48 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



acres. This reduction has, of course, come either by return 

 to wood or waste, or by sale for suburban homes, etc. If 

 we take the federal census figures, the change in total farm 

 area and in cultivated area appears even greater. And if we 

 compare the figures of 1885 and 1900, the area outside of 

 farm holdings in 1900 seems to have increased by more than 

 50 per cent over the figure in 1885, namely, to 2,172,000 

 acres, undoubtedly^ mainly through sales by farmers of 

 timber lands, possibly for suburban sites and summer homes, 

 and by abandonment of farms, although the total number of 

 farms has rather increased. 



Altogether these statistics are rather unsatisfactory for 

 any conclusive deductions ; yet we are probably justified in 

 coming to the conclusion that, after making ample allowance 

 for changes in use and for absolute waste lands, which must 

 always remain unproductive, and also for land which may 

 still be tm-ned to farm use, there are in the State not less than 

 2,500,000 acres which can be devoted only to timber growing. 



What does this Massachusetts forest acreage produce? 

 We do not know. From the census figures we can hardly 

 find out what we cut from it, let alone the question of how 

 much the cut exceeds the growth. Although it is currently 

 supposed that timber for saw-mill purposes is well-nigh 

 exhausted in Massachusetts, the lumber product is still 

 reported by the saw-mills as over $5,000,000 in value, — a 

 considerable increase over former decades. Undoubtedly 

 much or most of the 500,000,000 feet of lumber sawed is 

 derived from logs cut in neighboring States, but the census 

 taker fails to enlighten us as to the facts except with his 

 opinion. The only certainty of home supply is found in the 

 10,000,000 feet produced in the independent lumber camps 

 of the State and the 70,000,000 feet of custom sawing. 

 From what evidence exists, we come to the conclusion that 

 timber for saw purposes in the State is of a negligible 

 quantity ; the land is mostly coppice, sprout land or stump 

 land, producing mainly fuel wood, with some railroad ties, 

 telegraph poles, fence material and pail stock or box boards. 



In 1880 the federal census reports still a hofnc cut of 

 about 200,000,000 feet of logs, valued at $1,828,000, and 



