Items of Interest June 12, 1915 Issue

Items of Interest

Reforestation work has already been started on Massachusetts' first state forest, which consists of about sixteen hundred acres in Winchendon. The tract was purchased for less than eight thousand dollars, and is the first to be bought by the forestry commission under the legislative act of 1914, carrying an appropriation of ninety thousand dollars to be expended over a period of five years. The property is now placed under the control and management of the state forester, to reforest and develop in such a way that the "public enjoyment" may be increased thereby and the water supplies of the commonwealth conserved and protected. This land is now tax exempt, although the state pays to the localities in which the area lies, the amount of taxes lost thereby. It is situated mainly in Winchendon, near the northern boundary of the state, and includes a portion of the Millers and Otter rivers. The tract was purchased with the express view of showing the neighboring communities how bare land in the state may be returned to its former wooded condition with much higher valuation.

Agreements which have been entered into between the Dominion department of agriculture and two of the provincial governments of Canada, procide for important advances in agricultural instruction under the agricultural instruction act. Ontario and British Columbia are the two provinces with which agreements have been made so far, but agreements with the other provinces are on the way and will probably be completed in the near future.

The Ontario agreement provides for an expenditure of $266,013.64. The principal features of the program are the appropriation of twenty thousand dollars for agricultural instruction in the public schools, eighty-one thousand dollars for additional buildings at the Guelph Agricultural College, and one hundred and fourteen thousand dollars for the work of district representatives of the department of agriculture. The British Columbia program provides for an outlay of $58,265.94, out of which the usual demonstration work will be carried on, and fifteen thousand dollars will be used for agricultural instruction in the public and high schools of the province.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

"Not as the world giveth"