iS 9 9- 



AMERICAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION. 



26: 



near them. There is more money for 

 them in a standing forest than in saw 

 mills and river driving. They would 

 rather see the logs standing in the trees 

 than in piles in the skidways. The vil- 

 lages of Wells, Indian Lake and Long 

 Lake have each a population of from 700 

 to 900 people, one-half of whom obtain 

 their livelihood by work as guides. 



In the Catskill forests there are several 

 beautiful villages, notably Pine Hills, 

 Tannersville, Palenville, Hunter, Stam- 

 ford, Margaretville and Fleischmans, with 

 a population of from Soo to 1,200 each. 

 These villages are all dependent for their 

 existence upon the Summer residents, who 

 throng this region on account of its near- 

 ness to New York City ; but the villagers 

 are well aware that if the forests which 



cover the Catskill Mountains are ever re- 

 moved or destroyed they will lose the 

 patronage of the Summer people and their 

 occupation will be gone. Of the many 

 thousands who frequent our Adirondack 

 and Catskill forests each Summer a good 

 proportion are from outside States. The 

 large amount of money which these out- 

 siders leave within the State of New York 

 will exceed the millions which the State 

 is paying for the purchase and preserva- 

 tion of its forests. 



Hoping and trusting that the forest 

 movement in your State will be successful 

 in every way, I am 



Yours with great respect, 



William F. Fox, 

 Superintendent State Forests. 



For the Majesty of the Forest. 





A young and prosperous nation is nec- 

 essarily unthinking, so far as the consider- 

 ation of posterity is concerned. But with 

 nations as with individuals, age is inevi- 

 table, and may we have the good sense to 

 profit by the experience of some older 

 countries in a matter of beauty and utility, 

 an tinicipation of an age that will surely 

 come. As the years roll on and each suc- 

 ceeding generation continues to ignore its 

 duty and to set aside all obligation to re- 

 tain the beautiful in age, our country will 

 soon be deprived of one of its greatest 

 glories its primeval forests. It is nature 

 and the gods alone who are eternally 

 young. " For there is hope of a tree if it 

 be cut down, that it will sprout again.''* 

 Nature is kind to her children and in spite 

 of the many wounds inflicted upon her 

 motherly breast by the greed and thought- 

 lessness of man, she is ever prompt to heal 

 the wounds and lend her care to the new 

 life intrusted to her keeping. 



Happily the time has come when the 

 attention of our people is being called to 

 this important subject through the efforts 

 of the American Forestry Association. 

 To the majority of persons, the word 



forestry suggests a vague idea of planting 

 trees and beautifying generallv, when in 

 reality this is but a branch of the subject. 

 "Forestry is simply the management of 

 lands grown with forests, and its object is 

 to derive from such lands the greatest pos- 

 sible benefit for the owner." 



Forestry does not necessitate the appro- 

 priation of good agricultural lands ; one of 

 its greatest advantages is that wood and 

 timber can be profitably grown on soil 

 that is unfit for farming purposes. Ger- 

 many discovered this some centuries ago, 

 and a system of forest schools was estab- 

 lished which has led to the grand results 

 seen there to-day. Nor does forestry inter- 

 fere with the march of civilization, nor the 

 growth of cities. The Black Forest is an 

 illustration of this. 



The forests of Germany are its crown- 

 ing beauty as well as the source of health, 

 wealth, and national independence. Aid 

 perhaps there is not a nation in the world 

 that has paid more attention to the study 

 and application of the beautiful in forestry 

 and arboriculture than Japan. The Japa- 

 nese make the most of every inch ol 

 ground, and take care to plant Firs and 



