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54

Eighth and Ninth Reports

of the

[rorest, Tish and (jame
(Ommission
of the

State of New Uork

us Ae : an

Ru eT Daas alee ‘ _——s«j, B, LYON COMPANY, PRINTERS,

- | . .
: y w sonias Inattua,
; ff oct 22 1906

ALBANY, NEW YORK.

Table of Contents

PAGE.

FEBRUTEV ALG Eee reer peer ay, Laem al a5 Sate eee 5 Neat ee, II
IREPORT OFTHE, COMMISSIONERS — FOR I902))..)52 4 5-0 sss) = eet 17
REPORT ONDE: SUPERINTENDENT OR. HORESTS= 4 as 4 5 - 5 bss) 9.) 20
OISES Det LuUR Sega mae ieee ee eg he tg Peas at ae NT ok ee 21
REFORESTATION SMe ia ers eC eo uae mame ct Al Pea ae he a7 25
AREA OF FOREST PRESERVE Mat Oech Ve ee Tee ie ie ree Pan Bu, 33
RAC ESE EVIE Stemi memo NS, aN Pei ets eh oh nee 36
INDIR ONDACKE SUMMER (BUSINESS =)... <:--hi§ 2 a see ee 44
EMER RP RODUCTH yew en, weer wee ep Clee te te eee 53
PARE OT ONO Fe ee ANID Sq aspen aaa eee ete ges ey ee ae Fee 56
ONG COMMISSIONS IOAND Sau a Sehr oe ee eee Le eg) ee Sey Se 57

RO RESRER SEINE PORTS gis ges arr fal ci eee eerie ese Pt a ee 59
RinPORE OR RHE SPCRETARY OF RHE) (COMMISSION. 2... 2°... . 6. -s 74
SEE MEN ESS Oh iD) EER) efi: Ww coisa. ae ae) meee weed Ft teh 75
TOO S HPAII let Karate. eee eed sae ot ne ns Were pee Si Oe 79
BiAack BEAR ee ee ee re eg Re I a oS aa a le ee 80
REPORT OF THE GENERAL FOREMAN OF HATCHERIES . .. ... . . 81
EVAR CHDR Ven UMP ROMEMENTS: v2 \¢ 2 ce ape ate Se ee Sn 81
REARING BLack Bass Moet peace ee ee Eh Sa eR er chee is oy, 82
INUASKOAWONGE 2S WBE Vem Suet he on oye ates ape eet oe es hase) o> 3
MONGOLTAN SH BASANIDGIs =p Uys. ee, oe eae ee emteeuesey, (S80 PONE ee ce, 84
NEPORTEOM Bn CHinn GAME “PROTECTOR, 40 469 8s. . bh ee es 85
AE HORCERONAPROTECTORS.< ” 0-2 auieraimes, sons... bese 85
ILLEGAL DEVICES SEIZED BAST fg lee OE TTY Amana Sian) ( 86
CorpESTORAGEL CASH anaes. cpl]. “a es en on eee ee 87
REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF SHELLFISHERIES . . . . . .:. . go
ONS TERM C RO lame «ear umeeeee tc 5) ee ee eS gi

SEE RIS He CUI URE Rane <2 <0 ape eae Nes, ee tm ener GT
LOBSTER FISHERIES BR css a eae ee eee Ee 3 Sea feo 94

ETE Vie NEU ENG CAUNCH eu is Or ero eee ee gee 95

4 TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE
INEPORT, OF} DHE” COMMISSIONERS FOR VEG Ota) ine Us eae wn iis ce alana 97
IREPORT) OF THE) SUPERINTENDEN DOR HORE SRG i ety lenin mr toni (ice oe eT ONT
ForESsT’ FIRES\ i. 40a Ae ate oe) Se RL TOM
LUMBER) | PRODUCE iiss acy Uke tn Sete Tonle ateaie aerial. hae ae ae D7
HOREST (SUMMER GRESORTSs 5) (gris, Cpe wens eee) tec ae TEI
EXTRACTS PROM BE URE WARDEN Si 7 EVE)PO RUS alias ite me ete ee 123
REPORT OF DHE) SECRETARY, OF) TEE © OMMISSION | sete Senne ie) ene enn
SHIPMENT OF ADRDR™ oie) Soe 2" sod ara eae man nO netEa no nso ee 139
IEUK SAND MOOSEE Aigis boos, oy) AU SMR amen ert ey emt ies oe en a Geet ea ore
BLACK BEAR GANDGB E AVIDR- io. 7 SURROUND ety ck cee creas 9) nl gem eae 146
ISH VEDA CHERITR S'S nie Siz cll ie mee neon steerer tice gtStNi [SL Age ai ten 148
DISTRIBUTION OF FIsH By eu Naps Dee, te Nc eto Se ia ieee aE a TSO
REPORT OF THE CHIEF GAME PROTECTOR wa ayt (ost kee Se EO ak eee! eee eT
PHEASANTS, .OUAIL ANDNGROUSEN 8. fasta. | oor i) satiate ee
SAINI OD IIROWMICHMORS 6 4.5 oo Do gal Gules Te? Oe aes
PROSECUTIONS AND RECOVERIES wha oa GR Si, 5 Slee rte eaten Se EEG)
REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF SHELLFISHERIES six ial, ele GT, Page or eee eam OE
SPATE | CONDROLORNONS DE Ra DE DSi im cll tl gel) rae nee an a TOK
INTERSTATE CONRERENCES 1 fejcrra) cy flo Seeman an cogs Semmens el Locate ante 164
STATISTICSHOR CONST ER SIND USIR Val in soutien pet ene eee Cs LLCS
INE Wal MORKEONVS TERS MUARICE Ag Uaie tenth) aie ann omen tala es Mores avec 172
OYSTER (CUETURE= BV (x aera be OR insane Gitte eer seal «Var ah) ae aC
FOOD SMISHERTIES! sori. jah sores) a tele ob wpe elie eam Nee ir or i ee a]
Pip CULTIVATED MORESTS. OF, EUROPE ar cielo ihe rma sly e ole i at aan (0)
By A. Knechtel.
Forrest NURSERIES AND NursERY METHODS IN EUROPE . .-. . . . . £201
By William F. Fox.
BirDS AS CONSERVATORS OF THE FOREST Sighs” jose, We ey ualinics. <a Oke eS O)
Diy Dieiinde ln Beal:
DISHES AND) ANISHING SEN) VDE ACD TR © NID AC KG a eesti ete tan) ce EZ
By A. Judd Northrup.
Tue ALBINO Brock TROUT oi eZ OS

Diy Oliyord Ke Cltis. ite.

