176 THE BOOK OF FORESTRY 
community continuously since the middle of the ninth 
century. From the 10,000 acres it contains an annual 
revenue of $70,000 is obtained, which materially lightens 
the amount to be raised by taxes. Countless towns in 
the Eastern States could acquire nearby tracts of waste 
land, plant them and use them as combination parks and 
forests and from this investment the coming gener- 
ations would derive a great deal of pleasure and profit. 
In addition to beautifying areas now waste and idle such 
forests would stimulate better forestry among nearby 
private owners. Massachusetts with its fifty-six com- 
munal forests has made a splendid start and other 
States could well follow the example set by the Bay 
State. 
This close utilization of non-agricultural land is only 
a part of the programme that must be carried out during 
the coming years, for with the population increasing 
by leaps and bounds the tillable lands must be econom- 
ically handled in order to feed the future inhabitants. 
At the present rate of increase, by 1950 the agricultural 
portion of this country will be enlarged by 1,000,000 
acres and then would include nearly eighty per cent 
of the total land surface of this country. In the same 
way the land which is too steep, too stony or too dry 
for field crops must if possible be kept producing 
timber harvests in order that books, fuel, and cheap 
shelter be provided for the citizens of the future. The 
Federal Forest Service has blazed the way by showing 
that large areas of forest land can be effectively man- 
aged and well protected. The fact that the National 
Forests are not yet self-sustaining is partially due to 
the fact that the Government-owned timber land is so 
remote from the markets—the far-seeing lumberman 
obtained the best and most accessible timber, and Uncle 
