Forestry and Irrigation. 



Vol. VIII. 



FEBRUARY, 1902. 



No. 2. 



NEWS AND NOTES. 



Controversy in On Januarj^ 23. the 

 New York. New York State Forest, 



F'ish, and Game Com- 

 mission gave a hearing on an appHcation 

 to have declared void the purchase by the 

 State, of 30,000 acres of land in Franklin 

 county, near Upper Saranac and Tupper 

 Lakes, for the School of Forestry of 

 Cornell University. This application 

 was made by Eric P. Swenson, represent- 

 ing anassociation of residents and prop- 

 ert}^ owners of Upper Saranac Uake. 

 Ex-Gov. Levi P. Morton, Jules S. Bache, 

 Sidney M. Colgate, Charles Peabody, 

 Isaac N. Seligman, F. S. Bangs, and 

 Alfred U. White were among the signers 

 of the petition. The association was 

 represented by David Wilcox and John 

 G. Agar, of New York city, and James 

 F. Tracy, of Albany. Cornell Univer- 

 sity was represented b}' President J. G. 

 Schurman, Dr. B. E. Fernow, Director of 

 the School of Forestry, and State Civil 

 Service Commissioner Cuthbert Pound. 



The citizens' association charges that 

 the purchase of the 30,000 acres of land 

 is unconstitutional, and that the School 

 of Forestry has exceeded its authority, 

 even though the act were constitutional, 

 by cutting down and selling the timber 

 product of the land. 



Dr. Fernow stated that his conduct of 

 the school has been to demonstrate that 

 the forests can be reproduced with a 

 view to future earnings. He admitted 

 that a contract had been entered into 

 with a Brookh'u cooperage concern for 

 a period of fifteen or twenty years, to 

 utilize the timber cut from the lands. 

 This timber was cut, he said, with a 

 view of affording opportunity for scien- 

 tific reproduction. 



Lieutenant-Governor Woodruff said 



that the authorities of Cornell had evi- 

 dently labored under a misapprehension 

 as to what was intended when tlie school 

 was authorized. He was a member of 

 the Forest Preser\^e Board at the time 

 of the purchase, and knew that Gov- 

 ernor Black and the legislature had no 

 intention of permitting any one to de- 

 nude any part of the forests. 



John G. Agar said that it is the in- 

 tention of the school to practically de- 

 nude the entire tract, which would be 

 a great detriment, not only to neighbor- 

 ing property, but to the entire Adiron- 

 dack region 



David Wilcox said that the purchase 

 of the lands was unconstitutional, be- 

 cause the act authorizing it had not 

 made a specific appropriation for that 

 purpose. The title, therefore, of the 

 lands has never passed from the state, 

 and they are still forest lands witliin the 

 forest preser\^e and come within the 

 prohibition of the constitution, that no 

 timber shall be cut on land of that 

 character. 



Cuthbert Pound held that Cornell 

 had simply done what the legislative 

 act authorized it to do, and tliat the 

 purchase act was constitutional. 



In this connection it ma}^ be well to 

 cite the facts leading to the establish- 

 ment of the New York State College of 

 Forestr}' and to the present controversy. 



During the term of Governor Black 

 the state decided that the preservation 

 of the Adirondack forests was a neces- 

 sity, and large sums were appropriated 

 in i<S97, 1898, 1899, and 1900 for the 

 purchase of wild forest land for the for- 

 est preserve. 



As a part of this policy it was de- 

 cided to establLsh a school in which 



