FOREST TAXATION IN THE UNITED STATES 207 
MAaAIN5E 
A brief study of timberland taxation in Maine was made in connec- 
tion with a study of forest-tax laws in that State. Since the wild lands 
in the northern part of the State (unorganized territory and second- 
class plantations) ® and the organized territory are quite distinct in 
their general character, separate estimates of the extent to which 
forests occur in the tax base were made for each (table 71). These 
estimates were necessarily rough, as no intensive studies were made 
in this State. They are sufficiently accurate, however, to show the 
wide differences in the importance of forests between the two regions. 
In the wild-lands territory forests comprised 91 percent of the total tax 
base and 93 percent of the rural real estate, while in the organized ter- 
ritory only 4 percent of the total tax base and 7 percent of the rural 
real estate were represented by forests. 
New HAMPSHIRE 
The State selected for intensive study in New England was New 
Hampshire, and, since the town is the most important unit of local 
government in that State, sample towns were selected for study. These 
towns are Fremont, Rockingham County; Loudon, Merrimack 
County; and Richmond, Cheshire County. Forests in these three 
towns comprised from 33 to 73 percent of the total tax base and from 
47 to 81 percent of the rural real estate (table 71). 
NortH CAROLINA 
Three typical counties of North Carolina were selected for intensive 
study—Beaufort (to represent the Coastal Plain), Chatham (Pied- 
mont), and Macon (Mountain). The ratios of forests to the total tax 
base of these three counties ranged from 15 to 26 percent and the 
ratios of forests to rural real estate from 35 to 44 percent (table 71). 
MINNESOTA 
In Minnesota 13 townships in the northern forest region were 
selected for intensive examination. The importance of forests in the 
tax base of these townships is shown in table 72. The ratios of assessed 
value of forests to assessed value of rural real estate (column 8) range 
from 64 percent in Crow Wing Lake Township to 100 percent in 5 
townships (T. 156 N., R.31 W.; T.59 N., R.8 W.; T.58N., R. 6 W.; 
T. 54 and 55 N., R. 14 W.; and T. 67 and 68 N., R. 20 W.). Only 2 
other townships besides Crow Wing Lake, namely, Frohn and Lake 
Emma, exhibit ratios of less than 80 percent. 
% For definitions of wild lands and organized territory, see p. 294. 