TABLE OF CONTENTS. 5

PAGE
DESCRIPTIONS OF FISH Cee oe ea 303
By Dr. Tarleton H. Bean.
BiB Glia IUb) AS UN TISTie Baim Bee Rey Sr Ge lee SC ai ge ee GES
Carp une
CHANNEL CaTFISH 303
CRAPPIE 307
GOLDFISH 309
Moon-EyYe 315
Rep Horse 305
Rock Bass; Rep EYE 317
Notes on ADIRONDACK MAMMALS 319
By Madison Grant.
THE SQUIRRELS AND OTHER RODENTS OF THE ADIRONDACKS DE es CN Be 335
By Frederick C. Pauimter.
Tue WiLD Fowl oF THE St. LAWRENCE RIVER 352
By J. H. Durham.
PRERORES PEN ORKING PLAN) colby sees ah Sean eee aes Go es ee ek, 378

By the United States Forestry Bureau.

List of I{lastrations

ATTACKING A FIRE IN TIME ROP ea ok

An ApIRONDACK ‘‘ FrRE-TRAP” SUOMI Peake sect h eis he Geers

Mars (Two) or PLANTATIONS ON STATE Lanps, TOWNSHIP 21
Ramin Counminz, ING Wo 5 5 56 0 5

An ADIRONDACK INTERIOR Piece Nae eye tn

ADIRONDACK CoTTaGE OF THE LATE PRESIDENT HARRISON

AGU ARINING TOM EDE Mel OUGHT ESS ss) Ysa matin sh ee ac are fe

Pin Oaks KILLED BY LEAKAGE FROM Gas MAIN

‘ris AOD Om IAIN Sawer; Iwano \waunse Cosy 5 5 5 4 «

Rep SprRUcCE CoNES—THE DryInGc Room age gh:

Lig Jos Wisteria sea) (Coys: Woo ING 5 5 6 6 na

PLANTING AN OLD BEavER MEapow Near LAKE CLEAR JUNCTION

PIKE FISHING Rate eas

SPARK ARRESTER, OR SCREEN, IN LOCOMOTIVE

SECTION OF SPARK ARRESTER— ACTUAL SIZE

FoREST OF FRIEDRICHSRUH, GERMANY

A BeecH Forest In NORTHERN PRUSSIA

PacKING IN Foop FOR THE FIRE FIGHTERS .

Tue FrreE FIGHTERS’ CooK .

FirE UNDER CONTROL Romney rae i Me are a

PLowine FurRRowS To STop PROGRESS OF A GROUND FIRE .

A HiGH ONE RODS thao

OysTER FLOAT AND SLOOPS— OySTER Bay

ALONG THE STREET FRONT . Beni ore bee gers

Hears oF PINE NEEDLES AND Moss REapy FOR MARKET

BUNDLING SPRUCE FaGoTs FoR MARKET

Goinc Homer From THEIR WoRK IN THE FOREST

STAR-SHAPED PLANTATION, WITH Roaps RADIATING FROM COMMON
CENTERS . pec Mart See teat mete nak

PREPARING GROUND FOR A FoREST PLANTATION

.

A Cuean Curtine; PLantTeD ForEST oF SPRUCE IN LEFT FoRE-
GROUND Pele Sao ike. Con ehog Asi | mmm are eo

PLANTED FOREST OF SILVER Fir, FIFTEEN YEARS OLD fbiog

A THINNING FOR REPRODUCTION OF SILVER Fir, witH TIMBER CuT
FuLut LENGTHS AND PEELED READY FOR TRANSPORTATION

GROUND CovERED wiTH NatTurRAL REPRODUCTION OF SILVER Fir,
SEED TREES Havinc BEEN LEFT FOR THaT PURPOSE AFTER
THE FINAL THINNING .

Oak AND BEECH . Pea! yh ea, eae

A Goop SEED YEAR FOR Norway SPRUCE

7

Facing

ce

PAGE
22

22

26
42
42
64
64
66
66
70
70
86
102
102
106
106
IIo
IIo
130
130
146
174
174
180
180

180

182
(182

184
186
186

8 LIST, OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

HavuLinGc TIMBER IN THE SCHWARZWALD

Forest RAILWAY, WITH ONE RaiL ONLY, FOR Hauzine Out FIRE-
KOO) Aino) WhevOr IPRODWCMWS c . o 56 o ¢

INTERIOR OF AN OLD SAWMILL Coe

GANG WITH SIXTEEN SAws; Loc SAWED ENTIRE

HorizontTaLt Band Saw

Loc Yarp oF A GERMAN SAWMILL

IFRS AWN ee cheese ie eee

CuttTinc FIREWOOD

HousE OF AN OBERFORSTER pana ais

MonuMENT IN THE Woops TO THE MEMORY OF A FORESTER

RAP OF Lone TIMBER, ON THE RHINE 7... :

PLANT FOR IMPREGNATING WOOD WITH PRESERVATIVE SOLUTION —
TREATMENT OF TELEGRAPH POLES

ITALIAN FORESTERS here ee

Nursery Beps SHADED BY PLANTED TREES

Forest TREE Nursery, ITALY

Royaut Forestry INSTITUTE, VALLOMBROSA, ITALY

Forest TREE NURSERY, AT XETTES :

Forest TREE NURSERY, NEAR GERARDMER, FRANCE

Norway Spruce, Four YEARS Op, OncE TRANSPLANTED

SEED BED oF ScotcH Pinz, Two YEARS OLD

Beps of FourR—-YEAR-—OLD TRANSPLANTS, NoRWAY SPRUCE

Forest TREE NURSERY, NEAR LUZERNE, SWITZERLAND .

