NEW YORK FORESTRY MATTERS. 435 



for any purpose. The owners of these ranges have now gener- 

 ally decided it is best to allow the public to pass freely over their 

 reserves, but the public is not allowed to kill game in these re- 

 serves. "Private Reserves" must be posted every forty rods along 

 their boundaries with a notice of a certain size and form. 



Immense damage has been done to the Adirondack forests by 

 fire, and the marks of these fires are now seen along all the rail- 

 roads. In 1903, which was a very dry year, more damage was 

 done than in any known previous year. Although there was no 

 appropriation at that time for the purpose of suppressing forest 

 fires, the governor took the responsibility of authorizing the ex- 

 penditure of nearly $150,000 for fighting fires, and at one time as 

 many as 7,000 men were employed in this work. The sources of 

 these fires are the railroads. On one short branch road, however, 

 which by the terms of its franchise must use oil as fuel, there were 

 no fires in 1903, nor any injury from this cause since the road was 

 constructed. 



An effort is being made to plant up the abandoned farms that 

 have been acquired by the state, and the results are thus far very 

 promising. Perhaps 5,000 acres altogether have been planted, and 

 we looked these over with much interest. We found that the best 

 results in many places was with white pine. Scotch pine also 

 gave good results and occasionally was doing better than the white 

 pine. They have bought a large number of evergreen seedlings 

 in this country and in Germany, and have been quite successful 

 with them. The Norway pine is a popular tree there, but they find 

 it difficult to obtain the seed. Their seedling nursery at Saranac 

 Inn is in very nice condition and has the advantage of being in full 

 view from the car windows. As yet, only a good beginning has 

 been made here in forestry, but the work is on a good footing, and I 

 think is destined to be verv successful. 



At Saranac iLake village there is a large sanitarium for patients 

 suffering with tuberculosis, and there are also many private patients 

 in this neighborhood. I noticed in passing that the patients of the 

 large sanitarium recently erected seemed to be grouped in a camp 

 of tents near by, and it seemed evident that it was the practice 

 there to have the patients in tents during the summer months and 

 in the winter in the large sanitarium building. 



Bisui,PHiDB OP Carbon Por Ants— Where ants infest lawns, pnnch 

 holes about a foot deep with a stick at three or four points near the center of 

 the nest; pour into each about an ounce of bisulphide of carbon and close the 

 opening with the foot. The vapor will get into and follow the galleries and 

 kill the ants. A second treatment will rarely be necessary. 



