PROCEDURE 



Records were secured from 252 individual families by personal in- 

 terview at the farm/ These records comprised a brief inventory of the 

 farm and livestock, acres of crops, income from sales, outside work and 

 other sources, farm expenses, personal living expenses, a brief record 

 of personnel in the household, and a few items on social activity of the 

 families. 



The interviewer noted roughly the size and condition of the buildings 

 and checked the condition of the road. 



Town inventories were copied and selectmen of the towns were con- 

 sulted in order to locate more accurately the properties in the inven- 

 tories. In Dorchester and Groton the town inventories extending over 

 100 years were examined to obtain historical data. School officers 

 were interviewed in securing statistics on transportation of children 

 and other data. 



A forester was delegated to map the forest cover in Dorchester in de- 

 tail as to type, size, age class, and to make estimates on volume of each 

 claSo. Later, another forester analyzed the situation from the point 

 of view of marketing the timber that would be made available under a 

 sound forest management program.' 



^ Detailed records were secured from all but 37 places within the area. 

 For the most part these were isolated families who could not be found at home, 

 had moved away before field work was completed, or were reluctant to give 

 details. The agricultural production and sales of these farms were negligible. 



In the preliminary field work on this study a larger area was surveyed 

 and 637 families were interviewed. 



^ Before the field work had been completed, the opportunity came to sub- 

 mit an action program to the Land Utilization Division of the United States 

 Department of Agriculture. At that time there appeared the possibility 

 that the White Mountain Forest Service might cooperate to the extent of 

 purchasing the wild interior lands and employing some of the local people 

 in forest development. The Rehabilitation Administration according to the 

 plan was to purchase at voluntary sale some of the more isolated farms which 

 represent problems in road and school costs, and these were to be added to 

 the White Mountain holdings. The project was dropped due to the in- 

 definiteness of the Rehabilitation Program at that time. 



