448 



is below this figure. In order to reach this estimate it has been necessary 

 to include beech, elm. and sycamore, species which for various reasons are 

 not to be classed with white oak, yellow poplar and black walnut. Indeed 

 the eager search for beech and elm is a fairly conclusive evidence of the 

 paucity of forms of higher quality in the forests of the state. Of course 

 there exists here and there throughout the state small tracts showing a 

 heavy stumpage of high grade species, but such areas are the exceptions 

 that prove the rule. 



A constantly increasing number of wood-working plants are shutting 

 down because of inability to secure the needed raw material. The radius 

 marking the limit from which this raw material can be drawn is very 

 definitely limited by freight charges. I have received a statement, which 

 may be considered as official, that fifty per cent, of the veneer plants of 

 the state are shut down because they are unable to secure logs suitable for 

 their work. What is true of the veneer industry is true in varying degree 

 of other wood-working industries. This means, unless checked, loss of 

 employment to hundreds or even thousands of men. and either a removal 

 of capital to other states or its absolute loss. The reduction in the number 

 of wood-working plants in the state within the last decade has been start- 

 lingly large and can only be explained by the rapidly waning supply of 

 suitable raw material. 



While the data in my hands are not yet complete. I have records of 

 over five hundred thousand (500,000) acres of waste land in the state. 

 This waste land, located in a very great measure in the southern portion of 

 the state, is the result in almost every instance of destructive lumbering. 

 Concerning this conclusion there can be no doubt. We have knowledge of 

 former forestal conditions, and in many cases the history of the cuttings 

 of specific tracts. These waste lands lie open and are absolutely waste ; 

 they are not used in agriculture or horticulture and have wasted to such an 

 extent that they are completely abandoned. They yield revenue neither 

 to the owner nor the state. The indications are that the amount of de- 

 forested land abandoned by the owners is constantly increasing. The sur- 

 est, indeed the absolutely unmistakable sign of a decadent state from an 

 economical standpoint, is a constant increase in the area of abandoned 

 lands. 



To counteract the conditions indicated in the preceding paragraphs, 

 tree planting has been undertaken in the state on a fairly large scale within 



