No. 4.] REPORT OF STvVPE FORESTER. 327 



What the General Court is asked to consider at 



Present. 



/. To amend the Reforestation Law, so that the State 

 Forester may not he limited, to purchasing Forty Acres 

 in Any One Tract. 

 While, of course, the purpose of the law in stipulating 

 the number of acres was to spread the work out broadly and 

 make it an object lesson of educational value, nevertheless 

 there are often many tracts that exceed this acreage, and it 

 is but natural that the whole tract should be handled at the 

 same time, and thereby much more economically. Where a 

 few acres overruns the stipulated number, it requires an ex- 

 tra survey, and adds greatly to the expense as well in making 

 out the transfer papers. This amendment would be of great 

 assistance in the practical working out of this law. 



II. A State Forest Survey. 



To authorize a forest survey of the State, in order to de- 

 termine just what lands should be retained in forests, as an 

 economic factor of the State's conservation policy. With 

 a definite knowledge of conditions mapped out, the State 

 Forester will be gi'eatly aided in the work of reforestation, 

 and have a guide to future endeavor in State work. The 

 survey could be carried out in connection with the working 

 plans department of the State Forester's office, by simply 

 appropriating a certain amount for employing assistance to 

 do the work. Another way of handling the project would 

 be for the State to pay one-half of the expense of such a 

 survey, provided the counties pay one-half. This work need 

 not be accomplished in one year, but taken up in a systematic 

 way, spending only a nominal sum each year until it is fin- 

 ished. 



Our people realize the gi'eat importance of conserving the 

 forests in the White Mountains and southern Appalachians, 

 and they undoubtedly recognize equally the importance of 

 conserving the forests within our own State, although they 

 are not on so large a scale. 



