382 FORESTRY IN NEW ENGLAND 



principles, and, in the summer of 1911, a fire station was main- 

 tained cooperatively by several adjoining towns, a thing which 

 would have been impossible five years previously. 



The first state forest in New England was purchased by the 

 first state forester, Mr. Walter Mulford, in Portland, near the 

 geographical center of the state. This tract of hardwood sprout 

 land consists of a little over one thousand acres. Many por- 

 tions have been given improvement thinnings, and open areas 

 have been planted. A series of special experiments in group 

 thinnings was begun in 1905, supplemented by the establishment 

 of sample acres with control plots to determine the effect of 

 various grades of thinning. 



Another smaller forest was purchased in Simsbury to demon- 

 strate the possibiHty of preventing forest fires in one of the worst 

 situations in the state, a sand plain traversed by a railroad 

 which had been responsible for almost annual conflagrations. 

 Through the cooperation of the state, the town, and the railroad, 

 these fires have been practically eliminated and the land planted 

 with pines. 



The present areas of the state forests are as follows: 



Portland noo acres. 



Union 287 acres. 



Simsbury 130 acres. 



Total 15 1 7 acres. 



One of the chief needs of Connecticut is an extension of this 

 state forest policy into every portion of the state and the creation 

 of at least half a dozen other tracts large enough to be handled 

 economically. The original act making the purchase of these 

 forests possible Hmited the purchase price to $4.00 an acre. At 

 that time the price was suflicient but the funds available were 

 entirely inadequate. The General Assembly of 1909 appro- 

 priated $5000, available until expended, but this could not be 

 wisely invested because of the restriction on the price and the 

 fact that land values had risen. This maximum price for land 

 has now been increased to $8 an acre. 



