28 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 387 



County, to the lowest, 52.0 percent in Essex County and 57.8 percent in Middle- 

 sex. In the remaining counties the percentage of land under wooded cover is 

 fairly close to the State average. (Table 8) Most of this woodland is located 

 outside of farms, which contain only one-third of the total area under wooded 

 cover. The greatest proportion of total woodland located on farms is in Hampden 

 and Franklin counties where it amounts to about two-fifths of the total. Barn- 

 stable County, with the highest proportion of land in the whole State under 

 wooded cover, contains the smallest proportion of it in farms. 



Table 8. — Percentage of Total Area in Woodland, 

 BY Counties, 1941 



Percent of Total Area 



County Farm All 



Woodland Woodland 



Barnstable 5.4 73.1 



Berkshire 14.3 71.8 



Bristol 14.7 62.1 



Essex 10.0 52.0 



Franklin 19.6 66.3 



Hampden 19.8 66.9 



Hampshire 17.5 61.2 



Middlesex 10.8 57.8 



Norfolk 6.9 67.7 



Plymouth 17.2 66.1 



Worcester 13.9 63.1 



The State 14.2 64.3 



With large areas of woodland present in the State, special emphasis must be 

 placed on proper utilization of these areas, which, for the most part, remain 

 neglected. In considering woodland, two different lines of approach should be 

 made, depending on whether land is in farms or not. As far as farms are con- 

 cerned, wooded areas are a part of the farm organization and the main effort 

 should be directed towards proper treatment and better conservation methods. 



The major section of woodland is, however, outside of farms, and of this about 10 

 percent is already in State and town forests. In this area a definite attempt is 

 made to carry on forest management on a scientific and systematic basis. Although 

 these publicly owned areas have many uses, including recreation and wildlife 

 preservation, the primary purpose is to provide proper conservation methods 

 in encouraging forest culture. There are very few other wooded areas in the 

 State where the same objectives are maintained. The rest of the area is under 

 rather scattered and confused ownership, with the major proportion held b\' non- 

 residents. These areas are being used for a variety of different purposes, some 

 woodland in the eastern part of the State being held with the expectation of more 

 intensive uses. This fact is reflected in land values, which are based in some 

 sections net so much on the type of the timber stand as on the expectation of a 

 more intensive type of land utilization. 



Consideration of the tables indicating the proportion of farm land in woodland 

 and the average values of farm land, shows that in some counties where more 

 farm land is under wooded cover, land values are higher. This is especially true 

 of Norfolk and Barnstable counties where more than half of the total farm land 

 is in woodland. 



Several attempts have been made in the past to provide foundations for the 



