166 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



without having contributed anything to the public wealth or welfare. 

 In consequence of this it has been easy for those who are profiting by 

 the plunder of the forests to create an unintelligent opposition which 

 has hitherto prevented any effective measures being taken for the proper 

 and conservative management of the Adirondack region. Such man- 

 agement would not withdraw that region and its forests from the publie 

 or lessen the value of its products, but it would increase them. It 

 would preserve that region for the public. It would in due time 

 increase its lumber products to an amount far beyond its present yield. 

 It would protect it from devastating fires. It would preserve it as a 

 great sanitarium or health resort, making it more accessible than now 

 by means of improved roads, while still preserving all the charms of its 

 natural wildness. At the same time it would exert an important 

 climatic influence upon the country, and have a most valuable effect in 

 preserving and rendering equable the flow of that great channel of 

 commerce, the Hudson River. Figures cannot represent the beneficial 

 results which might thus be obtained. 



This is but a single illustration of the proper character and work of 

 scientific forestry. What it would do in the case of the Adirondacks, 

 it would do substantially in other cases. Everywhere it would be con- 

 servative, in the best sense, both of the pecuniary and other interests 

 of the people. Its results would be good and only good in every sense. 



"WHY GOVERNMENTS SHOULD ENGAGE IN FORESTRY. 



It deserves encouragement, therefore, on every hand, and from the 

 private citizen as well as from the Government. It is especially a fit 

 work to be fostered and undertaken by the State and General Govern- 

 ments. The work of forestry is one of such a protracted nature, reach- 

 ing continuously through such long spaces of time, demanding the 

 lapse of so many years often for the accomplishment of some of its ob- 

 jects, that individuals shrink from the undertaking through the appre- 

 hension that they may not live to see the expected or promised results 

 But the life of a State is unlimited. A State is not discouraged be- 

 cause its work needs long time for its completion and the full accom- 

 plishment of the object aimed at. While, therefore, there are rea- 

 sons sufficient to warrant individuals to engage in the work of forestry, 

 it is a work peculiarly appropriate to governments. Every considera- 

 tion of national welfare urges them to engage in it. As a source of 

 revenue it is one of the surest and most constant. There is none less 

 fluctuating. As an element of general prosperity there is none more 

 important. It is closely connected with the manifold industries of life. 

 History shows us that nations have declined in power and prosperity 

 with the decline of their forests. It will be our wisdom to profit by the 

 lessons of history and to spare ourselves the sufferings with which other 

 nations have been afflicted, by arresting the destruction of our forests 

 before it has reached a point beyond remedy. 



The bill introduced into the Senate at its last session by Senator Ed- 

 munds, and having for its object the reservation of a considerable tract 

 of land in Montana, on the headwaters of the Missouri and Columbia 

 Kivers, was a step taken in the right direction. Having passed the Sen- 

 ate it awaits the action of the House of Representatives. Another bill 

 of like character but more general scope was introduced in the Senate 

 at its last session by Senator Sherman. It provides for a Commission 

 for the examination of the subject of the preservation and cultivation of 



