large a return the legislature refuses to give consideration to 

 the situation. 



"We must provide for the future. It is well enough for the 

 legislators to assert that the paper mills and the consumers 

 of hardwoods can secure all the timber they require from Can- 

 ada, from Maine and from New Hampshire, but these sources 

 of supply are not inexhaustible, and while reforestation work 

 is being carried on in Canada, Maine and New Hampshire we 

 cannot expect these outside sources to spend money for our 

 benefit, even if we do pay for timber. 



"With a proper appropriation and with the law that we al- 

 ready have the reforestation work that could be done in the 

 near future would become apparent in at least ten years. The 

 existing law provides that upon the offer of waste land by the 

 owner, the state may take possession of such land, remove the 

 growth which retards reforestation and plant in it trees which 

 will grow well such as coniferous species. At the end of five 

 years the owner may reclaim it, simply by paying the state 

 for the cost of reforestation. It has been estimated that 

 $500,000 a year will provide enough for reforestation work to 

 cover the entire state. 



"It is needless for me to state the importance of reforesta- 

 tion work apart from tremendous money profit. Forests act 

 as sponges to retain each season's rainfall and to distribute it 

 slowly to the slopes and valleys below. Every spring one 

 reads of the surplus water going to waste and during the hot 

 summer months of the drought. The paper mills of this state 

 depend largely on water power and the reforestation of land 

 would prevent the waste of water during the freshets and 

 avert the shortage of water in the dry months. 



"It would cost about $10 an acre for reforestation, and with 

 a yearly appropriation of $500,000 the entire 1,000,000 acres of 

 waste lands in the state could be reforested in twenty years." 



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