TremMPORARY NURSERY , Nae

NuRSERY WITH SEED BEps PROTECTED FROM: BIRDS AMD MICE BY
WIRE SCREENS AND STONE BORDERS ene

Youne PLANTATION oF NoRWAy SpRUCE, MADE BY THE SEED—SPOT
METHOD ep aa

TEMPORARY NursERY, NoRTHERN AUSTRIA

Part oF Forest TREE Nursery, THURINGIA, GERMANY

Forest TREE NURSERY IN THE THURINGER WALD, SAxE-GOTHA

NuRSERY PLANTED EXCLUSIVELY witH NorRWAyY SPRUCE

Forest TREE NURSERY, NEAR FRIEDRICHSRUH, NoRTH PRusSIA

Nursery FoR Decipuous TREES, BismaRcK FOREST

WEEDING TRANSPLANT BEDS OF ScoTcH PINE

Forest TREE NuRSERY, GERMANY

ComMERCIAL NurRSERY, HALSTENBEK, HOoLsTEIN

FireLtp oF Wuite Ping, Four Years Op, TRANSPLANTED

WEEDING TRANSPLANT BEDS Sat Sale Se ener omar ic Leaman

Larce Beps or Norway Spruce, Four Years Onp, ONcE TRANS—
PLANTED

RED-HEADED WoOODPECKER — ADULT AND YOUNG

Bis dev rte hea a wea CORO ee ALA

“eo

PAGE

188

188
190
190
190
190
192
192
196
196
198

198
201
204
204
208
208
210
210
212
212
214
214

218

218
220
220
222
222
224
224
226
226
230
230

232

232

238

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Nor THE RNS LAIR AVOODPECKER ——IWATL.H selene. 00s) ty ee
WuHitE-BACKED THREE—-TOED WOODPECKER— MALE AND FEMALE .
Epi Gar Ria ACs eins Ec See IN Gen Fahy ince Wy ye riots. oe
WaitOwaapwiiio) SAesoCiaR—— MUA) Ausio) Wie 5 = GG
BLiacK—-BACKED THREE—TOED WOODPECKER— MALE AND FEMALE ;
RepoBRpASTED NUrHATcH— MALE AND) HEMmAMmy 92 95>. 9 2 fs
BLACKBURNIAN WARBLER — MALE AND FEMALE

MOURNE Wiuriainiie—— INA) Au IBIMUAIEIS 6 55 5
YELLOW-—BILLED CUCKOO

SOLITARY VIREO

Biack—CaprpEepD CHIcK—A—DEE

BRown CREEPER

JETAGID, ANA ARS es Arie Ge 7 ig he Raa om a er Sn a
AMERICAN RED CrRossBILL — MaLE AND FEMALE

“Gone In ”— OLD STYLE ma

INSCRIPTION ON ROCK IN CRANBERRY LAKE Sea. ENS

Agcy Qirip—Wints. Svasmvuenonr 5g a 8 oe
OSWEGATCHIE Fatis, NEAR HuMeE’s

‘Curis’ WAGNER

ion OER DUNBAR i etic a Mice mice ian ae cy eris) gel Se

PV ROEIME CR MEK teak we ee We 2

On aien IB Runa GG ds a ee

ii nEb eAPIDS. bELow -MuNCY Ss: ElOmEL: 95 -s. 4. %.

Lamont’s Hore, on SuitH’s Lake (Lake Lia) lela

FXIPRINOW DRO OKMMGROWAM Gn Galo SS tees el | s

CHANNEL Cat

IED LORS RMNE we mre Siete ane een ODE) i ae le
CRAPPIE .

COMME TSM acee Rey ees amas ere SA eNL ie tae mM ib NA Mage rae

CaRP . aes

Biue GILL Sun FIsH

Moon—-EVeE

Rock Bass Siena Ete ME ec

BuackK BEARS IN YELLOWSTONE NaTIONAL PARK Ae LENT, Oe ee
BEARS IN YELLOWSTONE NaTIonNaAL ParK— Tourists Looxine ON
Puma In THE NEw YorK ZOOLOGICAL PARK

Puma IN THE NEw YorRK ZOOLOGICAL PARK

ANTLERS OF ONE oF THE Last Moose KILLED IN THE ADIRONDACKS
ANTLERS OF ELK KILLED IN GENESEE VALLEY ABOUT 1845

Raccoon PHOTOGRAPHED BY FLASHLIGHT BY Hon. Gro. SHIRAS, 3D
RACCOON iy sisi) INiniy WORK ZooroOcieam INK 5 5 5 6 % 6 5
TIMBER WoLF IN THE NEw YorRK ZOOLOGICAL PARK. . . . .
Gray FOXES IN THE NEW YorK ZOOLOGICAL PARK . .

