122 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



March 



in 1900 developed the facts that in nine 

 counties logged land was assessed 25 

 per cent to 50 per cent as high as that 

 bearing standing timber and that much 

 of it was abandoned on that account. 

 In two counties 20 per cent of the 

 logged land had been surrendered and 

 in another 71 per cent.* A recent re- 

 port from that section states that the 

 sale value of logged land is rarely as 

 hig^h as the assessed value. 



The figures given above will have 

 more meaning, perhaps, if they be 

 compared with what a forest can yield. 

 Say that an acre of land produces in 

 eighty years 7,000 feet board measure 

 of lumber, worth $49 on the stump, 

 and that a tax of 2 cents is paid each 

 year. If money be worth 5 per cent, 

 the 2 cents paid annually eighty times 

 amounts to $19.42, or 40 per cent of 

 the value of the crop ! 



INDUCEMENTS TO FOREST OWNERS. 



In view of the facts that have just 

 been stated, and of the very general 

 interest manifested in forest preserva- 

 tion, it is reasonable to expect that the 

 laws and practices of at least one state 

 have been adjusted to the necessities 

 of the situation. Unfortunately that is 

 not the case, for, though many states 

 have dealt with the subject within the 



past thirty years, not one has framed 

 a law of the right kind. Connecticut 

 exempts from tax for twenty years 

 plantations of certain specified trees 

 made on land not previously wooded ; 

 Wisconsin exempts shelter belts or 

 wind breaks made and maintained in a 

 certain way ; Colorado, Indiana, Maine, 

 Nebraska, New Hampshire, Pennsyl- 

 vania, and Rhode Island give partial 

 exemption on plantations or on limited 

 areas of forest. None of the laws can 

 apply to more than small woodlots. 

 Illinois, Kansas, Wyoming, Minneso- 

 ta and Wisconsin give bounties for 

 tree plantations, and Massachusetts, 

 Minnesota and Vermont offer premi- 

 ums to encourage tree planters. 



To these state measures is to be add- 

 ed the Federal act of 1873, known as 

 the Timber Culture Law. This was 

 intended to encourage tree planting on 

 the public lands in the West, but was 

 so abused that it was repealed in 1891. 



The laws and practices of many 

 states concerning the observance of 

 Arbor day evidence the desire and in- 

 tent of the people to foster the grow- 

 ing of trees, but at the same time they 

 prove the entire insufficiency of such 

 measures to support one acre of com- 

 mercial forest or to maintain existing 

 woodlands for the common weal. 



SUMMER SESSION OF THE YALE 



FOREST SCHOOL 



Decription of the Equipment and Daily Life 

 at this Unique and Valuable Institution 



BY 



CHARLES S. JUDD 



T^HE student entering the Yale For- 

 *" est School will begin his course 

 with the summer work at Milford, Pa. 

 He will reach this pretty little village 

 by an eight-mile stage ride from Port 

 Jervis, at the junction of the states of 



New York, New Jersey and Pennsyl- 

 vania, or will drive up the valley from 

 Bushkill, which is about ten miles 

 north of the Delaware Water Gap. 



He will find the camp situated on 

 high, dry ground about eight hundred 



*E. T. Allen, "The Western Hemlock." Bulletin 33, Bureau of Forestry, p. 37. 



