30 EIGHTH REPORT OF THE 



Mixed with the ferns was an abundant growth of huckleberries that furnished 

 another cause for anxiety when the picking time came lest the young trees, hidden 

 from view by the ferns and bushes, might be trampled and killed by the people 

 who thronged the adjoining plains while gathering the fruit. As the plantation 

 was on public land, unfenced, some plan had to be devised for keeping the berry- 

 pickers off the ground. To this end Forester Pettis, with two laborers, using 

 short scythes or bush-hooks, went over the planted territory and cut off the tops 

 of the huckleberry bushes before the fruit was ripe. As a result of this simple 

 expedient the berry-pickers went elsewhere, and the plantation was not injured 

 by them. 



So far as can be observed the condition of the plantation at the present time 

 is very encouraging. Of the half million plants set out the percentage of loss was 

 astonishingly small — far below the number expected as based on the usual 

 percentage of failures given in tables published by various authorities. It was 

 only after a long and careful search that a dead plant could be found. Most of 

 the seedlings showed a rapid growth also, the leaders on the White Pine attaining 

 a length of from four to ten inches during the summer following the planting. 

 The Forestry Committee of the State Legislature, Hon. Thomas M. Costello, 

 Chairman, while on its annual tour of inspection in the Adirondack Preserve, 

 visited the plantation last August in company with Commissioner Babcock, and 

 each member of the Committee expressed himself as highly pleased and satisfied 

 with the appearance of the work. 



For several years to come, in early spring or late fall, there will be some 

 danger from locomotive sparks, which may start fires in the dead leaves on the 

 ground and spread into the plantation. But this evil can be minimized greatly 

 by employing one or two patrols during the few months in which there is a 

 liability to loss from this source. Last spring a fire, caused by a locomotive, 

 started in the immediate vicinity of a planted area while the men were at work 

 there. Driven by a high wind, it quickly assumed a threatening aspect; but the 

 forester in charge of the planting immediately detailed a gang of men to fight it, 

 and it was extinguished before any damage was done. 



The planting having been completed, Forester Pettis was directed to make a 

 topographical survey of the lots included in the work, using contours of ten feet. 

 I submit herewith the map made by him in connection with this survey, on 

 which the area occupied by each species is indicated by the special color desig 

 nated in the legend. 