Facing

ce

ce

y

PAGE
242
244
246
248
250
254
256
258
260
262
266
266
268
270
276
270
278
280
282
284
286
288
290

292

304

IO LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE
Rep Hox in THE) New York /Z0orocicaAr (PARK Ware | 4) 9) smeeeiaGunemoR a
ONO sonie Tove aero) INfomie MOVE ZOOWMOCICNE IPA 5 5 5 g © 6 0 “ 334
CANADAVILYNX IN DHE NEW MORKaZOOlOGICAT aA RK gain te i“ 334
Canapa Lynx IN THE NEw York ZooLoGicaL PARK Satie es costes s 334
BAe Mov NG IN, THE INE Wwe WORK ZOOL 0 GIG Aura eyAR Kali eee ee ae 334
BEAVER IN THE NEw York ZOOLOGICAL PaRK Sie ec eam oor teas e 334
WioOODCHUCK IN = THE INE WaeVORIG ZOOLOGICA AR kart ie ier tae y 334
MAR TEN INSSTERL “DRAPE M08) 2) ee ape A a eee ae PU oe 334
MuskKRAT FROM Rocky Mountains . . aR a ee ant ace ae of 334
PorcuPINE IN THE NEw York ZOOLOGICAL Par nae, a eer a eR a s 334
ALBINO PoRCUPINE, TAKEN BY FLASHLIGHT BY HON. GEORGE SHIRAS, 3D. 6 apa
SKUNK: INS DEE NE Wa ORK 7,0 OW © GC Ali Ey AURI Kes gestae nee) ncaa nt ean oe 334
Miron mS) apn) ING WOK ZOOMOEICAW, INS. 5 6 6, 6 6 0 6. 6 ee 334
MARTEN MIN HIT ADELPHIA ZOOLOGICAL GAR DEN © iirl os alrnlae acne oe 334
FIsHER IN NaTIoNaL ZOOLOGICAL PARK, WASHINGTON, D.-C. . . . e 334
FisHER IN NaTIONAL ZOOLOGICAL PARK, WASHINGTON, D. C. . . . “ 334
WOLVERINE w) laja atl GRCES SEE UeS S Pel Beat eeIR an iether i 334
AMIGO NSIDIG ae us Bam ee near Nee ra) 18-205. oplg ea 334
WOLVERINE FROM Burriee Couns 85h eat ite OHIO os 334
WOLVERINE KILLED BY ROBERT WALCOTT IN LABRADOR... . . i 334
WEASEL OR AMERICAN ERMINE IN WHITE WINTER CoaT . .. . oS 334
OTTERSIN (DHE MINE WORK IZ OOL OGICAT ARIK ra irs) teeta mney a moana: nt 334
POR CUBINE © P07 eritget alte os stie rn, LG) RCTS ae bat ea aa ie ee a eR os 336
REDASOUIRRED at Sian, clas teme ie 1 OUI Seam an ir mee Lan a 338
GRAV SOUPRREDL, 2M a yiss Su ile ge bo online aie oes pans ane eo a He 340
CERNE NIK ae SS ope SAE a Oe I al ater Tr a as we 344
SEAC GULL CH AGING Gay ISH 2 eae) aca Te!) poatee tye een eae atte: Ala st meee ye 352
INBTRIBVING! AMG UTE ct Pah tec ae ria a anna eRe SU eee arse Ror oS 352
OODEDEMERGANSERY 3) oeeee See NO strstr ae eater bee Nort ran ee ss 354
SNAPPING TURTLES IN QUEST OF Voune BIRDS Heya se Uae ee 356
IMO SSBA CIAL WRN Bq RVAUINUN GiyAU Gr AVE Te INU) Ee fe eee a 358
Deranpauaey JDofeg = IW Ne) UMP OYE 5 GG do oh ee S 360
GorpEN ‘Bye, Duck MALE AND AE NWA En pe ieienen te os ace yale ae 362
Coor “(ORs MuUD ELEN) AND g@ NEST! \2) ele eae ee einice gestae ieee os 364
EAST BITTER NTAND INEST a ae cami eT OD ek ates ae MN He: ns 366
PrED-BILLED GREBE AND NEST WITH ViouNe IBTRDS. ia | ve cage ey ey ie i 308
PiED-BILLED GREBE WaTcHING Its Nest . . F arta vi 370
Map oF TOWNSHIPS 5, 6, 40, AND 41, HAMILTON Cl N. y. eee: 374
IAVOON ONT ns INEST a eam Sie val gs, Yeo arm a 370
LOWER SPRUCE SLOPE — MEDIUM aman iid ACRE cco Tra ciaclarna! ts) neem ieee ws 384
UPPERMORRUCE, SLOPE —— MEDIUM. o DAN Dy iis) Velen mmnne mie rat oan ng 384
IWSETITD Fo © DAUR ie nm Fst ta oe che en fap 4 ae nats. cic eee ace ss 388

HEMLOCK AND YELLOW BircH — Borrom ae Seer tratt Ir hoe ss uinieeee SS 388

Dreface

HE preparation of the Annual Report of the
‘|; Commission, in this enlarged or supple-
mentary form, requires so much time and

care that its publication has been delayed beyond
the date which appears on the title page. It has
been the custom of the Commission to issue its
Annual Report promptly in January of each year
as required by law, but in pamphlet form, con-
taining the usual financial statement and a brief
record of the more important work accomplished,
together with such suggestions or recommenda-
tions for further legislation as seemed advisable.
This pamphlet was followed in time by the
larger, supplementary volume, bound in _ cloth,
containing additional articles and illustrations of

apecharactenu, peruinent) to. ithe wavaniouss slimes

of work and interests included within the scope
and province of the Commission. The department official to whom is entrusted
the work of collecting and editing the material for this larger volume, together
with the selection of the illustrations, is unable to devote any time to the work
except such spare intervals as may occur while attending to his regular duties,
after which the State printer must have the time necessary for the production
of a book of this character and the artistic colored illustrations that accompany
the text. For these reasons the publication of the large illustrated quartos
containing the final or supplementary reports have been delayed so much
that it has become necessary to include the Eighth and Ninth Reports of
the Forest, Fish and Game Commission in one volume, as presented here.
Hereafter, if the Legislature decides that the publication of these amplified,
illustrated reports shall be continued, the volume should be issued biennially
and include two years in one binding.

Il

Te? PREFACE:

The action of the Legislature in authorizing the publication of these volumes
is amply justified by the high esteem with which they are regarded by the
people, and the urgent, widespread demand for extra editions. Requests for
copies, in great number, are received from people outside the State and from
libraries in Europe. The Imperial Library of Japan has sought earnestly to
secure a full set of these books, and far-off Australia has been more than once
represented in the applications received from scientific men engaged in the study
of fish culture, the problems of forest preservation and of water storage, and the
work of game protection.

