FOREST TAXATION IN THE UNITED STATES 307 
acres in all forested State parks), and the Cornell University studies 
indicate that there are about 2,500,000 acres of abandoned farm land 
in declining communities that should be reforested (Kolbe, as quoted 
by Compton (117, p. 33)). 
During 1928 the State reforestation commission made a survey of 
all the agricultural counties to determine the areas of nonproductive 
agricultural land that could be reforested by the State at low cost. 
As a result of this survey it was estimated that there were available 
850,000 acres in contiguous areas of 500 acres or more that could 
reasonably be reforested by the State. It was also estimated that 
there was about twice as much available land in smaller areas. The 
commission recommended in January 1929, that the State undertake 
to develop areas of 500 acres or more directly and provide aid to 
counties to assist them in developing the tracts of less than 500 acres. 
Following the recommendations of the commission the New York 
State Legislature of 1929 appropriated $100,000 to begin such a 
program. A bond issue of $19,000,000 was proposed to provide funds 
to continue the program on an enlarged scale over an 11-year period. 
Two successive legislatures endorsed the bond issue, and it was rati- 
fied by the people in November 1931. The adoption of this program 
by the State of New York is not only an effort to restore its forest 
resources but is a recognition of the need for a definite land policy. 
It will be many years before the reforested areas become income- 
producing, but the acquisition program provides a market for un- 
productive farm lands and enables the owners to sell for cash and 
establish themselves elsewhere. Wherever the acquisitions can be 
made in blocks of several thousand acres it will be possible to close 
the schools, abandon some of the roads, and otherwise reduce the 
costs of local government. 
ONTARIO, CANADA 
An interesting experiment in directing land utilization has been 
conducted in the Canadian Province of Ontario. In the central por- 
tion of the Province there was a belt of white pine, similar to the 
pineries of Michigan, which was cut over by lumbermen in the latter 
part of the nineteenth century. As the lumbermen advanced, farm- 
ers moved in and apparently prospered for a time. But after lumber- 
ing had ceased and forest fires had destroyed the young growth, there 
was no longer a market for agricultural products, and farming ceased 
to be profitable. The more ambitious people left, and the less ambi- 
tious who stayed have been able to eke out only a precarious living. 
A survey of five townships in this old white pine belt by the Pro- 
vincial forestry branch showed 768 farms in the district, only 36 
of which wholly supported the people living on them. Many of the 
owners worked for wages away from their farms. Forty-two percent 
of the farms were not occupied, except that the native grass might be 
cut or the farm pastured by a neighboring farmer. Twenty-one per- 
cent of the farms were completely abandoned. In 1926, over 12,000 
acres in the five townships were advertised for sale for tax arrears. 
The average accumulated tax charges on the 12,000 acres were 47 
cents per acre. 
The Provincial government bought better lands in another part of 
the Province and offered them in exchange for the farms in the cut- 
