120 RURAL yi'AV YORK 



prices and market conditions than now prevail, and 

 actually brought much of this natural forest land 

 under the plow. Fortunately, their successors have. 

 to a considerable extent, perceived their mistake and 

 are letting such land go back to a timber covering. 



The forest and timbered area of the State divides 

 into two parts: (a) The general forest largely owned 

 by the State by original title or reversion or i)ur- 

 ciiase. This covers the greater part of the two moun- 

 tain areas, the Adirondacks and the Catskills. These 

 are the State forest reserves and are bounded by the 

 fire patrol line. Within these areas the State by a 

 system of look-outs and systems for fire fighting aims 

 to protect the timber from fire, (b) The farm wood- 

 lot areas made u]) of the small or large patches of 

 timl)er on the lands included in farms and asso- 

 ciated witli tillage. For the most part this repre- 

 sents the rougher, poorer or more remote lots on 

 the farm and is a compromise with the native in- 

 stincts of every man to have a bit of forest to draw 

 on for timber and fire-wood. 



The mountain forest areas comprise 7,500,000 

 acres, of which the State owns about 5,000,000, 

 and private interests own 2,500,000. In the Ad- 

 irondack region comprising 1,800,000 acres, the 

 ownership is distributed as folllows: State 48 per 

 cent ; lumber and pulp companies 23 per cent ; 

 private parks 15 per cent; improved land 6 per 

 cent; private forests 6 per cent; mineral land 2 

 per cent. 



The farm woodlots have an area of 4,500,000 



