GOVEKNMENT ASSISTANCE TO FOREST CULTURE. 29 



CHAPTER V. 



ASSISTANCE PROM THE GOVERNMENT TO FOREST 



CULTURE— ESTABLISHMENT OF FOREST SCHOOLS 



FOR TRAINING FORESTERS. 



The American theory of State activity does not favor 

 any system of a paternal nature. We therefore would not 

 be inclined to encourage forest growing by awarding pre- 

 miums or other pecuniary benefits to those who under- 

 take the restocking of their denuded woodlands. How- 

 ever, there can be no doubt that it is the duty of the gov- 

 ernment to furnish the facilities by which the citizens 

 may acquire the necessary knowledge for enabling them 

 to secure all the advantages which arise from the scien- 

 tific treatment of forests. 



This view on the subject has been taken by our Legis- 

 lature and framed in Sect. 18 of the Forestry Act as fol- 

 lows : 



" The forest commission shall take such measures as 

 "the department of public instruction, the regents of 

 " the university and the forest commission may approve, 

 "for awakening an interest in behalf of forestry in the 

 "public schools, academies and colleges of the State, and 

 "of imparting some degree of elementary instruction 

 "upon this subject therein." 



If this provision were carried out, the Empire State would 

 inaugurate a new era in political economy, and would lay 

 the foundation upon which to build the science of sys- 

 tematic forest culture. Then we would bo inspired with 

 the hope of having called into productivity the 3,536,030 

 acres of wild lands lying within our State, and which do 

 not contribute one tithe to its wealth. Experience teaches 

 us that in whatever country profitable and systematic 

 management of the forests has been successfully intro- 



