FOREST PLANTATIONS IN MASSACHUSETTS. 



Introduction. 

 The object of this bulletin is to show the practicabib'ty and 

 results of forest planting of coniferous trees, and deals with 

 plantations which have reached an age when value can be 

 measured in terms of lumber. The tracts selected for observa- 

 tion were originally planted by private individuals who repre- 

 sent the pioneers in the work of reforestation in this State. 

 By interviewing these owners, or those to whom their property 

 has been handed on, a considerable amount of information has 

 be,en collected with regard to the objects which they had in 

 mind in the beginning, the methods employed and the later 

 management of their plantations. To this has been added 

 measurements of each wood lot, either as a whole, or by the 

 selection of sample plots, and the contents computed as de- 

 scribed in the succeeding pages. The data and accompanying 

 illustrations were taken in 1914. It is the desire of the State 

 Forester to encourage those who own waste land to bring it 

 back into forest production. This investigation represents one 

 method of showing what may be expected from such an under- 

 taking. 



Early Methods and Interest in Forest Planting. 

 The period between 1820 and 1880 was one of enthusiastic 

 planting of pine in New England. The lumberman foresaw 

 the time when natural white pine as a marketable commodity 

 would be gone, and the rise in prices would make planted tim- 

 ber of economic importance. Large plantations were made by 

 private owners, and a few by corporations. Seedlings were 

 usually dug up from the fields lying around old seed pines, and 

 planted either at random or in rows, and spaced at distances 



