2 I 6 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Feb. 9, 1907. 
Forest Protection. 
Norwich, N. Y., Feb. 2. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: Lumbermen and mill owners are now 
trying to have the constitution of the State of 
New York changed so that the Legislature may 
order the building of dams and large reservoirs 
for the storage of water in the Adirondacks; 
the State to build the dams, purchase what pri¬ 
vate lands may be overflowed, furnish State 
lands without cost and pay all damages incurred; 
all this at public expense for the private use and 
gain of mill owners and lumbermen in that sec¬ 
tion. 
Section 7 of Article VII. of the Constitution 
of the State of New York provides for the pro¬ 
tection of the Adirondack forests, that the lands 
owned by the State in the forest preserve shall 
forever be kept as wild forest land. “They shall 
not be leased, sold, exchanged, or be taken by 
a corporation, public or private, nor shall the 
timber thereon be sold, removed or destroyed.” 
In 1905 efforts were made by the lumbermen 
and mill owners to get the River Improvement 
Commission to have dams and reservoirs built 
in the Adirondacks. Senator George R. Malby 
and Assemblyman E. A. Merritt, Jr., appeared as 
attorneys for the lumbermen and mill owners, 
while the Hon. Joseph H. Choate and the Hon. 
Edward B. Whitney opposed the building of 
dams to flood State lands and thus destroy the 
timber thereon. The River Improvement Com¬ 
mission refused to have the dams built. 
The lumbermen and mill owners, defeated in 
this move, had Senator Malby and Assemblyman 
Merritt, their attorneys, though State officials, 
under State pay, who had sworn to support the 
State Constitution, had these two men as their 
paid attorneys, introduce in both branches of our 
Legislature a few days before final adjourn¬ 
ment, last April, a concurrent resolution to 
amend Section 7 of Article VII. of the Consti¬ 
tution so it would read as follows: 
“Section 7. The lands of the State now owned 
or hereafter acquired, constituting the forest pre¬ 
serve as now fixed by law, except such lands 
as the Legislature shall provide by law shall 
necessarily be used for the storage of water for 
public purposes and the construction of dams 
therefor, shall be forever kept as wild forest 
lands. They shall not be leased, sold or ex¬ 
changed, or taken by corporations, public or 
private, nor shall the timber thereon be sold, re¬ 
moved or destroyed.” The words in italics are 
the ones put in to amend and change the section. 
Note: If two State officials, as paid attorneys 
and agents for lumbermen and mill owners, can 
get such an amendment through the Legislature 
—and they did last April—what protection would 
any part of the State lands have as against lum¬ 
bermen and mill owners whenever the lust of 
private gain should cause them to have their paid 
attorneys and agents, who^ might and probably 
would be State officials, get an act passed at 
Albany? This concurrent resolution, to amend 
the constitution, to become effective must again 
pass the Legislature at the present session and 
then receive a majority of affirmative votes cast 
for or against it next November. 
The lumbermen and mill owners, under the 
name of “The Forestry Water Storage and 
Manufacturing Association” sent a circular letter 
to each Senator and Assemblyman, Jan. 11, 1907, 
asking to have the concurrent resolution passed 
the second time. Thus they openly place their 
desire for private gain, at public expense, against 
the interests of all the rest of the State. It 
ought not to be allowed. 
God made the mountains and their forests for 
the good of all. The lumbermen have very 
largely destroyed the forests, together with the 
good to all the State which came from their 
existence. Now the best way is to get into line 
with nature, stop cutting timber, reforest as fast 
as possible, and help rebuild the natural reservoir 
of shade, moss, leaf mould, decaying logs, etc., 
as it formerly was. Natural reservoirs are far 
better than any artificial reservoirs man can 
build, and man need build none if he will let 
nature have her way in the mountains. She will 
do all that and the springs and streams and 
rivers will again run steadily and more even all 
the year round, and the showers and dews will 
again fall more in the way nature intended and 
wants them to for the good of all. 
Every one who is public spirited, especially all 
sportsmen, should use all lawful means to stop 
this raid on State lands and timber, and do so at 
once. In November, ten years ago, over 760,000 
votes were cast against a proposed amendment 
much less dangerous than this one, and less than 
half as many were cast for it. Politics do not 
enter into this matter, simply private gain at 
public expense, and that only, as far as it now 
appears. 
Both political parties are pledged to care for 
and increase the forests, to the immediate ac¬ 
quisition of all lands within the natural park 
areas, to stop destruction of timber on State 
lands, too long connived at by State officials, to 
conserve to the people the State lands and un¬ 
developed water powers which should not be sur¬ 
rendered to the control of private interests. 
We have a joint Republican-Democratic ad¬ 
ministration at Albany which should, and we 
trust will, take decided action for the State and 
the people of the State as against any and all 
private interests. To this end, and to carry out 
platform pledges, at least 1,000,000 acres of land 
should be acquired by the State within two or 
three years, at most. Give the Commissioner of 
Forests the added power to condemn lands with¬ 
in the Adirondack Park bounds whenever it may 
be necessary or best to do so, and appropriate at 
least $5,000,000 at this session of the Legislature 
for the purchase of such lands and to pay for 
lands which may be condemned for public use 
under the right of eminent domain. 
Clarence L. Parker. 
Connecticut Sportsmen Protest. 
