OUR FORESTS 33 



either bounties or tax exemption were passed between 1868 and 1872 

 in Connecticut, New York, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, 

 Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, and Nevada. In f act, most of the Eastern 

 States gave early legislative attention to their forest resourees. 



As early as 1872, New York created a commission to consider 

 ownership of the "wild lands lying northward of the Mohawk," and 

 the definite building up of the present Adirondack and Catskill forest 

 preserves dates from 1885. When Colorado became a State in 1876, 

 its constitution provided that the general assembly enact laws to 

 preserve the" forests upon the State's lands. California created a 

 State board of forestry in 1885. A number of other States estab- 

 lished forestry bureaus or commissions in the eighties. 



Today, 43 States have well-established forestry departments which 

 carry on activities similar to those of the Federal Government. The 

 States own in the aggregate almost 19,000,000 acres of forest land, 

 and most of them maintain State forests or parks, Some have forest 

 nurseries, where trees are grown from seed for forest planting 

 and for planting along roadsides. One of the most important 

 projects of State forestry administraron, of course, is the suppres- 

 sion of fire. Many States have therefore developed excellent systems 

 of forest-fire prevention and control. State forestry departments 

 give farmers and other private forest owners advice and assistance in 

 the handling of their timberlands. They also extend cooperation to 

 schools, clubs, and other associations interested in the spreading of 

 forestry education. Forty States and Puerto Rico have adopted laws 

 providing for some form of forest study in the public schools. In 11 

 of these States and Puerto Rico the forest laws provide that forest 

 study be a part of the regular school curriculum in the primary or 

 advanced schools^ or both. Courses in forestry are also given at 

 many of the State agricultural colleges. 



Forty States and Puerto Rico have extensión foresters. These 

 forestry specialists are in most cases attached to the extensión de- 

 partments of the agricultural colleges and work with the county 

 agricultural agents and farmers in much the same way as do the 

 extensión specialists in other lines of agriculture. Forestry inf orma- 

 tion and advice can therefore be obtained in nearly every State, 

 either from the extensión forester or the State forestry department. 



The passage of the Clarke-McNary Act gave an added Ímpetus 

 to State forestry work, and many States are now cooperating with 

 the Forest Service under this law. Forty-one States and Hawaii 

 have cooperative protective systems for the prevention and sup- 

 pression of forest fires, and 40 States, Puerto Rico, and Hawaii 

 are growing and distributing planting stock, with the cooperation 

 of the Federal Government, for the purpose of establishing field 

 windbreaks and farm woodlands upon denuded or nonforested 

 lands. 



Farm Forestry 



About one-third of the forest land in the United States is con- 

 tained in farm woodlands. These are mostly small and frequently 

 isolated, and 95 percent of them lie east of the Great Plains. Be- 

 cause they comprise some of the best forest lands, their productive 

 capacity probably averages as high as that of any class of timber- 

 land in the country. 



