The forester. 



Vol. V. 



OCTOBER, 1899. 



No. 10. 



Massachusetts Forestry Association. 



What It Is and What It Does ; Some Suggestions for Similar Organizations 



in other States. 



By the Secretary of the Association. 



In talking with a Southern gentleman 

 at the National Capital within the past 

 year I was told that "Massachusetts has 

 had her day, and in the present hour 

 she cuts but a small figure in these 

 United States." 



Perhaps Massachusetts people will be 

 unwilling to accept this statement in its 

 widest application, but we must admit 

 that in point of proportional forest re- 

 sources we are sadly behind many of our 

 sister States. This, of course, is in a 

 measure due to the fact that the State is 

 very generally fertile, and, as we under- 

 stand the principles of forestry, it is not 

 desirable, as a rule, to hold in timber 

 and cordwood the land which is capable 

 of growing other crops more profitably. 



By the census returns of 1895 (the 

 latest available statistics on this subject) 

 it appears that the woodland area of this 

 State is nearly a million and a half acres, 

 and that its valuation is almost $24,- 

 000,000. This is a gain of over 71,000 

 acres in ten years, but the valuation 

 shows a depreciation of more than 

 $1,300,000 in a like period, notwithstand- 

 ing the increased acreage. In point of 

 valuation our woodland is to-day some 

 $440,000 ahead of what ii was thirty years 

 ago, and the acreage shows almost identi- 

 cally the same figures in increase. On 

 the whole, judging from the census re- 

 turns of woodlands of various classes, 



their character appears to have improved 

 in the ten years, from 1885 to 1895, Dut 

 the depreciation of considerably more 

 than a million dollars in value in that 

 time seems to indicate that further im- 

 provement is possible. 



As to the so-called unimproved and 

 unimprovable land of the State, which 

 includes permanent pastures, swamps 

 and other waste country, it is pleasing 

 to note that its area has declined since 

 1885 by nearly 250,000 acres. It is not 

 so reassuring, however, to note that the 

 value has shrunk by nearly $4,000,000, 

 which seems out of proportion to the 

 loss in area. This loss is not offset by 

 any gain in arable land, for there has 

 been a loss in area in that class, and with 

 a gain in valuation notwithstanding. It 

 is not offset by the gain of 71,000 acres 

 in woodland, for that is less than one- 

 third of the total loss of unimproved and 

 unimprovable lands. Some of this un- 

 improved land has, no doubt, gone into 

 residential property, but the tremendous 

 loss in valuation still remains. 



"But why all these dry-as-dust statis- 

 tics ? " some one asks. It is to show 

 more clearly one reason why the Massa- 

 chusetts Forestry Association exists. 

 The problem in this State is, not to in- 

 crease our wooded area as a whole, neces- 

 sarily, but to make the most of what we 

 have in the way of growing trees, and in 



