Forest Management Required 21 
is so much reduced that there will unquestionably be a long 
period of scarcity before even the best methods, applied gen- 
erally and immediately, could secure a sufficient supply from 
all the available lands. 
Next to the establishment and protection of the State Pre- 
serves, the most hopeful thing about the situation in New 
York is that a very large amount of information relative to 
the necessity of conservation of the forest wealth has been dis- 
seminated by the forest agencies of New York State, as well as 
by the Federal Government. As a result, the public mind is 
fairly well prepared for the adoption of proper silvicultural 
methods both on public and private holdings, as well as for 
legislation of whatever description may be found necessary to 
make it possible. More and more education of public opinion 
is imperative, for, until the public knows the need and the 
remedy and is stirred to the point where there is not only pas- 
sive acquiescence but an active demand for the new order of 
affairs, the present inertia will continue to bar progress. 
One of the first things needed is a comprehensive study of 
forest conditions in the State. New York contains a great 
diversity of lands under widely varied conditions of culture 
and use. Some farming soils are forested, some forest soils are 
farmed, and some soils raise no crop of value because no care 
has been taken to draw dividing lines between agricultural soils 
and lands which should be permanently forested. 
The highest form of use to which each tract of land ought 
ultimately to be put, whether farming, woodlot, protection 
forest, scenic area, or lumber production, can only be deter- 
mined by Statewide examination of the facts on the ground, 
comprising soils, slopes, timber conditions, and all other facts 
pertinent to forestry. Both soils and timber should eventually 
be mapped and described and the permanent classification of 
each tract approved by suitable authority. With such a record 
it will be possible to appraise the stock and direct future 
forest management to the best advantage, besides furnishing 
advice of fundamental value to farm owners. In this matter 
