State Board of Forestry. 39 



excelleut trees. They might furnish timber and lumber to Indiana, 

 while it raises wheat and corn for them. 



So Indiana ought to be reforested only to such an extent that 

 its people would receive all the forest protection that it needs. 



Indiana now has a forest reserve of 2,000 acres, located in 

 Clark County. It is maintained solely for experimental purposes 

 to obtain data concerning the growth and need of the various trees 

 and to demonstrate the value of the forest to the people. 



At present reforestation must be carried on by the State. The 

 growth of the tree is very slow, thus making the investment, which 

 is increasing rapidly by compound interest, too long unavailable 

 and too slow in producing returns for the farmer to undertake it 

 again. Most of the land is divided into small farms, ninety-seven 

 and four-tenths acres being an average-sized farm. The farmers 

 are obliged to cultivate all their land in order to provide food for 

 their families; therefore, they object to giving it up to reforesta- 

 tion, especially when they cannot see the value of the forest. 



It has been suggested that the State compel each landownier to 

 forest a certain per cent, of this land, but there are several objec- 

 tions to such a plan ; first, it would throw the burden of reforesta- 

 tion upon the farmer ; second, the land changes hands so often that 

 it would be difficult to keep any one spot forested for a definite 

 length of time. For instance, Mr. B. and Mr. S. each own 160 

 acres of land. According to the requirements of the law each 

 should have a four-acre forest. Now Mr. B. sells eighty acres of 

 his land to ]\Ir. S. According to law Mr. B. is at liberty to cut 

 down one-half of his trees, while Mr. S. must add two acres to 

 }iis forest, consequently the people are without the protection of 

 the forest for at least twenty years. Third, if this plan were fol- 

 lowed a great deal of good farming land would be devoted to forest, 

 while much of the waste land, which needs the forest more than 

 the farming land, w^ould stand idle. The State must own and de- 

 velop and protect the forests, at least, until the people come to 

 know their value. 



Of course, all waste land should be reforested. By the term 

 ^aste land we mean untillable land, such as hillsides, ravines, 

 land too poor to raise the ordinary crops, such as wheat and corn, 

 and fields w^hich cannot be cultivated because of frequent over- 

 flow. In the southern part of the State and in the Wabash Valley 

 there are many hillsides so steep and rocky that it would be im- 

 possible to till them. They are covered with large stumps, show- 

 ing that they are adapted to the needs of trees and that a fine 



