Trans. N. V. Ac. Sci. 36 Dec, 17, 



tude of the Adirondacks, great numbers of farms, on account of the 

 cold climate and the exhaustion and washing away of the soil, are 

 deserted, the houses and barns going to decay, and the forests are 

 recovering the old ground, and in many parts, it is said, the annual 

 CTrowth is greater than the consumption, which is the best thing that 

 can happen there. 



It is not unimportant to all the inhabitants that the Adirondacks 

 afford a home and range to nearly all the animals native to New York, 

 and we hope the time may never come when they shall be annihilated 

 or driven off as the buffalo has been from his entire eastern range, 

 and when the naturalist can no longer study them in their native 



haunts. 



Dr. Martin inquired how far the forests had been hitherto so ut- 

 terly cut off as to render their replacement impossible. 



Prof. Leeds replied that the trial has been as yet too short and ir- 

 regular to show. It was a common .occurrence, where an area had 

 been burned over, that a different growth of trees, chiefly the white and 

 yellow birches, sprang up in place of the original forest. 



Prof. Hubbard added that the question of the differences be- 

 tween the succeeding and original forest growths, to which Prof. 

 Leeds had referred, was one of great importance, and yet needing 

 satisfactory solution. 



The President remarked on the importance of the subject and 

 its claim to public attention. 



There can be no question as to the damaging effects of cutting off 

 forests. The subject has become very important in all parts of the 

 country, since the forests were more valuable and remunerative than 

 corresponding areas in farm lands. When the forests were cut away, 

 the streams were dried up, the climate was sensibly altered, and the 

 rivers became liable to sudden floods. He had encountered a not- 

 able illustration of this result. While once travelling in Kansas in a 

 region without trees, his party encamped one night on the bank of 

 a stream then fordable, but the next morning, in consequence of a 

 storm, it had risen forty feet ; the flood, however, subsided entirely 

 during the course of a single day. Forests act as a blanket to pro- 

 tect the soil from the action of wind and sun, and at the same time 

 as sponges to receive, retain, and slowly distribute the rainfall. In 

 Europe the subject of forest preservation and propagation is em- 

 braced in the system of education, and schools of forestry have been 

 widely established. Some action of- the Academy is desirable in 

 order to strengthen the hands of those who are interested in the 

 protection of our forests. 



Dr. N. L. Britton moved the appointment of a committee of three 



