804 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



beyond the ruinous reach of private 

 exploitation. With more far reaching 

 vision than most of us, Dr. Edward 

 Everett Hale used to say that the entire 

 Appalachian Mountain System, from 

 Maine to Georgia, must be taken by 

 the Government. Timber grows very 

 slowly. Most trees require from eighty 



3EMi tj 



Purchase Area and Watersheds 



map of northern new england showing the rise of the important 

 rivers in new england in the white mountain region. it shows 

 the present purchase area that should be extended to include 

 at least the head waters of the connecticut 



to one hundred years to reach maturity. 

 This crop cannot be handled advan- 

 tageously by private owners. Even 

 rich corporations cannot afford to wait 

 so long for returns, and should not be 

 asked to do so. The best of them leave 

 the high slopes skinned of timber, cov- 

 ered with debris, and in a condition to 

 invite fire from a camper's match. The 

 inflammable nature of mountain soils and 

 the tremendous power of erosion inces- 

 santly at work in all mountain regions, 



cannot be met and overcome by private 

 interests. The public interest and pri- 

 vate interest in the control of these 

 lands are in sharp contrast. In a 

 country of 100,000,000 people with the 

 lack of control that has characterized 

 our American use of natural resources, 

 a continuous appropriation of $2,000,000 

 a year, until the re- 

 newed forests become 

 sufficiently produc- 

 tive, will prove none 

 too much. It will 

 steady the country, 

 not only against 

 extraordinary fluctua- 

 tions in prices, but 

 also against monop- 

 olistic control that is 

 always likely to take 

 advantage either of 

 fluctuation or scarcity. 

 A great and credit- 

 able work has been 

 accomplished with the 

 money available 

 under the Weeks Act, 

 in the purchase of 

 Federal Forest Re- 

 serves in New England 

 and the Southern 

 Appalachians during 

 the last four years. 



One and one-quar- 

 ter million acres in 

 the least accessible 

 parts of these regions 

 have been examined 

 and purchased. Any- 

 one who has had 

 experience in buying 

 land, particularly 

 tracts of forest land, 

 will realize the force 

 and tact necessary to 

 make such extensive purchases suc- 

 cessfully without encountering severe 

 criticism. The great task has been 

 honestly and skillfully done. 



In the White Mountains 265,000 acres 

 have been acquired; in the Southern 

 Appalachian Mountains a little more 

 than 1,000,000 acres. To friends of 

 the White Mountains this is dis- 

 appointing and appears a dispropor- 

 tionate division, especially to those who 

 realize the close relationship between 



