4: REPOET/OFJ Fdite^T,.' EiiJH;4ND (TAME COMMISSION. 



towns of Altona and Dannemora, and the counties of Delaware, 

 Essex, Franklin, Fulton, Hamilton, Herkimer, Lewis, Oneida, 

 Saratoga, St. Lawrence, Warren, Washington, Greene, Ulster and 

 Sullivan, except 



1. Lands within the limits of any village or city, and 



2. Lands not wild lands acquired by the State on foreclosure of 

 mortgages made to loan commissioners. 



The second exception renders it difficult in some instances to 

 determine whether a parcel of land belongs to the Preserve. A 

 farm property, sold under forclosure, may contain a large tract of 

 woods or " wild land " as well as cleared or cultivated ground. 

 The question then arises whether the portion containing the 

 woodlands does not belong to the Preserve. 



It is not always easy to draw the line between wild land and 

 pasture. Then, again, some of the areas required by the State 

 under foreclosure of mortgages made to loan commissioners are 

 now abandoned farms that have grown up to brush or trees, and 

 which in a few years will become second-growth forests. For 

 these reasons several lots obtained through foreclosures are in- 

 cluded in the list. 



The list, contains, also, some lands acquired through tax sales, 

 the title t<? which may be doubtful, owing to errors on the part of 

 the assessors or tax collectors. These errors had not been discov- 

 ered at the time of the tax sale, and so the title to the lands passed 

 nominally to the State. As these lots are entered upon the books 

 of the comptroller as State land, it becomes necessary to include 

 them here as part of the Forest Preserve. In fact, these lands 

 with their disputed titles cannot be stricken off the schedule ex- 

 cept by order of the courts or action of the Legislature. 



The large tract in Franklin county, bought by the Forest Pre- 

 serve Board for the use of the State College of Forestry, is in- 

 cluded here as a part of the Forest Preserve in accordance with 



