12 



then readily see that if the State were to acquire title to all suchl 

 lands, but few years would elapse before either taxes would be paid 

 to the counties, or the State would be in possession of all the land* 

 required for its forestry purposes. The chief objection to land so 

 acquired would be: It would at first be more or less scattered and 

 therefore relatively costly to protect and manage. 



It is no longer a problem as to whether forest lands, under proper} 

 State management, can, or should be, made a source of revenue to the 

 government. The magnificent results attending the forestry opera- 

 tions of Germany, Sweden and Norway, and England in India, leave 

 no doubt that no other line of public policy returns a surer or larger 

 revenue, involving at the same time less injury to the individual 

 or less loss to the government. That it can be made to pay here we 

 may infer from the prices which are offered to New York for spruce 

 grown under state protection.* 



There remains yet one more aspect of this many sided question. 

 Communal forests are managed in Germany in local interests. To 

 adapt this statement to our own conditions it would appear as 

 though a county -having a considerable area of land thrown upon} 

 it by non-payment of taxes, might under judicious care and protec- 

 tion, in a comparatively few years, obtain a very large portion of 

 its needed revenue from sale of wood from such land. The whole 

 success of such an attempt would lie in honest, intelligent manage^ 

 ment; but it would relieve the citizens of the burdens of taxation; 

 just in proportion as it was successful. 



There are towns in Germany which have made themselves practi- 

 cally free from taxation by the sale of forest products. The fact is 

 an unfortunate commentary on the methods we have employed to 

 reach our present condition, as a State and as a Nation, that though 

 there will never come a time when our best kinds of timber will cease 

 to have a value, that the true Northern yellow pine (Pinus mitis) 

 has practically disappeared from our forests, and there is reason to 

 fear that in the very near future yellow poplar, black walnut and 

 wild black cherry, hemlock and white pine will cease to have large 

 commercial value here, because of scarcity. 



The report of the Forestry Commission has been so kindly re-, 

 ceived and is in such demand that the edition will probably be 

 speedily exhausted. 



The Commissioner of Forestry proposes to prepare the following^ 

 papers as speedily as possible: 

 First. Report on Forest Fires. 



*Since the above was written the Legislature has passed, and the Governor has approved, two acts 

 providing for State Forestry Reservations one by purchase of a reservation of not less than 40.0QO 

 acres at the head watersof each of our three principal rivers (act of May 25, 1897); the other by the 

 State paying the taxes on land sold at treasurers' and commissioners' sales for taxes (act of March 30, 

 1897. ) 



