THE FORESTS OF WORCESTER COUNTY. 



Explanation of Survey. 



One of the first essentials in carrying on a business of any 

 extent is an inventory showing the stock on hand. Our raw 

 material in the forestry business in this State is our forest land. 

 We have never had any thorough investigation which would 

 answer the simplest question in this connection, — namely, how 

 much of the area of this State is under forest cover and how 

 much is tillage and pasture. About eleven years ago this de- 

 partment, in co-operation with the Massachusetts Bureau of 

 Statistics, sent maps to the various town assessors and had 

 them locate on these maps the forest land in their towns. Due 

 partially to ignorance of conditions on the part of the assessors 

 and partly to the impossibility of locating from memory all 

 forest land on a small map, we found that the results of this 

 investigation were very crude and unsatisfactory. A few 

 towns were checked up, and the results showed that this 

 investigation underran the actual forest area by 25 to 50 per 

 cent. For this reason we have rejected these data as trust- 

 worthy bases of comparison, believing that the estimate of well- 

 informed people is more reliable. An investigation which shows 

 simply the forest area as compared with the open land, while 

 most interesting, has very little practical value. Such a survey 

 to be of use must in addition show the amount of various 

 species which compose the forest, and also the various ages and 

 size classes. It is only with such information that we can make 

 any estimate as to the present and future lumber and cordwood 

 supply in this State. 



It was witb these conditions in mind that three years ago we 

 decided to make a forest survey of Worcester County. This is 

 not only the largest county in area, but is the most important 



