436 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF 



The plants, consisting largely of White Pine and Norway Spruce, with Douglas 

 Spruce and Scotch Pine, were purchased from a nursery, and even selecting this rela- 

 tively cheap material, the average cost per thousand was $6.50. 



The work of planting was performed by a squad of wood-choppers, mostly French 

 Canadians, who had been employed during the winter in chopping down and logging 

 spruce on the neighboring property. The novel occupation of setting out trees, 

 however, very soon became familiar, and they did, as soon as they had learned the 

 modus operandi, as effective work as in the logging. The men worked in pairs, one 

 digging a hole with a spade or hoe, the other following with a pot of loam-puddle in 

 which the plants were carried and setting the plants. 



In this manner the average result per two men was one thousand plants per day, 

 the planting costing $3.40 per thousand, or $4.08 per acre, and, in addition to the cost 

 of plant material, $10.58 per acre. This is considered far above what it should and 

 will be, when the planting work is fully organized. 



The unusually droughty season was most unfavorable to this first attempt at 

 re-covering the slashes of the Adirondacks, and although the damage cannot yet be 

 stated, it is estimated that probably fifty to sixty per cent, of the plants have suc- 

 cumbed to the drought, and the winter may claim a further contingent. 



On a neighboring lot, a thorough clearing of an old burn, containing nothing but 

 old snags, stumps, brambles and brush, has been made for next year's planting, such 

 thorough clearing costing about $20.00 per acre. Alongside the highway from Tup- 

 per Lake to Wawbeek Hotel, a clearing has been begun this winter under a third 

 class of conditions, namely, on a burn in log timber on which the trees are still 

 standing and which can be cut into firewood. The wood cut here will, at least 

 partly, pay for the clearing. 



Nurseries. 



The largest saving in cost of planting it is expected to secure by growing the 

 plant material on the ground, in seed-beds and nurseries, instead of buying it. For 

 this purpose a nursery was at once established at Axton, and some 150 pounds of 

 seed of various kinds sown. The light, sandy soil, which alone was there at our dis- 

 posal, proved, during the extraordinary drought, a great detriment. It required a 

 large amount of labor to keep the little seedlings supplied with water and shaded 

 with lath screens. Nevertheless, it is estimated that over 1,500,000 seedlings went 

 into winter with a fair prospect of surviving it, and it is expected the plant mate- 

 rial from this first sowing, if no unforeseen decimation occurs, will cost from half to 

 one-quarter that paid for bought stock. 



