missioner; Frank Leverett, of the United 

 States Geological Survey, and many more, 

 clearly point out that good and poor lands 

 occur in all this region, but that vast areas 

 must be considered as "non-agricultural," a 

 fact which the American farmer who knows 

 from experience has long held and acted upon, 

 by leaving these lands and seeking his home 

 elsewhere. 



Considerable space is devoted to the discus- 

 sion of "Forest Taxation," and it is clearly 

 pointed out that private enterprise cannot 

 undertake the reforestation of the cut-over 

 lands unless a modification of our methods of 

 taxation is secured. To tax a forest planta- 

 tion for land and trees (the crop), while farm 

 land is taxed only for the land, is evidently 

 unfair. On such a plantation the same crop 

 would be taxed for many years, and it would 

 be exactly as if a farmer had to pay taxes not 

 only on the crop of this year but on all the 

 crops for many years back. It is also pointed 

 out in this report that the whole matter of 

 taxation of the wooded areas in our State is 

 not a matter of great concern to the State 

 insofar as all the rural property of the region 

 would not make over 5 per cent of the total 

 amount of taxable property in the State. From 

 this alone it is evident that any change or 

 modification is not going to affect the taxa- 

 tion of our State in any serious manner. And 

 if it is possible by such modification to en- 

 courage tree planting and the use of these 

 lands the benefit will outweigh any losses 

 more than an hundredfold. 



Concerning the taxation of woodlots on the 

 farm, the commission advocates an assess- 

 ment of land only; for forest plantations a 

 .tax on the land and a "harvest tax," i. e., a 

 special tax on the timber whenever it is cut. 

 With regard to the existing forests the com- 



