26 NATUEE OP PKOPERTY IN TIMBER-LANDS. 



The annual reports of the Commissioner of the General Land Office 

 show that 803,945.47 acres were entered in the fiscal year lS73-'74; 

 404,870.16 acres in 1874-'75, and 607,984.87 in 1875-'76. The Commis- 

 sioner, in a letter dated September 29, 1877, estimates that about 16 per 

 cent, of the number had, at that time, been canceled, either for conflict, 

 relinquishment, or abandonment. From somewhat extended personal 

 inquiries we are led to believe that the proportion will eventually be 

 found much larger — in many districts 50 per cent, or even more, it being 

 evident that in many cases the claims are held merely for speculative 

 purposes, or were entered without appreciating the task undertaken. 

 In fact, the requirements of the law are such that a man must have 

 some considerable means in order to fully meet the requirements, and 

 such men can often do better with their capital of money and labor than 

 to seek its benefits. 



THE NATURE OF PROPERTY IN TIMBER LANDS. 



In comparing landed property kept for the raising of timber with that 

 devoted to the cultivation of field-crops, we shall notice this marked dif- 

 ference, that while the latter may be readily subjected to rules, for rental 

 on short periods, or for tillage by a tenant who receives a fixed share of 

 the crop for his labor, the former must always be managed directly by 

 the owner, or by those who are paid in proportion to the time employed. 

 It would scarcely be possible to arrange the terms under which a tenant 

 could plant, manage, and enjoy a woodland upon shares, much less 

 would he be expected to plant land which he did not own, and from 

 which, he could hardly expect to derive personal benefit. The rental of 

 lands upon " durable leases," upon a tenure requiring an annual pay- 

 ment, however small, has been found practically unfortunate in our 

 country, and such quit-rents or other obligations have been almost 

 universally superseded by conveyance in fee simple, wherever they had 

 been imposed and whenever it was possible. 



The planting of forest trees, whether for ornament or use, must there- 

 fore bo almost wholly done by laud owners, or at their expense, and the 

 business will necessarily most interest the freeholder. The tenant may 

 be willing to pay advanced prices for the rental of lands planted with 

 groves, hedges, and wind-breaks, and may have an interest in maintain- 

 ing them while in his care, for the benefit they bring or the profit they 

 may add by their growth. He may be willing to pay his rent in tree- 

 planting, or may be held by contract to bestow labor upon this object ; 

 but all of these expenses must either directly or indirectly fall upon the 

 owner, and result finally to his benetit. The tenant can scarcely be ex- 

 pected to voluntarily assume the expenses of planting forests, nor will 

 he be willing to set apart his lands already available for agriculture, to 

 this object. He might oftener be interested in clearing lauds to secure 

 a wider area for immediate use, or be tempted to pasture plantations too 

 soon for their good, or seek to gain some other present benefit at the 

 sacrifice of an interest not his own. 



But fortunately, the easy terms upon which land can be owned in the 

 regions where forest-planting is most needed, will enable almost every 

 one who has the ambition to become a freeholder, to acquire an abso- 

 lute title. The increasing value of growing timber renders the gaining 

 profit of a plantation visible and real, and the certainty of enjoyment, 

 with enhanced value by posterity, presents a motive worthy of the high- 

 est ambition. 



The history of settlements everywhere begins with a class of pioneers 



