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FORESTRY 



FROM A COMMERCIAL STANDPOINT 



BY F. W. RANE, STATE FORESTER OF MASSACHUSETTS 



HERE are few if any problems of 

 greater moment and more economic 

 importance to the State of Massa- 

 chusetts at the present hour than that 

 of forestry. Doubtless there are those 

 present who have known this forest 

 patient when she was healthy, vigor- 

 ous and strong; how beautiful primeval forests 

 dotted this good old Bay State in those days and 

 how, year by year, they have succumbed to our 

 mad rush of uneconomic commercialism, until to- 

 day finds us in a sadly depleted and unrational 

 condition, viewed from the standpoint of modern 

 forest management. It is always easy to point out 

 mistakes after they have happened ; but experi- 

 ence, though a dear teacher, is nevertheless ex- 

 tremely effective, Year by year the primeval forest ' 

 growth was cut and harvested. Second growth, 

 inferior but valuable, has followed, where condi- 

 tions have been favorable, and this has, in turn, been 

 utilized as soon as it reached merchantable size. 

 Demand for forest products has been increasing 

 in greater and greater proportion as we have been 

 developing the State and nation, while the prod- 

 ucts themselves have likewise been approaching 

 exhaustion. Our people have looked upon the 

 forest products as inexhaustible, thinking naturally 

 that, though Massachusetts should be depleted, 

 there are plenty of other States at our very doors 

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