The contributed articles on forests, fish and game are written by men who are
acknowledged authorities on the subjects treated by them, and these pages,
together with the beautiful colored illustrations, have an educational value that
cannot be computed in dollars and cents.

For the articles courteously written expressly for this volume the Commission
desires to make suitable acknowledgment to Mr. Madison Grant, Secretary of
the New York Zoological Society; Dr. F) E: WL. Beal, of the United States
Biological Survey, Washington, D. C.; Hon. A. J. Northrup, of Syracuse N. Y ;
Dr. Frederick C. Paulmier, Zoologist in the Division of Science, New York State
WMGnSeubea | ehovol Wley@e ja lsh ithe Wh S. 2, Caos Wimeeme, IN, Wo AWnaese
papers, together with those furnished by officials of the Commission, contain
valuable information as to forestry, tree planting, birds, wild fowl, fish, game,
and the culture of shellfish, which the people of our State cannot find elsewhere
conveniently. Furthermore, these articles will be read with deep interest by
scientific and professional men, although they may be already familiar with the |
subjects treated.

Particular attention is called to the valuable report on forest conditions
existing on Townships 5, 6, and 41, in Hamilton County, N Y., as this great
tract of 75,000 acres, covered with a virgin forest, belongs to the State and forms
a part of the Adirondack Park. The field work, which forms the basis of this
special report, was done in cooperation with the United States Forest Service,
Washington, D. C., through an arrangement made by the Commission with
Mr. Gifford Pinchot, Forester, the head of the Government forestry bureau,
Under this arrangement the General Government furnished, free of expense, the
services of an expert corps of foresters, while the State of New York defrayed
the cost of camp maintenance, guides, helpers, and other expenses. Although
this report, as made by the United States official in charge of the work, 1s

designated a ‘‘ Working Plan,” it was distinctly understood by both parties that,

PREFACE. 153

owing to the restrictions in the forestry clause of our State Constitution, no
timber cutting could be done, and that in this respect the plan was necessarily
inoperative. But after a long and thorough examination of this large tract with
reference to its conditions, the forester in making his report deemed it a proper
opportunity to indicate the large revenues that could be obtained annually from
this forest under an intelligent, conservative management in case the State
Constitution were amended at some future time so as to permit the adoption of
such a plan.

The Commission on its part improved the opportunity to obtain for its
information and guidance the valuable data giving in detail the amount of stand-
ing timber, the different species, the rate of growth, the topographical features
of the tract, and other valuable items showing the condition and value of the
property.

In view of the general opposition to any amendment of the forestry clause in
the State Constitution the Commission disclaims any responsibility for the sugges
tions contained in the article referred to, although the plan is necessarily only a

tentative one.
THE COMMISSION.

Eighth Report

of the

Porest, Fish and Game Commission

Atbany, N. U., Janeary 30, 190}.

Hon. 5. Frederick Nixon,
Speaker of the Assembly :

Sir.— We have the honor to sabmit herewith, as
required by law, the official report of this Commission for
the year ending September 30, 1902.

Very traly yoars,
Timothy L. Woodraff,

President,

Dewitt C. Middleton,
Charities H. Babcock,

Commisstoners of Forest, Fish and Game.

ptate of New ert

Forest, Fish and Game Commission.

Timothy L. Woodruff, President, - = 7 : = - Brooklyn, N. Y.
Dewitt C. Middleton, - - : : : ahetyni - Watertown, N. Y.

‘Charles H Babcock, - = - 7 zs : - = =) Wochesters Nnaye

Forestry, - - - - - - - - - - Commissioner Middleton.
Fishculture and Hatcheries, - - : - - - Commissioner Babcock.

Shellfisheries, = - - : : : : : - Commissioner Woodruff.
Assistant Secretary, - - - - - - John D. Whish, Albany, N. Y.
Superintendent of Forests, - - - - - William F. Fox, Albany, N. Y.
Chief Game Rrotecton ) - ss - - - J. Warren Pond, Albany, N. Y.

Superintendent of Shellfisheries, - - - B. Frank Wood, Jamaica, N. Y.

Report

of the

Porest, Fish and Game Commission
1902

To the Honorable the Degtslatare:

HE Commission, in presenting its final report as at present constituted, has
| the pleasant satisfaction of knowing that its work has had the commenda-
tion of the public, and that the value of what has been done for the
protection of fish and game and the reforestation of denuded woodlands in the
Adirondack and Catskill regions has been recognized both at home and abroad.
Standards of comparison for such matters are not as well established as yet in
our own country as they are in other parts of the civilized world, and an occasional
criticism is consequently to be expected either from the uninformed or the unthink-
ing. But it is certain that, dollar for dollar, the State of New York is getting more
for its expenditure for the business which the Commission has had in charge than
any other locality at present known. The work of the Forestry Department has
developed in value to the extent that its success is frequently commended, and its
documents are considered very desirable for public distribution. Advice on
important questions is sought by the experts of other countries from our Depart-
ment of Fisheries, and the game laws of this State are frequently used as models
by other lawmakers.
The sagacious editor of the London Sfectator, in reviewing a recent report of this
Commission, after paying a high tribute to the wisdom shown by the State of New
York in providing adequately for the preservation of its forests and the. increase
of its fish and game supply, says:
Omitting moneys spent on purchasing land and maintaining forests the total cost

of fish propagation, fish and game protection, the Shellfish Department and taking
deer to the forests, with some items for printing, was about £30,000. The fish cost

2 17

18 EIGHTH REPORT OF THE

a little over £11,000, the gamekeeping generally £10,000, and the shellfish (a
remunerative item) £2,000. In return for this the public had free fishing of every
kind over a vast territory, and killed deer to an amount which, at the ordinary
rate reckoned per stag in Scotland (£40), would represent a sporting rental in this
country of £169,000!

In the same line of testimony is the following quotation from a scientific
monograph produced in our own State by an expert of well-established reputation.

