1905 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



303 



scarcely any market for this young- 

 material as wood. In good sprout 

 stands, 30 years old, eight or ten cords 

 of this inferior material can usually be 

 removed from an acre, thus giving the 

 remaining trees plenty of room for de- 

 velopment. The high values which 

 have resulted from untreated sprout 

 stands encourages one to expect even 

 greater returns from systematic treat- 

 ment of this sort. I have a record of 

 a lot of about three acres from which 

 were c"t (V.ooo feet B. M. of chestnut 



ferent. The lack of knowledge on the 

 part of the farmer as to the value of 

 his pine timber results in lumbermen 

 being able to buy it for very low fig- 

 ures. This is not so much the case 

 now as it was a few years ago, for 

 with the growing scarcity of stumpage 

 there is naturally some appreciation in 

 prices. There are no large lumbermen 

 in the state, but there are in every lo- 

 cality men controllingportable saw mills 

 who cut from one-half million to four 

 or five million feet a year, including 



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Planting forest trees on sand plain in Connecticut. This land is assessed at six 

 dollars an acre though worthless for agriculture. 



and oak lumber and poles enough for 

 10,000 feet more, besides 118 cords of 

 wood. Another ten acre lot of sprouts 

 about forty years old sold recently for 

 $ 1,000, though the land itself was 

 probably not valued at over $5 an acre. 



Many of the owners of such hard- 

 wood land appreciate the value of 

 thinnings since they are holding their 

 lands for a definite purpose, that of 

 producing poles and ties which re-quire 

 a growth of about 40 years. 



The white pine problem is quite <lit- 



ties and poles. While the competi- 

 tion among these men is now so keen 

 that they are obliged to bid up to prices 

 somewhat approaching the actual 

 value of the woodlots, they sometimes 

 overcome this difficulty by agreeing 

 among themselves on a satisfactory 

 distribution of the lots for sale. These 

 lumbermen are usually men who start- 

 ed in with very little capital, but have 

 gradually increased their husim-ss. 

 They aim to turn over their money as 

 soon as possible, and for this reason 



