traversed from 

 . northeast to southwest by the Appalachian mountains. It contains an 

 area a little less than thirty million acres. Roughly we divide the state 

 into three parts, of which the mountains and their foothills occupy about 

 one-third or a little less than ten million acres, most of which is absolute 

 forest land. Another part, or. about ten million acres, is wholly agricultural. 

 The remainder, or a little less than ten million, is of that in between class 

 almost too good for forest and too poor for agriculture. The areas of 

 cities, towns, lakes, and rivers are also included in this class. 



When the real forestry program started, about 1876, attention was 

 directed to conditions at the heads of the larger streams. The people 

 first became convinced that better stream flow meant better forest cover 

 on the upper watersheds. All this great hilly and mountainous area, pre- 

 viously covered with heavy frost, was rapidly being uncovered by lumbering, 

 with no attention given to regeneration or protection from fire. A Division 

 of forestry was created in the newly organized Agricultural Department 

 in 1895. 



The earliest acts passed by the Assembly for the purchase of lands for 

 State Forests, or forestry reservation, as they were then called, were of 

 the session of 1897 and were two in number. The first provided for the 

 purchase of land sold for unpaid taxes and the second for the establishment 

 of reservations of forty thousand acres each upon the drainage areas of 

 the three largest river systems, the Delaware, the Susquehanna, and the 

 Ohio. The explanation given in the Act itself, for the passage of the first 

 statute, was, "the preservation of the water supply at the sources of the 

 rivers of the state and for the protection of the people of the common- 

 wealth and their property from destructive floods." In that day everything 

 had to be explained in advance, and we have not yet wholly passed beyond 

 that stage. The second statute carried the right of eminent domain, giving 

 power to seize lands suitable for the establishment of the reserved areas, 

 could they be obtained in no other way. It may be noted in passing that 

 it has never yet been necessary to invoke the aid of this extraordinary 

 means of acquisition. 



Purchase at tax sales was made to the extent of over sixty thousand 

 acres. About one-half of it was subsequently redeemed. Lands acquired 

 by these means are usually correct forest areas, but you are never certain 

 of your holdings. The right of redemption, if exercised, will break up the 

 continuity of tracts. I think we all agree that forestry is best practiced, 

 most economically administered, with large solid bodies of land. At 

 present, tax sale purchases in Pennsylvania have almost ceased. Wild, 



