PROGRESS OF FORESTRY IN NEW YORK 



from all sections of the Adirondacks 

 is that the right kind of protection is 

 now being given but should be greatly 

 extended and the force largely in- 

 creased. About one cent per acre per 

 year is now being expended in the 

 Adirondacks for protection and there 

 should be at least 4 to 6 times this 

 amount. Large timber owners in the 

 Northwest are spending as high as three 

 to four cents per acre per year and it is 

 difficult to see how the great State of 

 New York can expect to protect its 

 valuable forests without larger appro- 

 priations for fire protection. 



The constitutional provision which 

 served an excellent purpose for the 

 first years after it was passed is no 

 longer desirable and should be so 

 changed as to allow of the harvesting 

 of the over-mature trees of the Adiron- 

 dack forests. With better understand- 

 ing of fire protection and a wider and 

 saner interest in Forests and Forestry 

 throughout the State, it seems as if the 

 time was ripe for the removal of this 

 constiutional provision and the placing 

 of the State's forests under State ex- 

 perts who will not commercialize them 

 but who will perpetuate them through 

 careful methods of cutting and more 

 thorough protection. The proceeds re- 

 ceived from the sale of stumpage on 

 State lands would go far toward in- 

 creasing the area of these lands and 

 their better protection and reforesta- 

 tion. There is a growing feeling that 

 the State should purchase waste lands 

 throughout the section of the Adiron- 

 dacks and Catskill so that it eventually 

 will be by far the greatest forest owner 

 in the State. The purchase of these 

 lands within the next few years would 

 be great economy as there is no ques- 

 tion but what New York must be a 

 great producer of timber and with the 

 extensive water powers to be developed 

 in the northern part of the State, the 

 State should by all means control not 

 only the headwaters of the streams and 

 rivers but the absolute forest lands all 

 along the streams and rivers. 



No State in the Union is more favor- 

 ably located, climatically or otherwise, 

 for the producing of profitable forests. 



There exist the right conditions of rain- 

 fall and soil and after studying the 

 forests of Europe for more than a year, 

 the writer believes that there is not an 

 acre of so-called " waste land " any- 

 where in the State where there is soil 

 which with proper care will not grow 

 a valuable forest. There is absolutely 

 no reason why the Adirondacks should 

 not within the next 50 to 100 years be 

 covered with as fine, if not finer forests 

 than can now be found anywhere in the 

 Black Forest or other forest regions of 

 Europe. Market conditions are unex- 

 celled as the Adirondacks and other 

 great forest producing sections of the 

 State are almost surrounded by water 

 and easily accessible by rail. 



The two problems which will con- 

 front Foresters in putting the forest 

 areas of the State under careful man- 

 agement are: 



I. To obtain satisfactory reproduc- 

 tion of the right kind of species in the 

 shortest possible time. 



II. To increase the growth to the 

 maximum amount which the soil and 

 situation are capable of producing. 



The excellent work which the Con- 

 servation Commission has been doing 

 in the reforestation of burned and cut- 

 over lands is of tremendous value ex- 

 perimentally. While the amount of 

 planting in the aggregate is exceeding 

 small, yet it is a start in the right 

 direction and will allow of comparisons 

 of species and rates of growth which 

 can be used to great advantage in the 

 next few years. However, it is safe to 

 say that artificial reforestation or the 

 use of seedlings and transplants will be 

 resorted to only where we cannot re- 

 produce the native species naturally or 

 where there are not satisfactory native 

 species occupying the ground. Facts 

 do not bear out a statement made often 

 by those who are apparently familiar 

 with the forest regions of this north 

 country. This is, that if you keep fire 

 out, a satisfactory forest will come in 

 over the ground previously cut over and 

 burned. True some kind of trees or 

 half trees will come in but if this 

 method is followed it will take often 

 from 100 to 200 years to allow nature 



