46S ANNUAL REPOR1\ OF THE Off. Doc. 



agitation. It certainly was uot so with tlie anti-slavery movement 

 nor the temperance crusades, nor with other crusades to wh'ch we 

 might well allude in this connection. The forestry movement, 

 therefore, in the rapidity of the strides which it has made, stands 

 alone in this State. 



With the lands already acquired and those whose acquisition is 

 practically^ assured, the Commonwealth may be said to be in pos- 

 session of 700,000 acres of land upon which to develop its forestry 

 system. From this on, the efforts of the Forestry Department will 

 be directed to actual work in the care of the land already obtained 

 and that which may in future be obtained. 



The Forestry School started two years ago has been quite as suc- 

 cessful as any new institution, working upon new methods, could 

 be expected to be; that it was needed, there can be no doubt. It 

 is equally certain that it will accomplish the object for which it 

 was started. There are now twenty pupils in attendance and many 

 applicants were rejected. The distinguishing feature of this in- 

 stitution from all of the forestry institutions, except Biltmore and 

 Berea, is that our pupils here conjoin actual labor with thei.' studies, 

 and we might just as well say, parenthetically, that it is actual 

 labor. 



The State Sanatorium, for the cure of indigent consumptives, has 

 earned for itself a recognized place, not only in this State but in 

 almost every state of the Union. It would have been a narrow 

 policy indeed which would have prevented the use of the reservation 

 for this purpose. Every acre of this ground belongs to the people 

 of the Commonwealth, purchased with their money and held in trust 

 for their uses and benefits. We would have no right to allow the 

 plea, which has already been made, that the work of a sanatorium 

 is foreign to the work of forestry, and we tender our respectful sym- 

 pathy to those advocates of forestry who see no other use for a 

 forest reservation than a mere growth or restoration of timber. In 

 all, about eighty jjatients have been treated, and out of this number 

 over 60 per cent, may be considered as actually restored to health, 

 or so far on the road that ultimate recovery seems assured. 



It has been the policy of the Forestry Department to proceed no 

 more rapidly in forest restoration, or care, than public sentiment 

 demanded. We wish to avoid all appearance of an unwarranted ex- 

 penditure of public funds. The time seems, however, to have ar- 

 rived in which the land acquired must be cared for; that is to say, 

 protected against trespass in the way of removal of timber and de- 

 struction by forest fires. This can only be accomplished by having 

 a larger number of wardens than are at present employed. I be- 

 lieve it would be perfectly safe to say that there should be one war- 

 den for every 5,000 acres of forest land. This forestry movement 

 in Pennsylvania is a business proposition. The State has come into 

 the care of its timber from motives of economy and it should be 

 managed as any other business proposition is, that is, with a view 

 to the largest returns of the best timber in the shortest possible 

 time. If the land is not worth protecting, it was not worth pur 

 chasing, and no pennywise parsimony of the present can be justi- 

 fied in the light of future wants. There should be hundreds of thou- 

 sands of young trees, not to say millions, placed in the ground every 



