FISHERIES, GAME AND FORESTS. 133 



whatever technical work could be undertaken without loss. With a forest thus 

 donated and free from an interest account the experiment should be self-sustaining. 

 The maintenance of the work without any call on the State treasurx- for assistance 

 would be the test of success ; and we believe it would be successful. 



The experiment would soon demonstrate that a forest under the improved methods 

 of management can be made more productive than one left in its natural condition; 

 and that a perpetual revenue could be obtained over and above the cost of main- 

 tenance without any diminution of its area. 



We have reason to believe also that, with such an enterprise fully inaugurated, a 

 forest academy, well endowed from private resources, would soon follow. The school 

 would be located on the experiment tract, where the undergraduates would have every 

 opportunity for witnessing skilled forestry work in all its technical details. We heartily 

 commend this suggestion to the attention of the members of the honorable Legislature^ 

 trusting that the matter will receive your careful and thoughtful consideration. 



Proposed Leg'islation. 



Some slight changes in oiir forestry law seem advisable. In section 281, relating 

 to fallow fires, there is a clause providing that when a firewarden, after viewing the 

 ground, gives a farmer permission to start a fallow fire, the firewarden shall " remain 

 until it is extinguished." This section should be amended by striking out the words 

 quoted. As it is, an iipportunity is afforded for creating an unnecessary expense. 

 In burning a fallow, the fire ma\- last several days, but it would not be necessary for 

 the firewarden to hang around the premises under pay during this time. Some pro- 

 vision should also be made limiting the amount payable in one year to a firewarden 

 for posting the rules and regulations and going to fallows. 



The law authorizing the taxation of lands in the Forest Preserve provides that 

 "wild or forest land " only shall be taxed. The cleared lands in the Preserve have 

 been assessed, hitherto, to the occupants, who have always urged the town assessors to 

 do so, and include the levy in the resident tax. It would be better for the State if it 

 paid the taxes on these cleared lands as well as its forests. The combined area of 

 these clearings is small, and the amount of the tax would be a trifling matter. It 

 would prevent an_\- further cloud on the title to many tracts and stop a practice which 

 puts this property in jeopardy. The law should be amended so that no assessor can 

 assess any land in the Poorest Preserve* e.xcept to the State. 



The town assessors in all towns containing taxable State lands should be furnished 

 with books of uniform size and ruling of the descriptive columns. One column should 



* The Forest Preserve and the Adirondack Park are different. The State owns all the land in 

 the Preserve, but not all in the Park. 



