1889.] NEW YOKE ACADEMY OF SCIEXCES. 61 



such as churches, universities, railroads, etc. The American 

 idea, it is true, does not favor the government's engaging in any 

 business whatever. But in consideration of the two points just 

 mentioned, we may fairly say that our governments should not 

 only be permitted but even induced to acquire and manage forest- 

 lands, because this is the only means to arrest the further 

 destruction of our natural woodlands. When these come into 

 the hands of the States, and are, — as I always presuppose, — 

 properly managed, we must add to the material revenues of the 

 forests their significance in the economy of nature; — their bene- 

 ficial climatic influence in mitigating the extremes of tempera- 

 ture, their effect upon the distribution of rain, the protection of 

 steep mountain declivities against land-slides, and of lands sit- 

 uated in the neighborhood of sand- wastes against being overblown 

 by sand. 



Of all States in the Union, there is none so favored in regard 

 to forests as ours. Of the six million acres of woodlands situated 

 in New York, nearly one million are the property of the State, 

 while the rest belongs mostly to private parties who own tracts 

 of from fifty to one hundred thousand acres. Through the 

 operation of the Forestry Act, the Commissioners of the State 

 forests are, as I remarked before, brought to the point of 

 establishing nurseries for the reforesting of the denuded wood- 

 lands ; and as the real preservation of forests cannot be effected 

 unless they are properly managed, there is but one more step to 

 take in order to reach the desired end, — that our State forests 

 should be conducted on business principles. This would lead 

 in time not only to a considerable addition to the income of the 

 State treasury, but it would teach the owners of the adjoining 

 large wooded tracts that systematic forestry is a paying busi- 

 ness. They would give up their present policy of destroying 

 their own property, and adopt a system similar to that intro- 

 duced in the State forests, especially if the employed experts of 

 the State were officially directed to assist with their advice the 

 owners of private forests in their management. 



In Europe, it is not the control of the government over pri- 

 vate property, it is not the assumption of eminent domain, it is 

 not police regulations, that have produced desirable effects upon 

 private forests, but simply the example of a systematic and 

 successful management of the State woodlands, and the oppor- 

 tunity offered by the government to the private forest-owner of 

 availing himself of the advice and guidance of well-qualified 

 officials. 



Now, gentlemen, as soon as the Empire State has shown to 

 its sister States not only the practicability but also the profit of a 

 systematic management of forests, it is not extravagant to hope 



