$2 EIGHTH REPORT OF THE 



at the State Hatchery will at all times furnish protection in case of fire. The 

 location is an ideal one, and no other place in the Adirondacks can be found that 

 will so completely satisfy all the requirements. Work was commenced on the 

 ground this fall, two teams and five men being employed in ploughing and preparing 

 the soil. Next spring it will be laid out in beds four feet by twenty, in which 

 will be planted seeds of White Pine and the native Adirondack Spruce, together 

 with .such other species as may be deemed advisable for experimental purposes. 



The operation of this nursery will be dependent on a small annual appropriation 

 by the Legislature — say $450 or thereabouts. An additional sum may also be 

 necessary, when it is well started, to provide for a fence and for a small house 

 in which there should be a sleeping room for the forester in charge, and a loft 

 where the supply of seeds can be prepared and safely stored. A tool shed will 

 also form a convenient addition to the building. 



The Legislature, at its last session, appropriated the sum of $4,000 for under- 

 taking reforesting operations and other work incidental thereto. Of this sum 

 $2,496.22 were expended in the purchase of seedlings and for labor in setting them 

 out on the Lake Clear Plantation, and $706.37 were paid out in establishing the 

 Catskill Nursery. The latter amount included $92.65, paid to J. M. Thorburn & Co., 

 New York City, for seeds. The balance of the appropriation will be available 

 for the preliminary work at the Saranac Nursery. 



Instead of purchasing seed for its nurseries the Commission intends to obtain a 

 supply from our native forests. Fresh, live seed will thus be secured; and the 

 foresters, in collecting it, will have a good opportunity to familiarize themselves with 

 that important branch of silvicultural work. As 1902 was not a seed year for the 

 White Pine we were unable to collect any this fall, and so will have to purchase 

 seed of this species for our nursery work next spring. An effort was made to find 

 seed-cones of the White Pine in the Adirondacks, and Forester Knechtel made a trip 

 to the Ontario forests for the same purpose, but without success in either locality. 



Last season, however, was a seed year for the Adirondack Spruce, and so 

 Forester Pettis, with the aid of a few laborers, collected a supply of cones which 

 yielded ten bushels of these tiny seeds. Part of this supply will be used in the beds 

 of the Saranac Nursery next spring; the rest will be available for some broadcast 

 sowing on denucied lands, and also for free distribution in small quantities to any 

 of our citizens who may wish to start small nurseries for forestry purposes, or for 

 raising spruce-trees direct from the seed without transplanting. 



As the details connected with the work of gathering spruce-cones and extract- 

 ing the seed may be interesting to people who desire information as to the method 

 employed, I append a report, made by Mr. Pettis, in which it is fully described. 



