Synopses & Reviews
FOREWORD. We are fortunate in being able to present herewith the forest survey of the towns composing Worcester County. This work has been in progress for the past three years, under the supervision of my assistant, Mr. H. O. Cook, M.F., who has had the assistance of several young men from various forestry schools who have worked largely during the summer vacations. valuable for It is believed that these data will prove very present and future use in our State forestry development, and our purpose is ultimately to complete the work in the other counties of Massachusetts in the same way. Nov. 2, 1916. F. W. RANE, State Forester. Explanation of survey, Explanation Size classes, of data Forest types, Open land types, CONTENTS. - 7 10 . . 12 Worcester County, . 14 Town forest conditions Ashburnham, Athol, Auburn, Barre, Berlin, Blackstone, Bolton, Boylston, Brookfield, Charlton, Clinton, Dana, Douglas, Dudley, Fitchburg, Gardner, Grafton, Hardwick, . 40 Harvard, Holden, Hopedale, Hubbardston, Lancaster, Leicester, Leominster, Lunenburg, Mendon, Milford, Millbury, New Braintree, North Brookfield, Town forest conditions concluded. PAGE Northborough, Northbridge, Oakham, Oxford, Paxton, Petersham, Phillipston, Princeton, Rutland, Shrewsbury, Southborough, Southbridge, Spencer, Sterling, Sturbridge, Sutton, Templeton, Upton, Uxbridge, Warren, Webster, West Boylston, West Brookfield, Westborough, Westminster, Winchendon, Worcester,6 THE FORESTS OF WORCESTER COUNTY. EXPLANATION OF SURVEY. One of the first essentials in carrying on a business of any extent is an inventory showing the stock on hand. Our raw material in the forestry business in this State is our forest land. We have never had anythorough investigation which would answer the simplest question in this connection, namely, how much of the area of this State is under forest cover and how much is tillage and pasture. About eleven years ago this de- partment, in co-operation with the Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics, sent maps to the various town assessors and had them locate on these maps the forest land in their towns. Due partially to ignorance of conditions on the part of the assessors and partly to the impossibility of locating from memory all forest land on a small map, we found that the results of this investigation were very crude and unsatisfactory. A few towns were checked up, and the results showed that this investigation underran the actual forest area by 25 to 50 per cent. For this reason we have rejected these data as trust- worthy bases of comparison, believing that the estimate of wellinformed people is more reliable. An investigation which shows simply the forest area as compared with the open land, while most interesting, has very little practical value. Such a survey to be of use must in addition show the amount of various species which compose the forest, and also the various ages and size classes. It is only with such information that we can make any estimate as to the present and future lumber and cordwood supply in this State. It was with these conditions in mind that three years ago we decided to make a forest survey of Worcester County. This is not only the largest county in area, but is the most important 8 from the forestry standpoint...