426 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



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riiotu hy J. II '. ^tctlicn. 

 PORTION OF SALAMANCA NURSERY. 



ations have to be depended upon. The 

 operations have proceeded along the 

 accepted hnes and also included a 

 large number of experiments in broad- 

 case sowing, seedspot planting, etc. In 

 all a total of about G,000 acres of waste 

 land in the Adirondacks have been re- 

 forested, and under the present man- 

 agement it can be expected to develop 

 along lines of even greater efficiency 

 and magnitude. The present Conser- 

 vation Commission is active along vari- 

 ous lines ; while Clifford R. Pettis, who 

 as State Forester built up the state 

 nurseries, is now Superintendent ot 

 State Forests and in charge of all work 

 relating to the State forest lands. 



In 1902 a nursery site was selected 

 at Saranac Inn Station and during the 

 next two years it was fully developed 

 and greatly increased in size. Since 

 that time two additional nurseries have 

 been developed near Lake Clear, one 

 at Salamanca, one at Saratoga, and 

 this year a new one is being started at 

 Comstock where convict labor will be 

 used. In these seven nurseries over 

 ten million trees will be produced an- 

 nually for planting State land and for 

 distribution to private land owners. 

 During the past four years over 1.500 



shipments have been made to private 

 owners for reforesting their own land, 

 the sales this spring alone approximat- 

 ing four million trees and the supply 

 has never been adequate for the de- 

 mand. 



We, therefore, have within a night's 

 ride of New York City the largest and 

 best organized reforestation operation 

 ever attempted in this country outside 

 of the Federal government. The task 

 is the reforestation of millions of acres 

 of waste land which would never have 

 any value for agricu/ture, and the cre- 

 ation of an asset to replace a liability. 

 The reward will be in the benefits 

 which will accrue to the State and the 

 people in the form of timber and 

 watershed protection for all time to 

 come. It is a work which should in- 

 spire enthusiasm on the part of wood 

 producer and wood consumer alike, 

 and should have the support of every- 

 one who has any spirit of patriotism. 

 The reforesting of these enormous 

 waste areas — and New York State has 

 about 3,000,000 acres of such land or 

 nearly 10% of its total area — is being 

 done in the best and only way possi- 

 l)le. The lamentable phase of the situ- 

 ation is that it should never have been 



