324 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



sewerage and public parks, as well as for cheap transporta- 

 tion and convenient harbor accommodations. What is more 

 logical than that the provision for future generations in con- 

 serving our water power and water supply should be under- 

 taken by the State, in providing mature forest cover for the 

 hills from which the streams receive their supply of water? 

 In most European countries this burden was long ago 

 assumed by the several governments, and was considered of 

 so much vital importance that wars, conquests and revolu- 

 tions have in nearly all countries left the policy in this regard 

 unchanged. According to a paper read before the American 

 Economic Association in 1890, 26 per cent, or 34,353,743 

 acres, of the surface of the German empire is covered with 

 forest ; and the State either owns or controls about two- 

 thirds of this enormous area, or 22,902,495 acres. In 

 France 17 per cent of the surface is wooded area, and 

 nearly one-third of the same, or 7,373,068 acres, are either 

 owned or controlled by the government. 



In addition to the forest owned or controlled, most 

 European governments maintain a rigid oversight of the 

 forests owned by individuals. The owners can only cut 

 their wood and timber under government regulations. 

 These regulations generally require the present area of 

 forest to be preserved intact, and compel owners to plant 

 trees, if necessary, to replace such as they are allowed to cut. 

 The government stands ready to purchase, at a fair price, 

 any forest lands that the owners wish to sell, thus saving 

 owners from severe loss from government regulations. 



It is true that early conditions in Europe were much more 

 favorable to government ownership and control than those 

 of this State at the present time. Fernow says: "In 

 Europe, thanks to a certain feudal system, large forest areas 

 were preserved, more or less intact, in strong controlling 

 hands, until the territory was gradually covered by a dense 

 stable population, which necessitated conservative utilization 

 of all resources and careful adjustment of private and com- 

 munal interests." 



The conditions in Massachusetts are radically different. 

 All the forest lands are divided into comparatively small 



