60 



THE COMMISSION OF INQUIRY, 



APPENDIX 3. 



RATIO OP FARMING AND FOREST LAND^ AND SURPLUS OF UNOCCUPIED LAND. 



I. Statement of Prank Leverett, U. S. Geological Survey, and others 

 of the relative area of good farming land and of land better employed 

 as forest land in various counties of the Lower Peninsula: 



I have made estimates for each of the counties in the northern half 

 of the Southern Peninsula of the percentage of land that, in my opinion, 

 after personal inspection of the ground, would be better for forestry 

 than for agriculture. The origin of the soils in their relation to the 

 drainage from the melting ice sheet that once covered this region, was 

 one of my main lines of study. The adaptation of certain kinds of for- 

 est and certain classes of soil was given considerable attention. 



From statement of Fremont E. Skeels : I saw Mr. Leverett and was 

 with him a good deal of the time while he was actually going over the 

 ground and know that his estimates were carefully and conscientiously 

 made. As far as careful examination can get at such a matter, and 

 allowing for diflPerences of individual judgment, I think Mr. Leverett's 

 conclusions are approximately correct so far as they relate to the coun- 

 ties with which my work has made me familiar. This is a matter upon 

 which individual judgment will differ always, no two men are likely to 

 agree absolutely, even upon the same piece of land. 



