FORESTRY. 



EDITED BY DR. B. E. FERNOW, 



Director of the New York School of Forestry, Cornell University, assisted by Dr. John C. Gifford of the same 



institution. 



FOREST MANAGEMENT IN THE 

 ADIRONDACKS. 



JOHN GIFFORD. 



The annual report of the director of the 

 New York State College of Forestry for 

 1900, Cornell University Records, 40 

 pages, series 1, No. 3, part 4, deserves to 

 be noted as one of the choicest pieces of 

 forestry literature yet produced in this 

 country. It is clear, concise and logical, 

 showing a broad knowledge of the sub- 

 ject in general, applied to the solution of 

 one of the most difficult of all problems, 

 namely, the practice of true forestry profit- 

 ably on land which has been lumbered 

 over and actually by lumbermen abused 

 beyond immediate repair. This publica- 

 tion is so full of meat and valuable sug- 

 gestions that it is difficult to do it justice 

 in a short review. It should be carefully 

 read by all persons interested in forestry 

 and especially by those who have regard 

 for the future welfare of the Adirondack 

 Park. 



The first part relates to the students, 

 teaching force and courses of the College 

 of Forestry at Ithaca. Nothing further 

 need be said in this connection except that 

 the college is in a thrifty condition, con- 

 stantly growing, although hampered in a 

 most unfortunate manner by lack of room. 

 This is the only State college of forestry 

 in this country.* 



There is the most to be said regarding 

 the college forest, in the midst of the Ad- 

 irondacks. This is the theater of forestry 

 work of New York, the center, in fact, 

 around which all the forestry interests of 

 the State naturally rotate. Great foresight 

 is necessary in establishing a policy and 

 method of management for this territory, 

 and the constitutional amendment of 1894 

 should remain intact until this point is ab- 

 solutely settled. For this purpose the 

 demonstration forest of the New York 

 State College of Forestry was established. 

 Dr. Fernow points out clearly in the be- 

 ginning that the main difference between 

 the forester and the lumberman is that the 

 forester has a future crop always in mind 

 while the lumberman is simply concerned 

 with the present profit. The forester re- 

 moves the old crop, or better, in this in- 

 stance, that part of the old crop which the 



*At a recent banquet held by the students of 

 this college, there were 26 present. Three were 

 professors and the rest were either regular or spe- 

 cial forestry students, including 3 post graduate 

 students in forestry. 



lumberman would not or could not handle, 

 and replaces it by a new and better one. 

 As in all business enterprises, and forestry 

 is a business, a working capital was neces- 

 sary for the college tract. As Andrew Car- 

 negie says, labor, capital and executive 

 ability are the 3 legs of a 3-legged stool. 

 Thirty thousand dollars was appropriated 

 for this purpose, $1 an acre, since the 

 tract contains in all 30,000 acres. This is 

 $20,000 less than was asked for and is de- 

 sirable to carry on the business satisfac- 

 torily, and the deficiency has greatly ham- 

 pered the administration. 



The first work is the removal of the old 

 hardwoods. This should be done grad- 

 ually, both for silvicultural and aesthetic 

 reasons. In order to make it profitable, 

 however, it is often necessary to cut more 

 than the rules of silviculture might sanc- 

 tion and to find a use for the vast amount 

 of inferior material which would other- 

 wise either go to waste or occasion great 

 expense in its removal. This necessitates 

 the utilization of labor saving devices, es- 

 pecially railroads for transportation pur- 

 poses, and the establishment of industries 

 which will use such materials. This has 

 been accomplished. A railroad has been 

 built, a stave factory constructed and an 

 acid factory is under way. These factories 

 are off the tract in Tupper Lake, and are 

 being built by capitalists on the strength 

 of an agreement by which the College of 

 Forestry binds itself to furnish a fixed an- 

 nual quantity of wood for a period of 15 

 years. 



Considerable planting has been already 

 done on a few burned areas. The 

 plants were bought for this purpose, but 

 the College of Forestry will soon have 

 in its own nurseries a large quantity of 

 good plant material. It is essential that 

 no fires shall ever occur on these areas 

 because it would entail a great loss of 

 time and labor. The college relies mainly 

 on the State fire system for this protec- 

 tion. The constitutional amendment in 

 no way hampers fire protection or even 

 planting on burned-over areas, and the 

 ability of the State to prevent fires in the 

 future will attest its fitness to own and 

 manage forest land. 



Dr. Fernow brings out clearly several 

 important points: First, that although a 

 sustained yield is the ideal condition to be 

 worked for it is by no means essential. 

 He points out how futile it is to try to 

 determine the annual increment in tsuch 



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