STATE NEWS 



139 



Pennsylvania 



There are 15,000,000 acres in Pennsylvania 

 better adapted for growing trees than for 

 pasturage or raising crops. About half of 

 this acreage is either barren and entirely un- 

 productive or the products from it barely 

 pay the expense of obtaining them. The 

 State has bought 945,000 acres of this land, 

 and the present desire of the Forestry Com- 

 mission is to continue these purchases until 

 not less than 6,000,000 acres have been ob- 

 tained. It is now waste land and to grow 

 trees on it calls for a long-time investment 

 without any interest until the trees are ma- 

 ture, which does not appeal to private capital. 

 The land is carefully investigated before it 

 is bought by the state and none is acquired 

 which does not have a clear title. The 

 average price paid has been about $2.25 an 

 acre and much of it can now be sold for 

 three or four times the purchase price, owing 

 to the healthy growth of young timber on 

 it. The public forestry work will be sup- 

 plemented, as soon as legislative consent 

 can be acquired, by assistance to private 

 timber land owners. It is proposed that 

 all private timber lands placed under the 

 direction of the State Forestry Department 

 shall be assessed at only $1.00 an acre for 

 a number of years, and in return for this 

 low assessment the tracts must be cared 

 for in accordance with the directions of the 

 Department. 



Kentucky 



The Governor of Kentucky, in his annual 

 message to the legislature on January 2, 

 said in part: "I believe it is imperative 

 that the General Assembly adopt a proper 

 and adequate policy of forest protection, 

 not only with the purpose of saving the 

 timber now standing, but of! reforesting 

 the cut-over, the burnt-over and unforested 

 districts of the state. A majority of the 

 states are maintaining bureaus of forestry. 



"I recommend: 



"First A State Forester, to be appointed 

 by the Governor, who, by training and 

 experience, is thoroughly qualified to handle 

 technical forestry problems, as well as for- 

 estry educational work. 



"Second A campaign of education 

 should be inaugurated and the State For- 

 ester should lecture at Farmers' Institutes 

 and encourage elementary instruction in 

 forestry in the public schools ; also pre- 

 pare and distribute appropriate bulletins." 



New Jersey 



The annual report of the New Jersey 

 State Forestry Commission, sent to Gov- 

 ernor Wilson January 8, shows that the 

 condition of forests in New Jersey are 

 improving; that forest fires have become 

 less destructive than in former years : that 

 many penalties have been imposed for 

 violation of laws which have been en- 

 forced, and that much good has been ac- 

 complished. 



The commissioners are unanimous in the 

 belief that forestry has attained a permanent 

 place in this state. Seven years ago, when 



the commission was created, the report says 

 that the woodlands of the state were so de- 

 graded that few persons believed it possible 

 to save the remnant. Fires in South Jersey 

 and reckless cutting in North Jersey were 

 responsible chiefly for this condition. It is 

 shown that today the situation is far more 

 promising. Interested owners are in con- 

 trol of the woodlands in the north, and the 

 security against fires in the south has demon- 

 strated the forests there still may be saved. 



Oregon 



State Forester F. A. Elliott, of Oregon, in 

 speaking of the necessity of the conservation 

 of the forest wealth of the state, says : 

 "Owing to lack of transportation facilities, 

 our lumber business has grown very slowly, 

 but last year we jumped from the eighth 

 place among the states to third place; 

 only Washington and Louisiana record- 

 ing greater lumber production. In a "very 

 few years, at the most, we will be manu- 

 facturing more lumber than either of these 

 states, and this must continue as long as 

 our timber lasts. It is very important, then, 

 that we use every means within our power 

 for the protection of this, pur greatest 

 natural resource, and see to it that there 

 is as little waste as possible in handling, 

 manufacturing and marketing forest 

 products." 



Montana 



Advices received at Butte, Mont., state that 

 President Taft and Secretary of the Interior 

 Fisher have approved of the plan submitted 

 by Governor Edwin L. Norris and Attorney 

 General Galen recently at Washington, for 

 the creation in Montana of a state forest re- 

 serve, which will embrace from 400,000 to 

 500,000 acres of land. 



New York 



Bills providing for the reforestation of 

 lands in New York State have been pre- 

 pared for introduction in the legislature by 

 Senator George F. Argetsinger. For some 

 six months Senator Argetsinger has been 

 devoting much of his time to the study of 

 the question which he found to be complex 

 and in which there were many problems 

 which he found were not easy of solution. 



The general olan of the bills is to create 

 an incentive to land owners to plant trees 

 on land which is not now cultivated. To 

 provide this incentive the bills allow a re- 

 duction in the tax on land devoted to the 

 growing of trees. 



One bill provides for the taxation of 

 auxiliary forest reserves and is a companion 

 measure to one defining and establishing 

 auxiliary forest reserves and providing a 

 penalty for the violations of the provisions 

 therefor. 



In section one the bill establishing forest 

 reserves, all land set apart for the growing 

 of trees in accordance with the terms of 

 the bill are made to constitute a separate 

 and distinct class of lands to be known as 

 auxiliary forest reserves. 



