294 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



water supply and iu improving sanitary conditions, but, if put under a modern 

 system of forestry management, could be made a great economic factor in the 

 production of wood and lumber. They may also comprise one of the great aes- 

 thetic features of the section. The time clement as a factor, bo objectionable to 

 the private owner in investing in forestry undertakings, need not be considered 

 here. The advent of the automobile and rapid transit has so enlarged the con- 

 ceptions of the average citizen that instead of being content with shade trees and 

 park systems he longs for the depth and quiet of large tracts of woods, which may 

 be furnished almost without cost through the wise forethought of our municipal- 

 ities. Who has visited Germany without being impressed with the trip into 

 the Black Forest? These very forests are not only beautiful and renowned, but 

 through their scientific treatment yield splendid net financial returns. Within 

 walking distance from many of the cities, one can step into finer woods than can 

 be found in our best eastern States. Spruce and fir trees 2 to 3 feet through and 

 all the way up to 125 feet high stand on the ground as thickly as they can stand. 

 There are acres that would cut more than 100,000 feet board measure. 



Municipal forests, therefore, will do much as object lessons, and their perma- 

 nency and importance will assist very materially iu forming a workable local, 

 State and national policy. 



The State Forester of Massachusetts has completed a working plan for the 

 city of Fall River this season for a municipal forest of 3,000 acres. We are work- 

 ing on similar projects for three more cities at present, with still others on the 

 waiting list. The Metropolitan Water and Sewerage Board of Boston have com- 

 pleted planting 1,100 acres to forest trees about their new reservoir this fall. 

 The city of Helena, Mont., has planted a forest of 900 acres. Warren Manning, 

 the noted landscape gardener, the designer of the Jamestown Exposition grounds, 

 etc., is an enthusiastic advocate of the broader forestry municipal development, 

 as going hand in hand with landscape gardening. 



In a State like Massachusetts, where many park reservations like Mount Tom, 

 Wachusett, Greylock, Blue Hills, metropolitan park system, Mount Everett, etc., 

 have already been set aside for public purposes, if to these park systems, munic- 

 ipal parks and forests be added as well as corporation and private forests, to- 

 gether with increased holdings for fish and game preserves, it is evident that 

 conditions will be developed which will make our State greatly to be envied. 

 What has been and may be accomplished in Massachusetts can be wrought 

 with equal ease throughout the Union to a greater or less degree. 



Considering an imperative necessity for the growing of our future forest prod- 

 ucts, and considering the opportunity for business corporations and men to not 

 only secure financial gain but bring great good to their respective communities, 

 there certainly will be need in the future for all our well-directed acts of the pres- 

 ent day. Is it not exceedingly fortunate that the conditions outlined do exist, 

 and that the solving of them ofTers hopes to the future? It is fortunate, too, that 

 as a people we are ever ready and quick to respond to any undertaking, no matter 

 how strenuous the task, provided it will secure us benefit and reward. I have 

 every hope, therefore, that our forestry problem will receive an early considera- 

 tion at the hands of our people, and that all sections of the Union will do their 

 respective parts in conserving the forests we already have and adopting modern 

 methods of forest management, as well as in reforesting lands unadapted to agri- 

 culture, returning them to forests, for which to all intent and purposes they were 

 created. 



There has been of late much discussion on the subject of forests and 

 their relation to stream flow, and we could, if we chose, give you a sermon 

 on this subject, but we have elected in this article to present to you the 

 financial side of the question; in other words, the money profit which 



