information on this subject but was unable to secure complete^data. 

 It is, however, certain that private land owners have planted about 

 6,000 acres in the last ten years on their lands, and this Commis- 

 sion has planted nearly as much more State land. The difficulty 

 with private planting in the past has been to secure the necessary 

 stock, which we hope will soon be overcome by either State or com- 

 mercial nurseries being able to fill the demand with good material 

 at a reasonable price. 



PRIVATE LANDS PLANTED WITH STATE STOCK. 



The best information relative to the forest areas of the State 

 indicates that there are about six million acres containing mer- 

 chantable timber; approximately four and one-half million acres 

 with more or less valuable tree growth, which does not now contain 

 merchantable material, in addition, about one and one-half million 

 acres upon which there is no valuable growth. The latter, together 

 with about eight hundred thousand acres of unimproved or 

 abandoned farm land, indicates that there is not less than two 

 million three hundred thousand acres of land in this State which 

 must, in order to produce profit, be reforested. This land is now 

 held by owners at a loss, but on the other hand can, by means of 

 planting, be made to produce a satisfactory return. Inasmuch as 

 there are but, approximately, twenty-five billion feet of lumber on 

 the forest lands in this State, and statistics show that we are cutting 

 our forests five times as fast as they grow, and that the consumption 

 of material in this State is supplied to a large extent from outside 

 sources, all tend to prove that we are consuming in this State ten 

 times as much as we grow in the forests. In addition to the large 



