The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1918-06-11
The Lack of transportation
. Keeps Large Quantities
of Wood from Market
PRESENT CUTTING
EXCEEDS GROWTH
Maine Commissioner Admits There Is
Difference of Opinion Among the Au-
thorities-Wants Owners to Help in
Curling Fires.

BANGOR, Me-, June 11.-Forrest Fl.
Colby of Bingham, state land agent and
forest commissioner, estimates the pres
ent area of forest land in Maine at
about 15,000,000 acres, of which Is per
cent may be classified as wood lots Al
though there is an army of individual
owners, a very large proportion, rather
more than ene-third, of the land is
owned by few rich men and big cor
,porations. There are eighteen holdings
of 100000 acres each, ten of 100000
acres each, two of over 100000 acres
and one of more than 100000 acres.
'fOn SO great an area, with such
diversity of growth says Commits
.sioner Colby, cit is not possible to make
any; very accurate estimates of the
quantity of merchantable timber now
standing in Maine, but, after a careful
study of the several watersheds, I
should place the spruce stand at about
25,000,000 feet, counting only trees six
inches and upward in diameter; pine,
6,000,000,000 feet; cedar, 100000, 900
feet, and hemlock, 1000, 100000 feet.
There are many millions of feet of the
common hardwoods yellow birch
and maple-but much of this is not
marketable at present on account of
lack of transportation facilities. Of
white birch and poplar there still is a
a considerable supply, which will be in
creased by bodies of young growth fol
lowing burns and maturing rapidly
~ * al 10
ent rate of cutting timber in; Maine
about Loo, 100000 feet annually, is fan
greater than the rate of natural in.
| crease, but this is a matter upon which
authorities are in sharp disagreement
He says: eve are not employing meth
DDS calculated to encourage reproduc
tion and new growth, and it should be
remembered that, in addition to the cut
ting of thousand million feet a year
4 we are losing much timber by fire, higf
4 winds and the rayages of insects. Will,
The owners Of the larger and more re
mote timber land tracts, the real wilt
i lands, can hardly, under existing condi
tons, put into practice all the tenets o.
scientific forestry, | believe it is possible
for them to make marked improvement
in their present methods of lumberin.
4 and cumberland management. Fire pro
lection has come to be regarded as on
of the first essentials of forestry, an,
it seems to me that in times of drough
the land owners should themselves Civ
their holdings a greater measure of pro
tection-and that in addition to tn
protection afforded by the state.
"Under ordinary conditions he dc
clares, "the lookout men at their sta
tons and the regular corps of warden
constitute very adequate protectiv
force, but in times of extreme drought
when forest fires are burning all arount
within and without the state, and vie'
of the mountain Waterman is obscure
by pail of smoke, then the owner
. of cumberland should supplement tn
work of the state fire fighting depar
ment by maintaining private patrol
Whose duty should be not only to extil
,, guish fires or report them, but also
prevent fires by urging every one the
meet to preserve unusual precaution.'