At a meeting of the executive committee of 
the New Canaan (Conn.) Rod and Gun Club, 
held Jan 30, resolutions were adopted protesting 
vigorously against the bill introduced in the 
Connecticut Legislature to repeal that part of the 
present law which prohibits the sale of game 
birds. The club is one of many which, en¬ 
couraged by the present law, have restocked the 
covers of the State with quail, have fed these and 
the native birds, and used their influence and 
cash to protect the game and fish of their State. 
In protesting against the proposed lapse into old 
methods these gentlemen voice the sentiment of 
the sportsmen of Connecticut. The New Canaan 
club has urged its district representative to op¬ 
pose the proposed measure, and its action should 
be followed by all sportsmen in Connecticut. 
Spearing Muskrats—A Query. 
Brooklyn, N. Y., Jan. 31.— Editor Forest and 
Stream.' It is commonly stated that muskrats 
may be taken in winter by spearing them through 
the sides of their huts. My own limited experi¬ 
ence with muskrats has been in eastern Mass¬ 
achusetts, where, when the ice was strong enough 
to bear a man, the wall of the hut would be 
frozen solid. Personally, I should as soon think 
of spearing a muskrat through a ten inch brick 
wall as through the side of his hut, if as some¬ 
times stated, the implement used were a four 
prong spear. However, in spite of my skepti¬ 
cism, the feat may be possible and I should be 
happy to have some definite information on the 
subject which readers of Forest and Stream 
can, no doubt, readily supply. F. A. L. 
New Shooting Season Proposed. 
In the New York Assembly Mr. Mills has in¬ 
troduced an amendment to the forest, fish and 
game law which provides that common carriers 
shall not accept for transportation deer or veni¬ 
son between the dates Nov. 4 and Sept. 15, in¬ 
stead of as at present between Nov. 19 and 
Sept. 30. 
Wildfowl Dying? 
An unconfirmed dispatch from Salt Lake City 
says the Bear River Duck Club preserve is strewn 
with dead and dying wild ducks, and that the 
State chemist is trying to determine the cause. 
Gun Licenses. 
Augusta, Me., Jan. 28.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: I have read with much interest the 
editorial in your Jan. 25 issue, regarding the 
carrying of firearms into the woods in close time 
on game. Remembering your editorial in 1902, 
on the same subject in which you said that “the 
carrying of firearms into game country in close 
time should be prohibited. To forbid the shoot¬ 
ing of game, while at the same time permitting 
the presence of game shooting implements, is 
an unreasonable condition. Whatever may be 
the subterfuge by which the bearer of arms seeks 
to justify his having a gun, the real reason is 
that he has provided himself with a weapon in 
order that he may shoot game * * *” You now 
seem to think that compromise measures are to 
be desired. This may be no surrender of prin¬ 
ciple on the part of the writer, but being will¬ 
ing to compromise in order to get some law that 
would in a measure stop the slaughter of game 
in close time. 
Permit me to suggest that to allow the carry¬ 
ing of small arms, prohibiting hunting rifles and 
shotguns, would avail but little in this State. 
A good revolver, or a .22 caliber rifle is sufficient to 
kill all the deer one wants during the summer, 
when you can approach within arm’s length of 
deer by canoe about our lakes. There will be 
in all probability within the next two years some 
200 miles of railroad built through our great 
northern forests, now replete with game. The 
construction companies will have hundreds of 
Italians, and about all carry rifles or shotguns, 
and our experience has been that every living 
thing is killed and eaten by these men. Unless 
some law is passed this winter to prevent the 
carrying of arms by such a class of men, there 
will be great destruction of game. We are not 
disposed to compromise on the class of weapons 
carried, but are willing to give the commissioners 
the right to license such persons as they deem 
best to carry firearms and forbidding all others 
from carrying arms into unorganized townships. 
We are only attempting to reach the great wilds 
of the State, though we hope to see the time 
when there shall be a more effective law than the 
one we hope to get now. Whether the Legis¬ 
lature will grant even this is uncertain at this 
time, but we are hoping that such may be the 
case. I inclose the law proposed by our associa¬ 
tion and which has the indorsement of the com¬ 
missioners of inland fisheries and game. 
E. C. Farrington, 
Secretary M. S. F. and G. A. 
[The proposed act referred to was printed in 
our issue of Jan. 12.—Editor.] 
Adirondack Interests. 
Forests and Game on the Increase. 
The first of January, 1906, saw the State of 
New York in possession of over 1,439,988 acres 
of land for a forest preserve, and this acreage 
is constantly increasing through the purchases 
of the commission. Much of this land when 
first bought was without a stick of timber or 
a blade of good grass and had to be planted 
to spruce, pine and hemlock. In order to sup¬ 
ply these needed trees several large nurseries 
are maintained, the most interesting among 
them perhaps being the one at Saranac Inn 
Station in Franklin county. Here thousands 
of young conifers are raised from seed and are 
sent out to the plantations, as the denuded spots 
are called, when they are four years old. Last 
year over 520.000 of these young plants were 
set out. White pine transplants headed the 
list with 300,000. then came Scotch pine. Nor¬ 
way spruce and European larch in the order 
named. So great was the demand for these 
little seedlings that 300,000 had to be imported 
from Germany. The nursery at Saranac Inn 
is visited each year by foresters from all parts 
of the United' States and Canada, as it is most 
accessible, being close to the station. The seed¬ 
ling beds are laid out and cared for just like 
a large private garden and the soil enriched 
continually with liberal applications of horse 
manure and muck. In many places the seeds 
