State. While it cannot be accurately determined, 
let us figure it out this way: 
There are about 8,500,00 people; divided into 
families of five, there would’be 1,700,000 families 
in this State. It is fair to assume that each 
family, on the average, has fish upon its table 
once a week; and it is equally fair to assume that 
the cost for each family per week for this article 
of food is at least fifty cents—making the total 
value of the fish consumed in a week $850,000. 
As there are fifty-two weeks in a year, the 
value of the fish used by the people of the State 
of New York, in one year, would be $44,200,000. 
From the best information obtainable, at least 
two-thirds of the fish product thus used is taken 
from the waters within the jurisdiction of the 
State, and amounts in value to $29,466,666 
As fish are a necessary and inexpensive article 
of food, it is evident, even if there were no 
other object obtainable, no other result ac- 
complished, that the money appropriated an- 
nually to maintain the Department of Forests 
Fish and Game is well invested and yields an 
enormous revenue to the people of the State. 
Numerous as the fish are in the waters of the 
State, if the laws to protect them were not 
rigidly enforced by this department, if a new 
supply of from 150,000,000 to 200,000,000 arti- 
ficially produced each year, were not provided 
for and the waters of the State replenished with 
them, if the sources of our streams were not 
protected by the preservation of the forests, it 
would be only a short time before the amount 
taken in a given year would dwindle to an in- 
significant quantity. 
The mere statement of this fact ought to be 
sufficient. Yet, if proof is required, I would call 
attention to the fact that, because of improper 
regulation and lack of restrictions in the shad 
fishing on the Hudson River, where too shad 
were taken ten years ago scarcely one is taken 
now. Itisa well known “fact that any trout brook 
may be depleted in a single year, and the trout 
exterminated in three years by improper and 
illegal fishing, and by a failure to restock its 
waters. Any lake within the State may have its 
fish supply practically exhausted in a single 
year by improper netting, and without this de- 
partment or some similar organization to en- 
force the law, the extinction of food fish 
throughout the waters of our State would cer- 
tainly ensue. 
Let us look at the subject further from a com- 
mercial standpoint, ace out all other con- 
siderations. Take for illustration the shellfish 
industry .in the waters of the Hudson River, 
Long Island Sound and adjacent bays. A very 
large and profitable industry has grown up under 
the provisions of the law as now enforced, and 
through the protection and management of the 
Shellfish Department of the Forest, Fish and 
Game Commission, until the annual product 
amounts to $10,000,000 yearly. With these great 
commercial values involved, these necessary and 
finest of food products at stake, still a great ma- 
jority of our people give little attention to the 
subject, and many stand supinely by giving no 
encouragement or support to the enforcement 
of the laws. If there were no other considera- 
tions, these are well worth the money expended, 
and should command the careful attention and 
support of all the people of the State. 
- To go further with commercial values: In 
the Adirondack and Catskill forests there are a 
great many thousand deer—the finest of game 
animals. Venison is valuable and highly prized, 
a nutritious and desirable food. The annual 
product taken by the hunters in this State, leav- 
ing out the question of exercise, health, ’pleas- 
ure and all things except commercial value, 
amounts to $150,000 a year. There are many 
game birds also. The value of the ruffed grouse 
taken, as nearly as can be ascertained, amounts 
to $300,000; other game birds $200,000; black 
bear, $5,000, and other fur-bearing animals 
$100,000. All of these last named values, the 
animals and birds from which the values come, 
can be destroyed in a few short years and 
would become extinct if restrictive laws were 
not enforced and every precaution taken to 
preserve them that they may multiply and con- 
tinue their species. 
The total of these for a single year, all of 
FOREST AND STREAM. 

[JUNE 23, 1906. 

