178 OUR VANISHING FORESTS 



that It tends to keep all land at the maximum of 

 production, but, verging as it does on the theory of 

 a tax on income rather than a tax on real estate, 

 there is a decided element of guess work and many 

 opportunities for injustice arise. The difficulty of 

 applying it to our own idle land problem is that we 

 have no sufficiently well established standards of 

 forest production. Lumber prices have been slowly 

 rising over a period of many years; we believe they 

 will continue to do so, but, because the natural law 

 of exhausting supply is Interfered with by many 

 factors, we cannot be sure just what to expect. 

 There Is, therefore, no one solution of the taxation 

 question applicable to the whole United States. 

 Separate political units will have to handle the prob- 

 lem each In Its own way, reconciling so far as possi- 

 ble the necessary financial requirements with a 

 maximum of encouragement to timber growing. 



Other difficulties arise quite aside from the ques- 

 tion of taxation. We require a comprehensive plan 

 for supplying the seedlings to be planted, and a 

 thorough scientific study of methods of reforesta- 

 tion, with a view to meeting the varying natural 

 conditions found in the different states. The nurs- 

 ery or seedling problem Is Important because 

 comparatively few trees can be grown through the 

 sowing of seed on Idle land — the wastage is too 



