STATE WORK 



Forestry Progress in Vermont 



The following is an authorized statement 

 regarding the progress of forestry in Ver- 

 mont recently given out by Austin F. Hawes, 

 state forester : 



While the office of state forester was not 

 created until legislative action was had 

 upon the subject in 1908, forestry properly 

 began in Vermont two years before, when 

 the legislature of 1906 provided the small 

 appropriation of $500 for the establishment 

 of a state nursery for forest trees upon the 

 state farm at Burlington. Naturally in the 

 beginning of the movement for scientific 

 forestry the work is mostly of an educa- 

 tional nature. It is not the policy of the 

 state to force forestry upon land owners, 

 but to show them that timber is a profitable 

 crop to grow on the poorer classes of land, 

 and that it is for the interests of owners of 

 such lands to handle them with a view to 

 permanent profits rather than temporary 

 profits, as has characterized the cutting of 

 timber in the past. 



I assumed the office of state forester, 

 April i, 1909, and since that date I have 

 given 63 addresses in various towns of the 

 state before farmers' meetings, grange 

 meetings, men's clubs, Y. M. C. A's. and 

 other organizations. In all these meetings 

 I have found a very gratifying interest in 

 the subject of forestry and have found a 

 great many people in an inquiring mood 

 concerning the best methods of handling 

 their forest properties. During this same 

 period exhibits from my office have been 

 furnished the various agricultural fairs, and 

 the 'Greater Vermont' exhibit, which was 

 held in Burlington at the time of the Cham- 

 plain tercentenary. These forestry exhibits 

 have consisted of boxes containing different 

 kinds of forest seedlings which are advo- 

 cated by the forestry office for planting _ in 

 this state; also many pictures illustrating 

 good and bad management of forests, 

 charts, maps and kindred information. 

 These exhibits proved a very popular fea- 

 ture at the fairs of last year, in their at- 

 tracting of a large number of visitors. My 

 office also had a forestry exhibit on the Bet- 

 ter Farming special train which the commis- 

 sioner of agriculture ran, through arrange- 

 ment with the Rutland railroad, last spring. 



From small beginnings authorized by the 

 legislature of 1906, the state nursery for 

 forest trees at Burlington has been exten- 

 sively enlarged by means of liberal appro- 

 priations by the legislature of 1908, so 

 612 



that this nursery is now one of the largest 

 in the country. It contains over 3,000,000 

 trees at the present time, and from it this 

 year there have been sold 675,000 trees to 

 about loo parties scattered all over the state. 

 Windsor county has been the largest con- 

 sumer of seedling forest trees, there having 

 been placed in that county 334,000 seedlings. 

 Windham county comes next with 104,050; 

 Washington third with 85,000; Franklin 

 fourth with 53,100; Caledonia, 51,300; 

 Orange, 49,95. 



Many examinations have been made by 

 this office of private timber holdings, and in 

 numerous instances detailed working plans 

 have been made for owners that have in- 

 volved future management for a series of 

 years. On some tracts I have marked the 

 trees which should be cut. This work has 

 been done for private owners by their bear- 

 ing all traveling expenses to and from Bur- 

 lington. This satisfies me that interest, 

 aside from forest planting, has been devel- 

 oped in the state, and that owners of timber 

 lands are beginning to make use of the for- 

 estry office in practical ways, which involve 

 the thinning out of young timber and the 

 more judicious harvesting of mature timber. 



Two state forests have been established. 

 One of these was purchased by the state. 

 This one is at Plainfield and consists of 460 

 acres, for which the state paid on an aver- 

 age of $4 per acre. The other, situated in 

 Sharon, is the gift of Mr. Charles Downer 

 of that town and it consists of 350 acres. 

 On each of these forest tracts 35,000 trees 

 have been planted during the past year. At 

 the Sharon forestry reservation a nursery, 

 subsidiary to the one at Burlington, has 

 been established. It is intended that these 

 tracts shall furnish examples to the people 

 of best forestry methods. It is advisable 

 that similar tracts be established in the vari- 

 ous counties of the state, in order that these 

 examples of correct forestry methods may 

 be as easily accessible to the people as pos- 

 sible. 



There have been issued from the forestry 

 office various bulletins, the most important 

 of which has dealt with the question of for- 

 est fires. This bulletin was issued after a 

 careful investigation of the serious forest 

 fires in the fall of 1908, when about $7,000 

 was expended from the State treasury in 

 the work of fighting fires. As a rule, at 

 such times, the fire wardens in the state 

 have done efficient work, but I think that 

 the present system could be supplemented 

 in such a way that in season of severe 



