FOREST PLANTING IN THE LAKE STATES 65 
given the local governments to bond themselves or otherwise borrow 
money for the acquisition and planting of the lands. The State 
could furnish planting stock free or at a low cost to communities 
desiring to plant. A plan has been suggested .by which the State 
would lend money to the local communities at a low rate of interest 
for a period of 50 or more years, the loan to be secured by a lien on 
the first returns from the timber crops. The Province of Ontario 
has adopted a plan by which the counties take title to the land and 
the State provides planting stock and bears all the expense of plant- 
ing it. After 30 years during which the State cares for the planted 
trees, the county has the option (1) of taking over the plantation 
by paying the State all costs of establishment and maintenance with- 
out interest, or (2) the State will buy the land from the county at 
the price originally paid for it without interest, or (3) the State 
and county may continue to share jointly in the expense and profits 
of the timber-growing enterprise. Several counties in Ontario have 
taken advantage of this plan. 
ENCOURAGEMENT OF PRIVATE PLANTING BY STATES 
A large increase in private planting is an essential step in solving 
the gigantic problem of reforestation which exists in each of the 
three States. Fire protection alone will not solve it. Forest plant- 
ing and timber growing are clearly to the interest of concerns which 
require timber as a raw product for a long-lived industry (i). It 
is desirable, however, that the States offer encouragement to owners 
of forest lands of all classes to plant their idle lands as a matter of 
State and public interest. 
The production and distribution of the trees for planting is of 
course one means of encouraging forest planting. This is being done 
in Michigan and Wisconsin and has already proved partially effec- 
tive. The demand for trees is increasing each year and tends to 
exceed the supply. For planting within the State the stock is sold 
at the cost of production. The trees are raised in the same State 
nurseries in which planting stock for State-owned lands is grown. 
Large quantities of inexpensive nursery stock are essential if forest 
planting is to be undertaken on a large scale by private owners. 
As a stimulus to forest planting, one State in another part of the 
country produces and distributes nursery stock to residents of the 
State at only a nominal charge for packing and shipping. It is a 
question, however, to what degree planting has been stimulated, and 
there is the objection that trees which are received free or nearly 
free are given less care and are valued less highly than those for 
which a reasonable price has been paid. 
In order to encourage the planting of reasonably large areas, it 
is desirable that the State distribution be restricted to those who are 
prepared to buy and plant 1,000 or more trees at a time or at least 
enough for 1 acre. Only in this way will the planting contribute 
materially to restocking of idle land or to the future timber supply, 
the two main objects to be accomplished by forest planting. 
A second method by which the States can encourage planting by 
private owners is to provide advice for prospective planters on the 
kinds of trees to plant, methods of planting, spacing, mixtures, 
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