SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN EEGION. 



37 



from $2 to $5 per acre. Further investigations during 

 the present year confirm the correctness of this statement. 

 There are also many additional tracts of forest lands rang- 

 ing from 1,000 to 50,000 acres each that are for sale at 

 reasonable prices. Within the present year a few tracts 

 of from 10,000 to 30,000 acres sold at less than $2 per 

 acre. Within the past decade the larger portion of this 

 area could have been purchased in large tracts at prices 

 ranging from $1 to $2 an acre; but in view of the grow- 

 ing demand for forest lands, prices have already advanced, 

 and they may be expected to advance still more within the 

 next few years. 



Within the past two decades the titles to many of the^ J^^^^g^^^jo^t^^f. 

 large tracts of land in this region have been much in^'^''^- 

 dispute, and the efforts to adjust them involved tedious 

 processes in court; but I am informed by competent 

 judges that in practically all of these cases adjustments 

 have finally been reached. Any appropriation for the 

 purchase of these lands should provide ample time for 

 the searching of titles, although no serious diflliculty is 

 anticipated from this source. 



Referring again to my preliminary report, I may quote gg^j'^sustainlng^ 

 a statement which has been further confirmed by the re- mateiy^ yleid^^a 

 suits of the present year that "it is fully shown by thef"'"'^*- 

 investigation that such a reserve would be self-suppoiting 

 from the sale of timber under a wisely directed, conserva- 

 tive policy.'' In the case of many of the European forests 

 under government supervision a net annual income is 

 derived from the sale of timber and other forest products 

 of from $1 to more than $5 per acre. I do not, of course, 

 suppose that under the different conditions existing in this 

 country a national forest reserve such as proposed would 

 yield such a result, yet I confidently expect that the reserve 

 now proposed in the Southern Appalachians will in the 

 course of a few years be self-supporting, and that subse- 

 quently, as the hard- wood timber supplies in other por- 

 tions of the country become more scarce, the lumbering 

 operations will yield a considerable net return to the 

 Government. 



Meanwhile, the establishment of such a reserve wilL indirect 



' _ benefits great. 



remedy many of the evils now threatened in this region, 

 and under the efficient management of the practical for- 

 esters now being trained in this Department its working 

 will serve as a test and demonstration of the wisdom and forest reserve as 



J. 1 !■ i . • 1 1 1 m object lesson 



success or practical forest operations on a large scale; and win be great. 



