No. t.] FORESTRY IN i\LV8SACHUSETT8. 53 



forest policy which will i)revent further deterioration of half 

 it* territor}', and which in doing this will take care of the 

 interests of all future generations of citizens, treating the 

 interests of the Avhole, present and future, State as a unit. 

 In other Avords, while some things in forestry matters may 

 be left to private enteri)rise, others to the civic conscience 

 of the towns, the State has still particular obligations, and 

 now the urgei\t need of developing a rational forest policy. 

 What form shall the interest of the State in this large 

 Avoodland area take ? This question has been often discussed 

 b(>fore your Board for the last fifty years, and some benefi- 

 cent legislation has been had ; but now is the time to become 

 still more definite, and to do or get done the things still left 

 undone, which have been proi)osed by those who have ad- 

 dressed you before, among them my good friend, the chair- 

 man of your connnittee on forestry and roads. 



A State Forester. 



Thirteen years ago, in 1 8i>0, when your Board had been 

 ordered by the House of Representatives to " iiKjuire into 

 the conditions of the forests of the State, and to report on 

 needs and methods of their protection and improvement," 

 I had the honor to be represented before you by a brief letter 

 in ansAver to an inquiry by the chairman of that committee. 

 In this letter I pointed out that some desu-able things could 

 perhaps at that time not yd be done, being apparently pre- 

 mature ; but I urged as a beginning the appointment of a com- 

 petent paid man, a State forester, in whose hands the forestry 

 interests of the State should be placed as his sole duty, who, 

 perhaps under your direction, Avould ascertain the conditions 

 of the forest area of the State, and upon the basis of such a 

 detailed examination could advise you as to the needs and 

 methods of their protection and improvement, and at the 

 same time carry on an educational campaign among farmers 

 and timber land owners, giving them advice as to hoAV they 

 might manage their woodlands to better advantage. One of 

 the first duties of the State forester should be to make a 

 forest surv^ey of the State, for not until you know what you 

 have to deal with can you prescribe its management. Such 



