300 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF 



addition to the regular stock for that year, causing an increased production. By 

 combining the output of . the sawmills for 1892 and 1893, it will be seen that the 

 amount sawed was not far from the general average. 



The steady increase each year in the consumption of pulpwood is due to the 

 erection of new mills and the increasing demand for woodpulp by the paper 

 manufacturers. 



It is interesting to note that the product of the Glens Falls district, which in 1883 

 amounted to 164,400,000 feet, has fallen to 63,683,928 feet in 1897. This is easily 

 understood when one recalls to mind the large forest areas along the valleys and 

 tributaries of the Hudson, Schroon and Sacandaga Rivers, from which all the spruce, 

 pine, and hemlock has been removed, leaving but a small supply of sawing timber and 

 pulpwood for future operations. In fact, aside from the State Preserve, there are not 

 80,000 acres of unlumbered forest left on the Hudson watershed. 



There has been a notable decrease in the amount of hemlock cut each year. In 

 1892 there were 96,290,388 feet of hemlock logs sawed in the Adirondack mills; in 

 1897, there were 55,656,579 feet. This falling off is not due so much to a scarcity of 

 hemlock as to the increasing remoteness of the standing timber, which prevents the 

 lumbermen from hauling the bark to the tanneries or to some point of shipment. The 

 market price of hemlock lumber is very low, owing to the large amount shipped into 

 our State from Pennsylvania; and, unless the land owner can sell his bark to 

 advantage he prefers to let the trees stand. Hence there are large tracts in the 

 Adirondack forests from which all the spruce has been removed, but on which the 

 hemlock is still standing. This is fortunate in one respect; because the cutting of 

 both spruce and hemlock is apt in some localities to thin out the timber too much. 

 The sun and wind being admitted too freely, bad results often follow. This is sure 

 to be the case where the hemlock grows thickly in clumps, a common characteristic 

 of this species, for then denudation ensues. I have noticed several places in our 

 forests where the removal of a thick growth of conifers has left only a thin, sparse 

 stand of hardwoods; and that these hardwoods, especially the birch, declined and 

 died, after which the land became a barren and unsightly waste. This will occur 

 often where the management looks only to the immediate income, with no thought or 

 concern for future revenue. 



The amount of hardwood sawed has increased steadily each year from' 5,835,844 

 feet in 1890, to 14,777,324 feet in 1897. This is caused largely by the increased 

 facilities for transportation; but mention should be made also of the great demand 

 for yellow or "red" birch, which was not marketable twenty years ago. 



The cutting of hardwood timber in Northern New York will probably increase 

 rapidly. Some mill owners who have exhausted the supply of softwoods on their 



