16 FOEEST PLANTING. 



owner of about 800^,000 acres of those wood-lands,* the 

 revenues of which would amount to a considerable sum, 

 if the forests Avere properly managed, and every tax-payer 

 should look into the matter and endeavor to help in iu- 

 troducing a system by which the State forests could be 

 made i^rofitable. Up to the present time they have not 

 yielded any income to the State, but are considered by 

 the people living in their neighborhood as a j)iece of 

 *' Commons," from which they have a right to cut down, 

 and take away what pleases them. It was a good step 

 in the right direction when the Forest Commissioners 

 hunted down the thieves and endeavored to put a stop to 

 that disgraceful traffic, f 



Another reason why we should pay more heed to the 

 forest matters of the State arises from the circumstance 

 that agriculture and industry are daily increasing their 

 demands for certain kinds of wood, and that there is no 

 likelihood of obtaining any material which could be 

 entirely substituted for these woods, as is the case with 

 coal and iron, which have encroached for some time upon 

 the old privileges of certain kinds of trees used formerly 

 exclusively for fuel and timber. True, for a certain 

 period we can, after the exhaustion of our own resources, 

 import lumber and timber from other states, esi)ecially 

 from Canada. But, as the same mania of destroying the 

 forests from which our own State up to a recent date 

 has suffered, is raging in that country, we cannot for 

 any considerable length of time rely upon importations, 



* The State forests are situated in the Adirondack wilderness, except- 

 ing about 50,000 acres in the Catsliill region, most of which are in 

 Ulster Co. 



t It is a sad but true observation that the moral views of our people in 

 regard to public property have a much lower standard than is enter- 

 tained in the transaction of private business. This deplorable neglect 

 of the duties owed to public affairs on the part of the people can only 

 be remedied by giving to them the same supervision as to private affairs. 



