Reform in Forestry Methods 241 



ting, and other bad practices. Under these circum- 

 stances, it will take a great many years, during which 

 large expenses are necessary, to bring the forest 

 gradually to something like what is called a normal 

 condition. Notwithstanding these drawbacks, it is 

 understood that the enterprise has so far been a 

 financial success. Other estates of considerable 

 size, which were managed according to true fores- 

 try principles before the above mentioned offer of 

 the Forestry Division, are those at Ne-Ha-Sa-Ne 

 Park, in the Adirondacks, belonging to Wm, C. 

 Whitney and W. S. Webb. Since the government 

 has begun to assist directly in this work, in the fall 

 of 1 898, the extent of woodland in behalf of which 

 applications for working plans and supervision have 

 been made is nearly two millions of acres in vari- 

 ous parts of the country. The most cheering 

 feature of the matter is that the majority of the 

 applicants are no longer rich men whose motives, 

 like Mr. Vanderbilt's, are as much to set a good 

 example as to make money. Most of them look 

 at the plan strictly from a business standpoint. Of 

 the large concerns which have availed themselves 

 of the offer, the most conspicuous one is the Inter- 

 national Paper Company, commonly known as the 

 paper trust, which is said to control more than a 

 hundred million acres of woodlands, mostly covered 

 with spruce. 



While these forward steps mark the beginning 

 of a new epoch in the history of American forestry, 



the time when agitation and the dissemination 



16 



