314 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



have been cheap in the immediate past, it being necessary only 

 to harvest the crop. From now on we shall find it necessary 

 to plant and grow the crop to secure us a harvest. 



Besides the 1,000,000 acres of so-called waste land capable 

 of reforestation, it is estimated that there are 2,000,000 more 

 in forests of varying conditions, one-half of which, it is safe to 

 say, comprises sprout or scrub growth of little financial value, 

 while the remainder is in merchantable condition. 



This office has made sufficient study of the growth of white 

 pine alone to show that, at present prices even, we might in the 

 future, under modern forestry practices, cut lumber annually 

 that would yield millions of dollars to this Commonwealth. 



Most of our people think that Massachusetts is so depleted 

 and cut over from a forestry standpoint that we are in a very 

 humiliating position, and they are right; and yet our scattered 

 remnants of forests continue to supply trees enough to keep 

 300 sawmills, mostly of the portable type, busily engaged every 

 day throughout the year in some section of the State. The 

 lumber produced in the State to-day, therefore, is a very great 

 asset, probably approximately 500,000,000 feet, board measure, 

 and representing an annual investment of $15,000,000 and a 

 net profit of from $2,500,000 to $7,500,000 to our people. 



It is estimated that we grow only 5 per cent of the forest 

 products used in the State. Massachusetts is a busy and 

 bustling manufacturing center, and her demands for lumber 

 and other forest products are no small matter. A bulletin — 

 the first of its kind to be published in this country — has been 

 issued by the State Forester and contains a list of our various 

 wood-using industries, their location throughout the State, the 

 kinds of forest products used, the finished product and other 

 very interesting information. At the present time we are draw- 

 ing on Washington and Oregon at almost prohibitive prices for 

 our better soft woods, and from the Carolinas and Tennessee 

 for our hard woods; but may we pause to ask where shall our 

 mill owners turn next, once these virgin sources are depleted. 

 Surely, we must feather our nest now while we can depend 

 upon the outside supply, so that when this begins to ebb we 

 may be able to turn to our own home-grown products. 



It costs $20 or more a thousand to ship lumber from the 



