INSPECTION OF PLANTATIONS AND NURSERIES 



^y^ HEN you show a lumberman 



CI J that the scientific replanting of 

 denuded forest lands can be 

 done at the rate of one cent a tree, 

 planted from four to five feet apart ; 

 that the cost of proper fire protection 

 is very small ; that the trees planted 

 can be thinned in twenty years at a 

 profit, and that in from forty to fifty 

 years the replanted section will be a 

 valuable forest, he is likely to be im- 

 pressed. Lumbermen, figuratively, 

 are from Missouri. They are also in- 

 tensely practical. They must be shown 

 actual conditions, see the actual results. 



This is what they did see when a 

 number of them, all representative men, 

 accompanied the directors and mem- 

 bers of the American Forestry Asso- 

 cation on a tour of inspection of the 

 New York State nurseries and planta- 

 tions at Lake Clear, Paul Smiths, and 

 Saranac Lake on May 3. There, under 

 the direction of Clififord R. Pettis, su- 

 perintendent of state forests, they trav- 

 elled over miles of replanted forest 

 lands, and traversed acres of thriving 

 nurseries, and what they saw and what 

 they heard of the progress the State has 

 made in the last ten years astonished 

 them. 



The first plantation made by the State 

 in the Adirondacks was in the vicinity 

 of Lake Clear Junction in the spring 

 of 1902. About 600,000 trees were 

 planted at that time, covering, approxi- 

 mately, 500 acres. No plantation was 

 made in the spring of 1903, but the 

 Ray Brook plantation was commenced 

 that fall. The plantations are located 

 at Lake Clear, near Saranac Lake, at 

 Ray Brock, at Chubb Hill, near Lake 

 Placid, and at Paul Smiths. Planta- 

 tions are being made this year at Ben- 

 sons Mines in St. Lawrence County ; 

 the Paul Smiths and Ray Brook plan- 

 tations are being increased, another 

 plantation is being made between Ray 

 Brook and Saranac Lake, and one at 

 Schroom Lake in Essex County. About 

 6,000 acres of State land have already 

 been reforested. 



396 



Now as to what has been accom- 

 plished toward helping private owners 

 of forest lands. During the past four 

 years the state has made over 1,500 

 shipments of trees to private land own- 

 ers who have purchased the stock to 

 reforest their own lands. This spring 

 the sales approximated four million 

 trees. The state is also giving trees 

 to the various state institutions for re 

 foresting their lands. 



As to the nurseries and their devel- 

 opments, the first Adirondack nursery 

 was established at Saranac Lake in 

 1903. That nursery has been greatly 

 increased in size, and in 1906 a forest 

 experiment station was established in 

 co-operation with the Forest Service, 

 and various experiments were con- 

 ducted and nursery practice studied. 

 Since that time two nurseries have been 

 established near Lake Clear Junction, 

 one at Salamanca, one at Saratoga, and 

 one is now being built at Comstock, at 

 which place convict labor is being used. 



The American Forestry Association 

 party gathered at Paul Smiths on the 

 morning of May 3, and after a de- 

 lightful breakfast, for which the keen 

 mountain air gave a decided appetite, 

 the party drove to a series of extensive 

 plantations. These plantations were of 

 particular interest because they repre- 

 sent a complete series of experimental 

 plantings by seed spot methods, direct 

 seeding, and the use of nursery trans- 

 plants, and also include a large va- 

 riety of species. The broadcast sow- 

 ing of white pine, for example, seems 

 to promise ultimate success, although 

 at present the stand is not as uniform 

 as from planted trees. The seed spot 

 method showed a great variation in 

 results, due partly to damage by mice 

 and squirrels. Even where good ger- 

 mination had been secured in the seed 

 spots, one drawback appeared in that 

 a little group of seedlings had to be 

 thinned out and the extras used for 

 filling in blank spaces, which adds ma- 

 terially to the expense. 



Of the various species tried, Scotch 