which go to supply the needs and demands of 
the people and furnish the finest food we have, 
amount in the aggregate to the enormous sum 
of $30,955,000. These facts make the importance 
of this subject clear, and ought to indicate to 
every citizen his or her plain duty, even if 
prompted only by the desire to preserve and 
continue the food supply derived from these 
sources. © 
To go yet further with the commercial side of 
it, take the question of forest preservation— 
just that part of the forests owned by the State 
in common, not private property. In round 
numbers the State owns about 1,450,000 acres 
of land, the commercial value of which is not 
less than $15,000,000. That value is constantly 
and rapidly increasing, and will increase as time 
goes on if the State’s property is properly pro- 
tected and managed. All of this immense value, 
or a large portion of it, can be wasted and de- 
stroyed by the encroachments of unscrupulous 
men and by disregard of the danger of fire. It 
is claimed by scientific men that our forests may 
even be destroyed by the destruction of bird life 
in the State. It is a well known fact that if 
there were no bird life, no insectivorous birds, 
the forests would be destroyed by worms, bugs, 
beetles and countless insects that attack them. 
Birds protect the trees by destroying these 
enemies. For this reason, if for no other, the 
Audubon societies of the State and nation, and 
every person who helps to protect the birds, 
are rendering a greater service than they know 
—a service that goes beyond the esthetic and 
beautiful idea of preserving the birds on account 
of their plumage and sweet songs. 
Let us go yet a little further with the com- 
mercial value of the question. The work that 
is being done to preserve the forests, to replant 
forest trees, goes to the root of the whole 
question, and in itself acts to a large degree as 
a protection to all other insects. I cannot illus- 
trate it better than by asking the question: What 
do you suppose would occur if the entire tree 
growth of the State were swept away in a single 
night and the whole surface of the State left 
barren of covering? It takes no great stretch 
of the imagination to see the picture, and to 
understand the results of such a fearful catas- 
trophe. The land would be bare; the sources of 
water supply uncovered and unprotected; the 
cover for all bird life gone; the home and pro- 
tection of every woodland animal swept away; 
the streams would dry up, and where rivulets, - 
brooks and rivers now bless and beautify the 
land, there would be dry, unsightly water- 
courses. But when great storms occur, there 
would be raging torrents, accompanied by a 
destruction of life and property, and conditions 
breeding pestilence and disease. When the 
water subsided, the streams would again be 
worthless for commercial or industrial purposes. 
So, after all, much of our prosperity and 
happiness depends on the preservation of our 
forests. All of this may be urged from a purely 
commercial standpoint. Is not the propagation 
of fish and game, the preservation and reforest- 
ing of our woodlands, of sufficient importance 
to command the attention of every citizen and 
challenge his most ardent and faithful support? 
From the Sportsman’s Standpoint. 
Disregarding for a moment the considerations 
just presented, we will examine the importance 
and value of the forests, fish and game from 
the sportsman’s standpoint. Every year a large 
proportion of our people go to the woods, fields 
and streams to hunt and fish. Those who hunt 
and fish are not men alone; many women handle 
the rifle and shotgun well and are expert anglers. 
Nearly all the game fish, birds and animals are 
taken by those who, in the first instance, love the 
sport for the sake of sport. The enormous 
value of the grand total is not thought of. It 
is the desire to live out of doors in the open; 
the exquisite pleasure caused by the thrill along 
the line and rod when a fish is hooked; the 
satisfaction felt when you have still- hunted a 
deer for a day or more, matching your skill 
against that of the deer in a fair and manly way, 
and have at last been successful; the pleasure 
derived from a hunt through the fields, along 
creek or river bank for game birds; the drift- 
_ nature. 

ing down the stream or around the margin of a 
lake for trout or bass; the health and happiness 
derived from being out—in going back to 
These, not values, are the things sought 
after. Yet from them all come benefits that 
can never be measured by commercial estimates. 
If they could be counted by dollars and cénts 
they would so far exceed the commercial value 
that the latter would be discarded and for- 
gotten. 
No person has so well described the joy of 
living out in the open as Professor VanDyke. 
No one can make you see the camp-fire gleam 
as he can. No one has painted word pictures of 
woods, fields and streams equal to his. He finds 
in them the rich pleasures of health, rest and 
happiness that make the money spent by this 
State to foster and protect these interests a 
mere bagatelle. Hundreds of thousands of men 
and women go afield every year, and their num- 
bers are increasing rapidly. A million or more 
went to the Adirondacks last year. I hope the 
number will be doubled this year. We are com- 
ing back to our own; we are beginning to under- 
stand its importance. We are beginning to 
understand what the poet meant when he wrote: 
“T’m so tired of noise and bustle, 
Want to hear the green leaves rustle, . 
Let’s go after waterlilies, - 
Where the winds blow cool.” 
Of the beneficial results derived from the 
State care of the forests and streams, much is 
due to the sportsmen who have interested them- 
selves in the work. They are legion in the 
State. Over 45,000 are now organized in clubs. 
In ‘addition there are many thousand men and 
women who are members of Audubon societies, 
and thousands more belonging to no society 
who are lending their aid in protecting the birds. 
From the sportsman’s standpoint, there is no 
money invested by the State that brings so 
great a return, that affords so much healthful 
pleasure, that does so much good to the mind © 
and body. If the entire expense of this depart- 
ment were borne by the sportsmen alone, it 
would be but small burden to each one. 
Preservation and Restoration of Health. 
Disregarding for the moment all the con- 
siderations heretofore stated in favor of forest 
preservation, and assuming that the forests were 
to be preserved for a public park on account of 
health alone, would they not be well worth the 
careful consideration of this department and of 
all the people? Few if any can work all the 
time. Health and strength will surrender after 
a while to the effects of work and worry. There 
must be some let up—some rest. It was long 
since conceded that there is no place for an 
invalid or wornout person so good as out of 
doors. There is little use in spending time to 
argue that proposition. Thickly populated dis- 
tricts are unhealthful, even to strong, robust 
people; to the sick and weak ones unable to re- 
sist attacks, much more so. In the great woods 
of the Adirondack region there is little or no 
impurity in the air. Water is uncontaminated. 
The summer breeze, sweeping across a hundred 
miles of mountain land, covered with pine and 
spruce and fir, brings health and strength to all 
who inhale its balsam-laden air. 
“There’s healing in our northern winds, 
There’s iron in our pines. cf 
Woods, lakes, mountains and running streams 
and pure air, all combine to make this region 
an ideal health resort. It is in close proximity 
and easily accessible to, the great centres of 
population; in fact, to all the people in this 
State and to the several adjoining States. Its 
altitude, neither too high nor too low, at once 
proves its great value and the necessity for its 
protection. In addition, the fish and game at- 
tract many thousands to the fields and woods 
who would not otherwise take this kind of rest 
and recreation. 
Therefore, for these reasons and many more 
that well might be stated, on the ground of 
preservation and restoration of health alone, the 
annual appropriations are a wise expenditure of 
the people’s money. Much more could be eco- 
nomically used to enlarge the State’s holdings 