In a recent bulletin on ‘‘The Clam and Scallop Industries,” issued by the State

Museum, Dr. J. L. Kellogg says:

Every one is familiar with the extensive and remarkably successful work of
the United States and the various State Fish Commissions in the propagation
of marine and fresh water market fish. In many cases the continued supply is
probably directly and entirely due to the artificial hatching and judicious
distribution of the young fish. These institutions have made it very clear that
public moneys could not be better expended for the benefit of all classes of people
than in their support. * * * If the fact were only recognized that this extinction
of forms really is occurring, these Commissions and similar institutions would
receive much greater support in the form of legislative appropriations. * * * It
is money most profitably invested for rich and poor alike.

Such testimony and approval of the work that is being done could be continued
at length. but the facts are, for the most part, known to your honorable body and
to the well-informed taxpayers of the State at large. The value of the Adirondacks
as a wealth-producing element in the State is properly shown in one of the appended
reports, and the figures given indicate that millions of dollars are annually spent
because of the attractions of the woods and waters for health and pleasure seekers
and sportsmen. To preserve and build up the forests has been the constant care
of the Commission, and many members of the Legislature can testify from actual
knowledge as to what has been done toward providing trees to fill out the denuded
places. The nurseries for producing the young trees are well established, and will
increase steadily in value as the work advances. In time the State will be able to
provide from them not only all the trees necessary for use in the forests but also
for beautifying roadsides and the streets of our cities, as well as for renewing the
old and neglected woodlots of our farms.

Attention is also called with pride to the work done in protecting the forests
from fire. The State now has a most excellent organization for this purpose, and
the result is readily seen from the fact that our forests have practically escaped
damage from this source. Reports from other States do not show such immunity.

The statements in detail in the reports of the Superintendent of Forests, the

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 19g

Chief Protector and the Superintendent of Shellfisheries, which follow, are well
worth the attention of every sportsman and every taxpayer as well. Therein will
be found ample evidence that the money appropriated for the propagation of fish
and the protection of game has been well expended, and that the result secured
has merited the favorable comment already quoted. Communications received
from time to time bear witness to the fact that line fishing in the waters of the
State was never better, while the returns from the net fishermen prove that a far
greater variety of cheap food-fish of the best quality is easily procurable on account
of the constant care exercised by the State in stocking its waters. The increase
in the number of deer taken is also worth noting, as an. evidence of the wisdom
of existing laws. So also is the suggestion which experience has shown to be
necessary for the preservation of certain fisheries by stopping fishing through the
ice. Protective action would also seem to be necessary to keep the Black Bear from
extermination.

The Commission, in conclusion, takes pleasure in calling attention to the success
which has thus far attended the work of restoring Moose to the Adirondacks, and
to the valuable additions made to the herds of Elk during the past year.

The following recommendations are presented for your consideration:

That the number of expert foresters be increased to four, and their compensa-
tion be made such as to retain them in the service of the State.

That the John Brown house be repaired so as to preserve this historic structure,

That spring shooting of wild fowl and birds of all kinds be prohibited.

That the shooting of Black Bear in the Adirondack region be prohibited for a
period of five years.

That a license fee of fifty dollars be imposed on non-resident hunters, excepting
members of organized clubs in the Adirondacks, who shall present certificates of
membership, and Adirondack landowners.

That provision be made for the licensing of guides.

BY THE COMMISSION.

Joun D. Wuisx,

Assistant Secretary.

Report of Saperintendent of Forests
1902

To the Forest, Fish and Game Commission:

ENTLEMEN.— In carrying on the forestry work of the Commission during
the past year special attention has been given, as usual, to the protection
from fire of the forests in the Adirondack and Catskill towns, both public

and private. The results are satisfactory and encouraging.* While many other
States, especially those of the Northwest and Pacific slope, have suffered severe
losses from forest fires, the wooded areas of New York have been comparatively
free from any serious or extensive damage from this source, the fires in this
State having occurred, for the greater part, on waste lands or tracts that had been
burned over previously, soine of them repeatedly.

The total area thus injured in 1902, as shown by the reports of the town
firewardens, embraced 21,356 acres, three fourths of which, or thereabouts, consisted
of waste land, on which there was no standing timber of merchantable value.
The actual area of forest land overrun by fire amounted to only 4,345 acres, of
which 458 acres belonged to the Forest Preserve.

The total loss on this standing timber, as taken from the estimates in the
firewardens’ reports, amounted in the aggregate to $9,150. The total number
of days worked by the men ordered out to fight fire was 2,405. As the State
refunds to the towns half of the expense incurred in such work, the amount due
from the Commission in settlement of these claims is estimated at $2,700. The
exact sum cannot be stated now, as a few of the firewardens’ accounts have not
yet been adjusted by their respective towns, the auditors having taken exception
to some of the items, or having refused to pay the bill entirely. There will be no
rebate to towns which are still in debt to the State for money advanced to hire
men during the fires of 1899.

As usual the causes of these fires were various, the principal ones being in

*The great fires of 1903 had not occurred at this time. For a full account of this disaster see
Annual Report of the Superintendent of Forests for 1903, page IOT.

20

EIGHTH REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. oat

their order as follows: The carelessness of farmers in burning brush for agricultura]
purposes; sparks from railroad locomotives, and the camp (or coffee) fires left by
fishermen and hunters. Berry-pickers, tramps, picnic parties, summer boarders
and boys at play were each responsible for one or two cases. One fire was started by
an insane man, and one caught from a charcoal-burner’s pit. The returns include
also, as in previous years, a large number of reports with the statement, ‘‘ Cause
unknown.”

