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THE FORESTER. 



January, 



Farm Forestry "Massachusetts has 

 in Massachu- therefore made a good 

 setts. beginning in State for- 



estry, but it is all purely 

 of a protective nature. Inasmuch as we 

 have no great timber area like that in 

 New York, there is no reason for the State 

 to enter upon the cultivation of com- 

 mercial timher. The application of this 

 branch of forestry should be left in this 

 State to private enterprise; and it is safe 

 to predict that, if our own citizens do not 

 undertake it, outside capital will eventu- 

 ally come in and begin operations. There 

 is at least one such company established 

 on Massachusetts territory to-day. It con- 

 trols at present some 5,000 acres in one 

 township, and is negotiating for the pur- 

 chase of more. It has even been reported 

 on good authority that they hope to buy 

 the whole township. Primarily this com- 

 pany was formed for the establishment of 

 a game preserve ; but it is known that they 

 are already planning to start a forest, 

 which they hope to make commercially 

 valuable. 



" ' Why not encourage such foreign 

 capital to come in and do such work ? ' 

 some one may ask. If they will consider 

 the best interests of Massachusetts, it 

 would surely be wise. But who wants to 

 see acres of trees growing on land that is 

 more valuable for agricultural crops? 

 Forestry does not seek to ruin a country 

 and turn it back from civilization to wil- 

 derness ; the science of forestry is diamet- 

 rically opposed to any such practice. 



"Our problem in Massachusetts is to 

 keep what we have, and to improve it; 

 hold fast to our tillage, and grow good 

 crops thereon; hold on to our wood lots, 

 and improve them; and, finally, make 

 those old barren pastures, too poor to keep 

 a sheep alive, and those low places, too 

 wet for grass, grow marketable wood of 

 some kind. 



"Let us see for a moment what our wood- 

 land represents to-day. By the last census, 

 that of 1S95, our wooded area is given 

 as nearly 1,500,000 acres and its value as 

 almost $24,000,000. While this is a gain 

 in woodland area in ten years of more 

 than 71,000 acres, its valuation shows a 



Canadian 

 Interest in 

 Forestry. 



meeting 



shrinkage of something over $1,300,000 

 in the same period of time. In thirty 

 years the value of our woodland has in- 

 creased some $440,000, and the acreage 

 increase shows almost identically the same 

 figures. Judging by the census returns, 

 the character of our woodlands appears to 

 have improved on the whole in the ten 

 years from 18S5 to 1S95, but the deprecia- 

 tion in value of more than $1,300,000 

 seems to indicate that further improve- 

 ment is possible." Allen Chamberlain on 

 Possibilities for Farm Forestry in Mas- 

 sachusetts. 



The Canadian F orestry 

 Association which was 

 founded last March is 

 now well started, and is 

 with great favor throughout 

 Canada. It already numbers more than 

 100 members, and almost every day new 

 applications are received. There is no 

 reason to doubt that as it becomes better 

 known, it will grow into a very strong 

 and influential association. It has adopt- 

 ed as its official organ a monthly maga- 

 zine published in Montreal Rod and Gun 

 in Canada, and an arrangement has been 

 made according to which payment of the 

 annual membership fee, one dollar, con- 

 stitutes a subscription to this magazine. 

 In each number there now appears a de- 

 partment devoted to forestry, several pages 

 in length, which is edited by the Secretary 

 of the Association, Mr. Elihu Stewart, 

 Chief Inspector of Timber and Forestry. 

 The president of the Canadian Associa- 

 tion, Sir Henri Joly de Lotbiniere, who is 

 also vice-president for Canada of the 

 American Association, has recently been 

 made Lieutenant-Governor for British 

 Columbia. Since assuming office he has 

 been as indefatigable as ever in forest 

 matters, with the result that in British 

 Columbia a provincial association has al- 

 ready been formed. On the other side of 

 the continent at the opening of the Pro- 

 vincial Exhibition at Halifax a few weeks 

 ago, the Hon. Mr. Jones, the new Lieu- 

 tenant-Governor of Nova Scotia, devoted 

 a considerable part of his address to the 

 subject of forestry and made special refer- 





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