FOKEST LANDS FOB THE PROTECTION OF WATERSHEDS. 41 



Mr. CURRIER. Yes. 



Mr. HAWLEY. Or about 20,000,000 feet in a quarter section? 



Mr. CURRIER. Yes. 



Mr. HAWLEY. That is a remarkable reproduction of timber. 



Mr. AYERS. That is not in the mountains. 



Mr. HAWLEY. Anywhere. 



Mr. CURRIER. There is no pine after you get up 2,000 or 3,000 feet. 



Governor GUILD. Are those lands in that part of New Hampshire 

 in which it is contemplated to purchase forests ? 



Mr. CURRIER. No. 



Governor GUILD. Then that does not enter into this subject, does it? 



Mr. CURRIER. No; he was speaking about the reforestation of the 

 low slopes. 



Governor GUILD. Exactly; but we are talking to this particular 

 proposition. 



Mr. WEEKS. Conditions are very different in the White Mountains 

 from what they are in the Southern Appalachians ? 



Mr. CURRIER. Very much. 



Mr. WEEKS. The lands that you propose to purchase in the White 

 Mountains are those lands where the soil is very thin, and where if 

 the timber is once cut off and the fire gets in it burns everything as 

 clean as the walls of this room and it is impossible to do anything 

 with that in the future. That is what you want to buy. The fact 

 is, probably, that there is more wooded territory in New Hampshire 

 than there was fifty years ago, taking the whole State. 



Mr. CURRIER. I have no doubt of it. 



Mr. WEEKS. But that is not true around the headwaters of these 

 rivers ? 



Mr. CURRIER. Not at all. Fifty years ago it was an absolutely vir- 

 gin growth. 



Mr. WEEKS. And what you want to buy in the White Mountains 

 are those slopes which have not been cut off yet ; and if they are once 

 cut off will leave a bare surface that will precipitate all the moisture 

 that strikes them in a short time ? 



Mr. CURRIER. Just that, Mr. Weeks. 



Mr. HAWLEY. How large would a tree be that this man would get 

 off this land? How many inches through at the point of cutting 

 would it be ? 



Mr. CURRIER. I suppose 14 to 18 inches. 



Mr. HAWLEY. And that would be reproduced three times in the 

 lifetime of the man ? 



Mr. CURRIER. This old man, 83 or 84 years old, told me last winter 

 that for the third time in his lifetime he cut over his land. 



The CHAIRMAN. As I understand it, then, the problem in the 

 White Mountains is not the protection of the lower slopes, because 

 they protect themselves, and it is not the purchase of the upper slopes 

 that are now denuded ? 



Mr. CURRIER. It is not like the Southern Appalachians. 



The CHAIRMAN. Let me finish my statement. It is not the pur- 

 chase of the upper slopes that are already denuded, because they can 

 not be reforested. It is the purchase of upper slopes that have not 

 been cut over in order that they may be protected ? 



Mr. CURRIER. That is just it. 



