FORESTRY. 



473 



"The operations of the College last year 

 extended over an area of less than 500 

 acres, of which it is estimated about 300 

 need planting. Owing to the unfavorable 

 winter, operations were delayed, so that 

 planting ground could be made ready only 

 to the extent of 105 acres, which were 

 planted. The nurseries established con- 

 tain now material sufficient to plant 500 

 acres next spring, if the means for doing 

 this planting can be had. Burnt and waste 

 lands have also been planted, so that 

 some 255 acres are now planted. In fact, 

 if counting numbers, the college has, so 

 far, planted 100 trees for every 4 trees cut. 

 These are as many as its scanty resources 

 permitted. It is, therefore, following the 

 main precept of forestry to reproduce the 

 crop. The charge that it is cutting down 

 to mere saplings is truly puerile, for, while 

 there would be no impropriety in doing 

 this, provided the crop were properly re- 

 placed, there is no market for such sap- 

 lings. This story comes probably from the 

 observation that small brushwood has been 

 cut and bundled as an experiment, to see 

 whether it could not be made useful. 



"The lumberman, it is well known, cuts 

 and utilizes only the logs, and those of the 

 best trees and kinds, leaving a large part of 

 the trees he has felled on the ground as 

 debris, to feed the fires and prevent young 

 growth. The forester is forced, by the 

 mandates of his business, to utilize as 

 much as possible not only the poor trees, 

 but all that is in a tree ; not only the logs 

 of the best, but of the weed trees as well, 

 and the cordwood and the brush, if he can ; 

 or else he may have to burn the brush 

 later. Thorough utilization, instead of the 

 wasteful one which the mere logger prac- 

 tices, distinguishes the forester's work. 

 Unfortunately, there is no market for this 

 inferior material, that a satisfactory silvi- 

 culture requires to have removed. The 

 College of Forestry is at least trying to 

 satisfy, as far as possible, this requirement. 



"The charge that the logging operations 

 are carried on for the financial benefit of 

 Cornell University is even more puerile, 

 for, if there were any profits to be derived 

 from the sale of the crop, the State has 

 carefully guarded against having them ap- 

 plied for any other purpose than the one in 

 hand, namely the running of this demon- 

 stration or experiment station and the re- 

 placement of the croo. It is absolutely im- 

 possible for Cornell University to make any 

 profits from the College Forest, since all 

 returns are at once turned over to the 

 State Treasurer for the purpose aforesaid. 

 As a matter of fact, the finances of the 

 college experiment station are not such as 

 to make anyone who knows them envious. 

 Much more work in planting and improve- 

 ment generally would have been done if 



finances permitted; that is, if the State 

 had appropriated a more liberal working 

 fund, such as had been asked for. Any 

 business man knows that a certain work- 

 ing capital is required to carry on a given 

 business ; if this is below a certain figure, 

 the business can only be carried on in a 

 lame way and at a disadvantage. 



"This is the condition of the College 

 Forest management ; it is trying with an 

 insufficient capital to earn what is neces- 

 sary to pay for the administration and the 

 improvements, including planting. A lum- 

 berman, logging these hardwoods, would 

 find it difficult to make a satisfactory mar- 

 gin ; a forester, who is obliged to log with 

 more care and to replace the crop he has 

 cut, necessarily works under greater finan- 

 cial disadvantages, and, so far, it has only 

 been possible with great economy and care 

 of the finances to secure any margin which 

 can be applied to the forestry work. 



"The wise policy for the State, if it 

 wished this experiment in forest manage- 

 ment properly carried on, would have been 

 either, to make provision for annual ap- 

 propriations for its conduct or to provide a 

 sufficient working fund on which to run 

 the experiment as a business. In my last 

 annual report I stated that the modest 

 fund of $50,000 was asked, but only $30,000 

 was allowed, which would hardly suffice 

 to carry on a logging operation. To place 

 the experiment on a proper basis, to per- 

 mit the development of means of transpor- 

 tation from all parts of the property, 

 which alone would make possible the 

 method of gradual removal and reproduc- 

 tion by natural means, a working capital 

 of not less than $150,000 should be placed 

 at the disposal of the management. 



"It remains, then, to state that the Col- 

 lege of Forestry is doing what it is set to 

 do. It may be of interest to inquire whence 

 the opposition to its procedure comes. 

 There are those who have used this prop- 

 erty as a hunting ground, and naturally 

 desire to preserve it as such for their own 

 personal benefit. They are opposed to the 

 change from old timber to young planta- 

 tion, which only in" years will again give 

 them a hunting ground. Again, there are 

 those who consider it a sin to cut a tree, 

 overlooking that their houses could not be 

 built and their homes furnished without 

 the utilization of the forest. There are 

 those who mistake the situation and think 

 it is the State's Forest Reserve that is be- 

 ing cut over. Moreover, as they have 

 made up their minds that forest preserva- 

 tion is only to be had from non-use, the 

 forest preservation practiced by the col- 

 lege, which lies in the philosophy that all 

 life is efficiently preserved only by repro- 

 duction, does not appeal to them. There 

 may also be those who know only one way 



