FISHERIES, GAME AND FORESTS. 423 



(ieneral Policy. 



The property is to belong to Cornell University, and is to serve for experiment 

 and demonstration purposes to the College of Forestry for thirty years. Hence it 

 would appear appropriate to plan all work for a period not exceeding that length of 

 time, so that at the end of the period the property may be returned to the State in 

 an improved condition, having meanwhile served its purpose. 



There being no distinct policy or character of demonstration or experiment 

 prescribed by the law establishing the College Forest, except the general injunction 

 to apply forestry principles and methods in its management, it becomes necessary to 

 choose and formulate a policy from among the many possible methods of procedure. 



Two objects, it would appear, were in the mind of the Legislature when connect- 

 ing the management of this forest property with an educational institution, namely, 

 that it serve as a working laboratory for the students of such College, and also that 

 it be so managed as to secure experience, which might be applied to other forest 

 properties and especially to the holdings of the State. 



The two objects can only in part be attained simultaneously. While the methods 

 employed and experience gathered in the management of the whole forest will, to 

 be sure, be instructive and available for demonstration purposes, many things will 

 have to be done additionally to fulfill the purposes of mere instruction, which, in a 

 forest managed alone for directly practical and profitable considerations, would per- 

 haps not be practised. 



It will, therefore, be desirable to set apart certain limited portions to be treated 

 solely with reference to the educational object. For. instance, it would hardly be 

 considered desirable in the Adirondacks to rely upon coppice management. Yet, for 

 demonstration purposes, small areas may be treated under such a system. Or, thin- 

 nings in young woods and other silvicultural operations may be instituted where, 

 under present business conditions, practical considerations would exclude them. 

 The work required in these special demonstration areas will be performed as much 

 as possible by the students themselves, under the direction of the professors, as part 

 of their practical education during the spring terms, or at other times. 



As to the second object, namely, to secure experience that may serve other forest 

 owners and especially the State in its Adirondack Reserve, the problem may be for- 

 mulated as follows : to show how a wild woods in the Adirondacks may be treated, 

 cut and utilized, not only without impairing but actually improving the productive 

 capacity, changing it into a more useful and better investment for the future, into a 

 continually revenue-producing civilized forest. 



