FORESTS AND FORESTRY IN CON- 



NECTICUT 



BY 

 AUSTIN F. HAWES 



State Forester of Connecticut 



T IKE the rest of southern New Eng- 

 *-** land, the forest area of Connecti- 

 cut is steadily increasing, and this mis- 

 leads many to think that the forest 

 question will care for itself. The 

 great trouble is, of course, in the poor 

 character of much of this woody 

 growth, and the scant chance which it 

 has in the natural course of events to 

 become of any value for at least a 

 generation. On the other hand there 

 is a great deal of valuable woodland 

 in all parts of the state which serves 

 as a good example of what is possible. 



Chestnut is the most important tree 

 of the state and in many forests forms 

 the largest portion of the mixture. 

 Next in importance is the white pine 

 which forms pure stands in the north- 

 east part of the state and is mixed 

 with chestnut and oaks and other hard- 

 woods throughout the northern sec- 

 tion. There is probably no virgin 

 timber in the state, the white pine 

 stands being largely the growth which 

 has encroached on abandoned fields 

 and the sprout woods bear evidence of 

 two or often three generations. 



Probably nearly one quarter of the 

 total area of the state is nearly worth- 

 less land, which is gradually coming 

 up to gray birch, pitch pine, and juni- 

 per. This land has an average value 

 of perhaps $3 an acre, the price vary- 

 ing with the locality. Some of the 

 most barren wastes which lie near rail- 

 roads are held as possible factory sites 

 at $5 to $10 an acre. While some of 

 this land is now yielding a scanty sup- 

 ply of cord wood, the prices from such 

 material, except near the cities, are so 

 low that the owners place practically 

 no value upon their land and allow it 

 to remain totally neglected and to be 



frequently burned over. One of the 

 first things for forestry to demonstrate 

 is that it is entirely feasible in most 

 cases to plant up such land as this. 



The thrifty growing young forests 

 offer every inducement for thinning, 

 especially is this the case in the sprout 

 growth of chestnut and oaks. The 

 highest values from such forests are 

 derived where there is a good crop of 

 poles and railroad ties. Poles deliv- 

 ered bring as high as $13 apiece, the 

 average thirty foot pole selling from 

 $2.50 to $3. The first grade of rail- 

 road ties are now sold for 42 cents, 

 and the seconds for 30 cents. There 

 is always a large proportion of inferior 

 trees in these natural stands which not 

 only will never give these valuable 

 products, but also interfere with the 

 best development of the good trees. 

 In remote situations where the cost of 

 removal might eat up the small profit 

 in cordwood thinnings can often be 

 made remunerative by converting the 

 wood into charcoal. The customary 

 reckoning is that 30 cords of wood will 

 produce 1,000 bushels of coal. The 

 value of the "coal" is seven to eight 

 cents a bushel. The cost of burning 

 sixty cords amounts to about $45, 

 leaving $1.58 as the average return 

 for stumpage, cost of cutting the wood 

 and hauling the charcoal. As the cost 

 of cutting amounts to 90 cents to $i, 

 the result gives a low stumpage value. 

 In fact in some localities where the 

 coal burners buy stumpage they pay 

 33 cents a cord. These figures show, 

 however, that in most remote sections 

 such thinnings can pay for themselves. 

 One of the advantages in burning into 

 coal results from the fact that round 

 wood can be used, while there is 



