THE FOREST INTERESTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 33 



two of j^ears, offers a prospect too remote to be inviting. True, 

 there will be thinnings from the plantation ; which may perhaps be 

 taken in eight or ten years. But these will scarcely exceed in 

 value the cost of proper care of the forest. And the average land- 

 owner really cannot afford to await such distant returns, with the 

 constant risk of losses by fire. 



Tlierc are other discouragements, — such for example as the 

 absence of saw-mills and other machiner}' for the manufacture of 

 wood ; which are not now to be found, because the industry has 

 been abandoned. 



Is it then strange that next to nothing is done in forest culture? 

 Can we reasonably hope for any marked progress so long as 

 present conditions exist? 



It may be said in reply that we are actually improving ; that the 

 number of acres in wood is greater than it was fifty j'ears ago. 

 This is doubtless true. But the very statement rather serves to 

 prove to what an extreme we had drifted. The wood lots which 

 have grown up during the past fift\' years have in the main sprung 

 up on wholly neglected lands ; ver^' few have come from judicious 

 planting. Many a neglected field, having ceased to yield profit- 

 able crops, has been seized b}^ the white birch and other miscel- 

 laneous growth ; the result being that we are getting a certain kind 

 of increased growth, but one of comparatively little value. There 

 is also an increase of shade trees along our road-sides, and of trees 

 for ornament in the vicinity of our homes, which are a real gain. 

 But the result, taken as a whole, is an3-thing but creditable to the 

 State. And so long as the discouragements continue to be so 

 many and so serious, it is not reasonable to expect an}' material 

 progress in the restoration of the forests. 



But we ma}- not rest here. It becomes us seriously to inquire 

 what can be done to remove or to alleviate these discourage- 

 ments. 



I am persuaded that this is an industry which requires and 

 deserves the fostering care of the government. It is an industry 

 which vitally affects the common weal ; which if prosecuted 

 largely would indirect!}' confer great public benefit yet must be 

 done at private cost, — but cannot thrive without encouragement. 

 Our legislature has recognized these conditions, and has to some 

 extent enacted statutes favoring forest planting. But these laws 

 are meagre in their provisions, and as we have seen have not, thus 

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