TAXATION OF FOREST LANDS 17 



GENERAL LAWS, CHAPTER XLIV. 



SECTION 3. Whenever there shall have been planted one or 

 more acres of land, worth not more than twenty-five dollars taxed 

 per acre, in the state, not at the time of planting sprout or 

 woodland, to timber trees of any of the following kinds: 

 Chestnut, hickory, white ash, oak, maple, European larch, 

 pine or ailanthus, in numbers not less than two thousand to 

 the acre, the owner of such plantation of trees may, after 

 they shall have grown to an average of four feet in height, 

 appear before the board of assessors of taxes in any town in 

 which such plantation may be located, and prove the facts 

 above-mentioned and specified in reference to such plantation ; 

 and upon such proof, such plantation of trees, and the ground 

 in which they are growing, shall be exempted from all taxa- 

 tion whatsoever for a period of fifteen years next thereafter. 



(4) EXEMPTION OF A CERTAIN PROPORTION OF THE 



AREA HE:LD BY AN OWNER 



Indiana has tried the above method. The law was lax 

 in its provisions against fraudulent exemptions, but with 

 slight amendments would undoubtedly have produced ex- 

 cellent results. After it had been in force a few years a 

 test of its constitutionality was made, which resulted in 

 its practical annulment. Although unconstitutional in In- 

 diana, it does not follow that it cannot be applied in our 

 own or other States. It is given below : 



Indiana. 



BURNS ANNOTATED STATUTES, VOL. III., REVISION OF 1901 (LAWS OF 

 1899, PAGE 570). 



SECTION 66280. Upon any tract of land in the state or 

 Indiana, there may be selected by the owner or owners, as a 

 permanent forest reservation, a portion, not to exceed one- 

 eighth of the total area of said tract, which shall be appraised Assessed 



- , , . , ,, valuation, 



for taxation at one dollar per acre. ti per acre. 



SECTION 662S&. If such selection is an original forest, original forest 

 containing not less than one hundred and seventy trees in once, 

 each acre, it shall become subject to this act upon filing with 

 the auditor of the county in which it is situated a description 

 of such selection as is hereinafter provided. 



SECTION 6628c. If any land owner shall plant not less Plantations 

 than one hundred and seventy trees on each acre of selected three yearsT 



