95 



with the State of Connecticut, pubUshed a topographic map of 

 the State, on a scale of i : 125,000, showing the wooded areas in 

 green;* and from this Dr. Henry Gannett a few years laterf 

 computed the forest area to be 39 per cent of the total; or con- 

 siderably less than at present, assuming both estimates to be 

 equally accurate. 



As far as it goes this is an interesting and useful report. It 

 would have been more serviceable, however, if it had included 

 an estimate of the average stand of timber per acre in each town 

 or county, and a list of tree species, in approximate order of 

 abundance, with notes on distribution. Possibly those are to 

 be supplied in future reports. 



The second publication noted describes the forests of one town 

 in the western part of the state in considerable detail, presumably 

 as a model for a similar treatment of other towns to be reported 

 on later. The work was done in the summer of 1915. The 

 text begins with a general survey of conditions, discussing among 

 other things the reversion of much farm land to forest since the 

 middle of the last century (a phenomenon common to several 

 northeastern states), on account of improved transportation 

 facilities making the farm products of the West more accessible. 



Six pages are devoted to the eight most important tree 

 species, and seven to the eight forest types. The forests of each 

 of the minor physiographic divisions of the town are described 

 in some detail, and there are several pages of recommendations 

 for fire protection, improvement cuttings, and tree planting, 

 with estimates of the cost and profits of forest management. 



Nearly half the area of the town is wooded or uncultivated, 

 33 per cent of the forest is classed as mixed hardwoods, 21 per 

 cent as oak, 21 per cent as old field type, 14 per cent swamp, 8 

 per cent oak and chestnut, and so on. The report closes with a 

 list of the principal tree species of the town, about fifty in number, 

 but there is no indication of what proportion of the total forest 



* This map appears to be very rare and little known. It is not mentioned in 

 Mr. Mosss report, and the reviewer recently found no trace of it at the U. S. 

 Forest Service, and unearthed a single copy at the Geological Survey only after 

 about an hour's search. 



t Nineteenth Ann. Rep. U. S. Geol. Surv. 5; 4. 1899. 



