No. 4.] FORESTRY IN MASSACHUSETTS. 61 



attain the height of four feet, the ash or larch or chestnut or 

 indeed any of the others may attain it in half the time, 

 although later the pine will again outgi'ow them. 



The limit of the tax release at the other end will then 

 occur at, say the fifteenth to the twentieth year. If the 

 2,000 trees are expected to be in existence all this time to 

 earn the release, there will be nmch disai)pointment, for it 

 will be only with the greatest difficulty, if not utterly impos- 

 sible, to keep such a number alive for that time, with some 

 of the species, like ash, larch, or any other light-needing 

 species ; it is against their nature to grow so densely. 

 Although with proper mixtures of tolerant and light-needing 

 species this number might be maintained, it is questionable 

 whether this is desirable. At any rate, the desirable num- 

 ber is variable with the species used. The plantation might 

 be made with 2,500 or even 3,000 seedlings set out, main- 

 taining that number perhaps for. the first three or four years, 

 which would be a very satisfactory start; but after that it 

 should be left to natural adjustment, and the completeness 

 of crown cover in the plantation as a whole, rather than the 

 numbers, should be the criterion, for that completeness will 

 exist, and exist satisfactorih , with difl\3rent numbers. 



The limitation as to price of land that may have the bene- 

 fit of tax release seems arbitrarily chosen, although the idea 

 of keeping it to the lowest-priced lands is a good one. 



The reason for limiting the length of time for which the 

 tax release is to run is even less apparent, for the tax release 

 stops long before the plantation has become useful. 



The object of tax release is, of course, to encourage the 

 infant industry of forest planting. The payment of taxes 

 is supposed to be a discouragement to entering upon this 

 industry. I invite you to contrast the benefit which a planter 

 may secure from the sale of the product of a plantation, and 

 that which he receives from the tax release, and see which 

 should be the very much greater inducement. At best the 

 tax release would probably in no case exceed 20 cents per 

 acre ; this release beginning say six years hence and running 

 for ten years has, as an}^ banker will inform you, if figured 

 at 5 per cent, a capital value at present of $1.40. This is 



