EDITORIAL 



WITH a business sense which 

 is most commendable, the 

 National Forest Reserva- 

 tion Commission, acting 

 upon the advice of the Forest Service, 

 has, after waiting three years, finally 

 completed the purchase of an 85,000- 

 acre tract of forest land in the White 

 Mountain region. This tract cost at 

 the rate of S8.5U an acre, whereas, had 

 it been purchased three years ago, the 

 price would have been $28.60 an acre. 



At the time the purchase was first 

 proposed the members of the Commis- 

 sion fully appreciated the desirability 

 of acquiring these lands to add to those 

 already secured in the Appalachian sys- 

 tem, but officials of the Forest Service, 

 after a painstaking investigation, re- 

 ported that the price was far too high. 

 Since then, although the members of 

 the Commission were at times criti- 

 cized for not taking over the tract, the 

 effort to have the price reduced has 

 continued until it now becomes Gov- 

 ernment property at a saving of prac- 

 tically twenty dollars an acre, or a 

 totafof about $1,700,000. 



The land includes Mt. Washington, 

 Mt. Jefferson and Mt. Adams, all of 

 which, owing to their scenic value as 

 well as their value as a health and a 

 recreation ground, properly belong in 



the Appalachian reserve, and now will 

 become the property of the people for 

 all time. The Department of Agricul- 

 ture, through the Forest Service, will 

 encourage the public use of these lands 

 in all the ways that it is feasible to use 

 them and particularly for summer 

 camping grounds, it being contended 

 that summer campers, with proper re- 

 strictions as to their use of the forest, 

 are of actual value in taking care of 

 the forest. Another value which the 

 purchase has, and a great one, is the 

 protection of land which is the key- 

 stone or the hub of the drainage sys- 

 tem of the \Vhite Mountain area. 



Many careful students of the forest 

 conditions predict that the growth of 

 timber on Government land in the Ap- 

 palachian system will in the future be 

 of decided importance in supplying the 

 lumber markets in the East, and such 

 a growth will come with the protection 

 of the land which is assured by its 

 administration by the Forest Service, 

 and by the replanting of denuded sec- 

 tions, which is one of the plans in the 

 future management of the land. 



There are a number of other areas 

 which should also be acquired and it is 

 quite safe to venture the prediction 

 they will be when the price is satisfac- 

 tory and the money is available. 



TOO little appreciation of the 

 value of shade trees is evident 

 in many towns and cities 

 throughout the United States. 

 The residents and the city officials do 

 not realize how much more attractive 



their city would be if it had well- 

 shaded streets and trees about the resi- 

 dences. Perhaps this is because the 

 majority of them have never seen such 

 streets, as, for instance, those in Wash- 

 ington. It is a condition which may 



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