72 ELEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



The returns from nine other mills varied respectively from 15,000 to 22,976 

 cords. Of the 54 other mills none reported over 15,000 cords. 



The largest output of any sawmill was reported at 19,561,384 feet; 

 and the cut of six other mills varied from 17,585,000 feet to 10,300,000. 

 There are no sawmills in this State with an output that will compare with 

 that of the large ones in the pineries of the Northwestern States. It is the 

 large number of mills in New York, rather than their capacity, which 

 accounts for the great production. 



The reports on which these lumber statistics are based included returns 

 from 595 different mills in the Adirondacks and Catskills, the compilation 

 and classification of which involved a large amount of clerical work that is 

 not apparent from the mere summaries submitted. 



Reforesting 



The work of reforesting the denuded waste lands in the Forest Preserve, 

 which was commenced in 1901, was continued this last year. Several large 

 plantations of pine and spruce were made on the open plains situated in 

 Franklin county, about four miles north of Paul Smith's, on either side of 

 the highway running from that place to McCollom's. Other plantations 

 were made on the fields along the road from Saranac Lake to Lake 

 Placid. 



The ground selected for this work in each case consisted of barren fields 

 on which there was no tree growth whatever, but were covered with a thin 

 sod that yielded a crop of dry, stunted grass. They were abandoned farms 

 which had failed to reforest themselves naturally, and on which not even 

 brier bushes or any scrubby growth had started. In one place, on the Lake 

 Placid road, near Chub Hill, the ground had been burned over by repeated 

 fires. There were no stumps or charred debris on this land, but its condition 

 may have been due to farming operations carried on there a long time ago. 

 There were some areas, also, that were covered with ferns, more or less 

 dense, about twenty inches high. 



The soil on each tract was so sandy that agricultural operations had 

 long since been abandoned, and the owners had permitted the land to revert 

 to the State for taxes. Although these lands had proved too sterile for 