The figures for the forest area burned (4,345 acres) and the total damage
($9,150) show a gratifying decrease when compared with the great losses from
this source which occurred almost annually in New York before the establishment
of its Forestry Department. Perhaps their significance will be better understood if
considered in connection with the statistics showing the total! burned area and loss
from forest fires throughout the United States, in which, according to the estimates
of the United States Bureau of Forestry, there cccur annually forest fires that
on an average burn over an area of 10,274,089 acres, destroying at least $25,000,000
worth of real property, and in which, on an average, sixty human lives are lost
yearly. A special agent of the Government Bureau, after a careful examination
of the territory, reports that the forest fires this last fall in the States of Oregon
and Washington destroyed standing timber and other property to the value of
$12,767,100. He might have added that these fires were accompanied by the
usual loss of life. Thirty-eight dead bodies were found in one place—in the
Lewis River Valley, Washington. In our neighboring State of New Jersey forest
fires last year covered 98,850 acres, and inflicted damages to the amount of $168 3332
as officially reported.

These statistics need not excite surprise if one recalls the terrible loss of life and
widespread destruction of timber from forest fires that have occurred repeatedly
in the Northwestern States. In the great fires that swept over parts of Northern
Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota in October, 1871, over 1,000 persons lost their
lives and 15,000 were made homeless. The value of the standing timber destroyed
was never estimated closely, but it amounted to several million dollars. In the
fires of 1881, 1894 and 1896 hundreds of people were burned to death and wide
areas of valuable timber destroyed in that same region.

And yet these fires started from some little blaze that, as was the case with
the Hinckley disaster in 1894, had smoldered for days before it attained head-
*

way,* and which could have been prevented had there been an efficient organiza-

tion for extinguishing them while in an incipient stage.

* A detailed and interesting account of the great fires of 1894 may be found in the Annual Report
of the New York State Forest Commission for that year.

Dye EIGHTH REPORT OF THE

In the returns made by the firewardens of the State of New York for the year
1902 much of the burned territory included in their reports consisted of open
country on which there were no trees, the land being covered with brier patches
or shrubs of small growth. There were large areas also, covered with huckleberry
bushes, that were set on fire and burned over by the natives to increase the crop
of fruit gathered annually from these places. This was especially the case in
some of the Catskill towns, where the picking of berries on wild land furnishes
employment each season for a large number of people—men, women and children.
These areas; if not burned over, would in time be covered with a growth of trees
that would be valuable for the protective functions exercised, even if the species
did not furnish marketable timber. These trees would be available also for fuel:
and the saplings, when properly thinned by foresters, would supply, to a large
extent, the market for hoop-poles. The wardens have made special efforts to
prevent fires of this class, with the result that the burned areas from this cause
have been materially reduced. Still, as there is great difficulty in detecting
offenders of this kind, the recurrence of the evil to some extent may be expected
each season. It is doubtful if the time will ever come, however vigilant and
watchful our firewardens may be, when forest fires will entirely cease. If all our
citizens were intelligent, careful and honest there would be no fires. But this
millennial condition has not arrived, and we cannot expect entire exemption for
our forests any more than for our cities and villages, which for many years
to come will find it necessary to maintain their fire departments.

In some of the Catskill towns there has been a disposition on the part of the
auditing boards to throw out the bills of the firewardens entirely, the supervisors
claiming that as there is little or no State land in the town the Forest Commis-
sion had no right to appoint a firewarden, and that the town can take care of its
own affairs in this respect without any intervention by the State authorities. But
the Forest Law provides that: ‘‘ The Commission shall from time to time in every
town having lands which are part of the Forest Preserve, and may im every town
having lands which would become part of the Forest Preserve tf acquired by the
State, appoint a firewarden who shall act during the pleasure of the Commission.”

The clause italicized here became necessary because of the negligence shown
by the authorities of certain forest towns in protecting their woodlands from fire.
It is conceded that the State holdings in these towns are small, and that in a
few instances there are none But these towns contain large wooded areas, a
great portion of which are owned by non-residents. The public interests demand
that these forests should be protected and preserved, no matter who owns them.

tue, a private owner can cut his timber if he wants to, but the people at large

, PHOTO,

PETTIS

R.

Cc

ATTACKING A FIRE IN TIME.

PHOTO,

B. STROUGH,

A

AN ADIRONDACK ‘“ FIRE-TRAP.”

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 23

will naturally protest against its unnecessary destruction by fire. The observation
of the Department has been that in the towns where there are no firewardens
belonging to the organized force the forests are destroyed to an alarming extent.
In such towns the supervisor is firewarden er officio, being invested with all the
powers and duties pertaining to that office elsewhere. But the supervisor too often
is unaware that he must act as firewarden; he is not in touch with the Chief
Firewarden of the State; he lacks the interest and efficiency displayed by the
firewardens in the organized force, and, as he holds an elective office, he must give
way in time to his successor instead of holding the position permanently like the
firewardens appointed by the Commission.

It has been suggested that when a recalcitrant town board refuses to recognize
the firewarden appointed by the Commission, merely because the State owns little
or no land in the town, the Commission might in retaliation make no appointment
of a firewarden and thus deprive the town of the rebate of one half the expenses
incurred in fighting its forest fires. But this would not remedy the real evil—the
undue destruction of woodlands in that locality.

As an instance of the lack of attention given to forest fires in towns outside
the counties containing the Forest Preserve, and in which there is no organized
force under the control of the Chief Firewarden, let me cite a representative case:
In 1899, in the town of Adams, Jefferson County, a forest fire was raging, where-
upon the residents in its vicinity notified the supervisor that he ought to give it
necessary attention. He neglected to do so, paying no heed to the danger aside
from asking some one to look after the fire and extinguish it. Ineffectual attempts
were made by a few of the people to check its progress, and from Tuesday to
Friday of the same week the supervisor was appealed to by interested parties
to protect their property. These people informed him that the men he had asked to
go to the fire were not accomplishing anything, and that the neighbors would not
turn out to fight the fire under the orders or direction of the men he had engaged
to attend to it.

