While a simple mathematical relation would make the population at present about 31 to the square mile, such a statement would give an erroneous conception of economic conditions, for the distribution of the population is most uneven, a condition which must eventually diversify the application of forestry methods in different parts of the country. In Massachusetts and Rhode Island combined, for instance, the density of population is 428 to the square mile, exceeding that of the similar-sized State of Würtemberg in Germany, while in the neighboring State of Maine it is not 25; the Atlantic Coast States south of South Carolina, a territory slightly larger than Germany, show about half, and the Central agricultural States about one-third the density of that densely populated country; on the other hand, some of the Western States, Montana, Wyoming, Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico have less than three to the square mile. Similar unevenness is found in the distribution of resources, especially of timber wealth, and, to some extent at least, the present populational distribution is explained by the uneven distribution of farm soils and timber. Outside of the unorganized territory of Alaska and the disfranchised District of Columbia, the country is divided into 46 States and two Territories which will eventually acquire statehood. In addition, there are a number of insular possessions under the direct control of the federal government. Each State being under the Constitution sovereign in itself as far as its internal administration is concerned, it is evident that no uniformity of policies can be expected, except so far as imitativeness, in which the American citizen excels, may lead State after State to repeat the experiment attempted by one. The federal government has no direct jurisdiction in matters concerning the management of resources within the States, except so far as it still owns lands in the Western, so-called Public Land States, and a few parcels in the Eastern States over which it still retains jurisdiction.