504 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



Owing to serious insect conditions in Plymouth County it 

 was thought best to begin mapping and estimating there before 

 completing Worcester County. Five towns of Plymouth County 

 were covered, approximately one-third the area of the county. 

 The tow^ns are Brockton, Hingham, Hanover, Middleborough 

 and Carver. 



For the Plymouth County work we have used, instead of 

 pantographic enlargements, photographic enlargements of the 

 United States Geological Survey maps, the scale being approxi- 

 mately 1 inch to 2,000 feet. This should prove a very satis- 

 factory standard map for all the woods work of the different 

 branches of the department. The cost of the maps is several 

 dollars a town less than the old process, and the maps are far 

 more satisfactory. Adopting this process and standard scale 

 for all field maps should save the State many thousands of 

 dollars. We acknowledge our indebtedness to Forester W. O. 

 Filley of Connecticut for a valuable suggestion in connection 

 with this process. 



While figures of acreage estimates, and the estimate maps, 

 are available for practically all the towns covered individually, 

 they have not yet been tabulated for comparison. This should 

 be completed in a few weeks, and shortly thereafter w-e hope to 

 have the estimate maps colored, and to have them on file at 

 the office easily accessible so that any one can get an idea visually 

 of the character of growth in any section. It might be said here 

 that our figures show forested areas of the towns averaging about 

 60 per cent., wdth forested areas of some towns as high as 80 

 per cent. 



Another season we may try mapping forest areas from auto- 

 mobile, with the half-mile strip method used only on every 

 fifth town. While much less satisfactory, especially unless done 

 by a very capable man, the automobile mapping would be very 

 much quicker and cheaper. By having every fifth town worked 

 by the strip system, fairly accurate detail figures could be 

 obtained for each county as a W'hole. 



This mapping w^ork has been done under the supervision of 

 Mr. Harold Fay, who has also assisted in other important 

 general forestry work as occasion demanded. 



