Rothrock.] 1-^" [Marcli 2, 



Resv.me. 



2 counties not fully reported. 

 25 " have less than 35 per cent, of timbsr land. 

 27 " " more " 25 " " less than 50. 



9 " " " " 50 " " " " 75. 



4 " " " " 75 " " 



Cleared land 16,359,1387 acres. 



Timber " 9,159.826 " 



Total 25,519,213 " 



25,519.) 9,159,836 (35.9% nearly, 

 or 9-25 nearly. 

 Thirty -five 9-10% of the land reported in timber. 



From the above it will be seen that there are fifl}''-two counties whose 

 area of timber land is less than fifty per cent, of that of the county. 

 There are of these, seventeen whose area is less than twenty per cent, of 

 the entire area of the county. 



On the other hand, there are four counties where the area remaining in 

 timber is at least seventy-flve per cent, of the entire acreage of the county. 



The assessors' reports do not represent the entire acreage of the counties 

 as a rule. They are also faulty, or rather misleading, because much of 

 what is there chxssified as timber land is not such in any present produc- 

 tive sense. Union and Mifflin counties are good illustrations. This re- 

 mark is not designed to cast any discredit on their work. There are good 

 reasons why they could make no nearer approach to an exact statement, 

 and the wonder is that thej' have done so well. From four of the coun- 

 ties no exact report has been had. It is quite clear that of this thirty-five 

 per cent, not less than one-fourth is producing nothing that should be 

 called timber. 



III. Configuration op the State in Relation to the Growth 



OF Timber, 



In the present condition of affairs, in this Commonwealth, it is safe to 

 assume that land which is too poor to yield remunerative crops had better 

 be devoted to the growth of something else than the growth of cereals, or 

 to put the proposition more broadly, agriculture on such ground does not 

 pay. To this one may add another proposition whicli comes partly as a 

 sequence of the first : i. e., that land so steep as to be farmed at a disad- 

 vantage, unless it is specially adapted to grazing, tending to become impov- 

 erished by the washing away ot the elements of lerlility, and requiring 

 constant restorative measures, is not remunerative under ordinary agri- 

 culture and therefore should be restored to growth of timber. It is to be 

 observed that these statements are made not as a basis for any State inter- 

 ference, but merely as suggestions for the individual land owner. 



The most important timber trees of this State are white pine, hemlock, 



