FOREST POLICY. 



6. Forestry movement: Nill. 



7. Laws : None. 



8. Reservations: None. 



g. Irrigation: A State irrigation law of 1903 declares all 

 water courses public property and fixes maximum use of water 

 per acre of irrigated land. 



The development of the State depends on the possibility 

 of constructing reservoirs (notably on Humboldt River) and 

 on the chances of artesian wells. 



The existing irrigation works, costing $1,500,000, irrigate 

 500,000 acres of land and produced, in 1899, $2,800,000 worth of 

 products. 



FORESTRY CONDITIONS OF NEW HAMPSHIRE: 



1. Area: 5,200 square miles, or 58% of the State, are 

 wooded. 



2. Physiography: Northern section of the State is moun- 

 tainous, containing the headwaters of the Androscoggin, Merri- 

 mac and Connecticut Rivers ("the Switzerland of America"). 

 Mount Washington, in the Presidential Range of the White 

 Mountains, is 6,290 feet high. Southern section of the State is 

 hilly, with some peaks over 3,000 feet high. Many summer tour- 

 ists attracted. 



3. Distribution: The growing stock was and is formed of 

 white pine, hemlock, spruce, balsam and cedar, mixed with sugar 

 maple, birch, beech; further, chestnut, ash, basswood and oak. 

 After Fernow, hardwoods with spruce prevail in the northern 

 section; pine and hemlock in the southern section. In 1900 the 

 lumbermen alone owned 3,800,000,000 feet b. m. of stumpage, 

 2,000,000,000 feet of which are spruce. Large areas stock them- 

 selves with white pine after lumbering. Since 1850, 1,750,000 

 acres of improved farm land have reverted to unimproved land, 

 most of which is coming up in white pine. 



4. Forest ownership: 159 lumber firms own 664,000 acres 

 of forest, 43% of the woodlands are attached to farms. Paper 

 companies and speculators own very large tracts. 



5. Use of timber: The forest has been culled for decades 

 of years — to begin with, of prime white pine only. Fires used 



59 



