194 Canadian Forestry Journal. 



the southern and larger portion of this area, and here the coun- 

 try is very rough and rugged, broken up as it is into many short 

 mountain ranges and deep narrow valleys. The northern part 

 of the area is flatter and contains many lakes and mountains 

 with wide, rolling valleys between. The entire region is es- 

 sentially a forest country. That the land is, for the most part, 

 better suited to forest production than to agricultural use is 

 evidenced by the thousands of acres of once cultivated land, 

 which have now largely come up to dense forests of second 

 growth spruce and pine. 900,000 acres of the tract are held 

 by large lumber and pulp companies; 756,000 acres by small 

 holders of forest lands, and 244,000 acres are in small agricul- 

 tural holdings. These lands were sold by the State in years 

 past. The best spruce land brings from $20 to $30 per acre. 

 Second growth spruce land is rapidly increasing in value, and 

 is being bought up by the large lumber and pulp companies. 

 Of the virgin merchantable forest there are only 200,000 acres 

 remaining, out of a total forest land area of 1,684,206 acres, the 

 remainder being cut-over or waste land. The stand of soft- 

 woods is estimated at 4,764,000,000 board feet. 



The conclusions reached by the investigation are as follows: — 



(1) Unless the forests are effectively protected from fire, 

 the value of Northern New Hampshire as a summer resort, now 

 the source of an annual revenue of approximately $8,000,000, 

 and as a source of timber supply, will be seriously affected. 

 The extension from year to year of the total area which has been 

 burned, together with the facts that the great bulk of this land 

 has failed to develop a valuable forest growth, that indeed much 

 of it remains an absolute waste, and that the forest resources 

 of the State are being rapidly depleted, has forced on all thought- 

 ful persons interested, financially or otherwise, the recognition 

 of the fire question, as the question of first importance to the 

 forests of the State. 



(2) Safety from forest fires is impossible without the or- 

 ganization of a fire service, and it is suggested that the State 

 should organize such a service, raising the necessar}'" revenue 

 by a tax on the timber lands. 



(3) Conservative lumbering under the supervision of trained 

 foresters would pay the large lumber and pulp companies oper- 

 ating in Northern New Hampshire better than the present 

 method. The principal sources of waste at present are in cutting 

 high stumps, in leaving good lumber in the tops, in leaving logs 

 and lodged trees in the woods, in the failure to utilize wind- 

 thrown and dead timber which is still merchantable, in leaving 

 standing merchantable trees which are sure to be wind-thrown, 