On Friday, after much had been said about his neglect of duty, he went to the
fire, ordered out a posse of citizens, assumed charge of the work and extinguished
the flames; but not until the woodlands of several people had been destroyed or
seriously damaged. One of the parties whose woods had been injured, Mrs. Lois
L. Garnett, sued the supervisor for neglect of duty. The case was finally disposed of
in the Supreme Court at Watertown, N. Y., in May, 1902, the plaintiff obtaining a
verdict for damages in the sum of $252. As others were ready to commence
similar actions as soon as the case was decided, an appeal was taken for the purpose

of effecting a settlement with the various claimants in order to save the supervisor

24 PIGHDE REPORT On DEVE

from the expense of further litigation, after which he made a satisfactory arrange-
ment with each of the aggrieved parties. The negligence of the supervisor in this
instance cost him $1,659.79 to settle the various claims, not including the additional
expense of litigation, all of which he must lose unless the taxpayers of the town
vote to reimburse him.

It has also happened that in the prosecution of persons for violation of the Fire
Law satisfactory results were not always obtained, owing to the reluctance of the
jury to find a verdict in favor of the State as against a neighbor In each case
the attorney for the defendant appealed to the sympathy of the jury in favor of
‘ his poverty-stricken client, so described, and at the same time derided and denounced
the State officials, who were represented as persecuting the poor farmer and seeking
to prevent him from planting a few potatoes on his own land, or burning a fallow
preparatory to the same.

Last spring the Chief Firewarden arrested two men in Lewis County for burning
brush and logs during a period prohibited by law, and for allowing the fire to
escape to adjoining forests, where it caused a serious destruction of timber. It was
a second offense, the defendants having been convicted of the same violation of
law in the previous year. The case was tried at Lowville before a justice of the
peace and a jury summoned especially for this action. The evidence was more
than sufficient to prove the guilt of the prisoners. Reputable citizens testified that
they were on the ground and saw the parties heaping up the brush and logs on
burning piles. The local firewarden swore that he remonstrated with them for
starting a brush fire at that time in violation of the statute, and further testified
that the forest fire which ensued was directly traceable to the burning brush heaps.
But the jury rendered a verdict of not guilty. The evidence against the defendants,
however, was so ample and convincing that the Chief Firewarden appealed the
case to the Supreme Court, where the action is now pending.

Some of the farmers living in the forest towns complain that the close season
on fallow fires interferes with their agricultural work. The State Forestry Law
provides that in certain specified towns fallows shall not be burned between April
rst and June ioth, or from September rst to November roth. This provision
became necessary owing to the large number of woodland fires that caught from
burning fallows each year during these periods, and which could not well occur if
the trees were in full leaf. It is admitted that the law is a hardship to some extent,
but the carelessness of petty farmers in the use of fire for clearing wild land
became so widespread and unrestrainable that no other remedy was available.

During the past season the Chief Firewarden has prosecuted successfully thirteen

actions against parties who burned their fallows out of season, the fines thus

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 25

collected ranging from fifteen to twenty-five dollars in each case—in most of
the instances the latter amount. Some of the parties thus arraigned protested
strenuously, urging in extenuation of their offense that the fire was wholly on
their own land; that it had not escaped therefrom into any woods or on to the
property of any other person, and furthermore, that they had gone to an extra
expense to prevent any such occurrence. In reply it was pointed out to them
that, while this was readily conceded, there were many others who were not so
careful in managing their fires, and that, in prosecuting the latter, no opportunity
should be given them to charge that any distinction or alleged favoritism had
been made in proceeding against all persons who set fire to their fallows during
the close season established by law.

In connection with this subject ample acknowledgment is due Mr. L. S. Emmons,
the Chief Firewarden, for the energetic, fearless work performed by him in prose-
cuting violations of the law, and for the efficient service rendered in discharge of

all the various duties pertaining to his office.

Reforestation.

At the risk of what may seem a useless repetition of former reports, I again
call attention to the fact that, owing to the restrictions in the forestry clause of
the State Constitution, this Department cannot undertake any scientific work
in the line of forest improvement that necessitates the cutting of timber. The
woodlands placed under the care and management of the Commission must remain
as they are— untouched and unimproved. Our foresters are debarred from doing
any work that would increase the productivity of these forests by the cutting of
diseased or decaying trees, or by the substitution of merchantable species for
worthless ones. Matured trees must be left to fall and become breeding places
for destructive insects, while under the clearly expressed mandate of the law no
timber can be removed and converted into money, even when it is killed by fire,
or where, still green and uninjured, it covers the ground for a thousand acres or
more in some windfall. This is not said in any spirit of complaint, or in advocacy
of any change in the law; but rather to account for the absence of any scientific
forestry work in the management of the woodlands belonging to the State. Some
such explanation seems necessary in view of the thoughtless criticisms that have
been made by persons who were evidently unaware that the improved methods
of forest treatment suggested by them could not be undertaken lawfully by the
Commission.

Fortunately, the Constitutional restrictions do not interfere with silvicultural

_ operations incidental to the reforesting of denuded lands, and so the Commission

26 IBIAS! IUSIPORIE OU APIS;

has undertaken the work of planting the burned and waste areas of the Preserve
with seedling trees of merchantable species. That there is a wide field for opera-
tions of this kind is evident, in view of the fact that within the Adirondack
Park there are 50,592 acres classified as waste, burned or denuded, to say nothing
of a similar class of lands in the Forest Preserve which is situated outside the
park boundary, or so-called ‘‘ Blue Line.”’

Small plantations had already been made by our foresters on State lands in the
Catskills in 1900 and 1901, the comparatively slight expense of which encouraged
the Commission to undertake, last spring, the reforesting of a large tract in the
Adirondacks. In Franklin County, near Lake Clear Junction, there is a large
area of State land that had been closely lumbered, after which it became denuded
by repeated fires. The ground, which originally sustained a growth of large White
Pine, was covered with ferns and huckleberry bushes, with here and there small
areas of swampy land or thickets of young evergreens and poplars. It was mostly
an open plain, extending several miles in either direction, its level expanse being
broken in places by low hills or long, rolling ridges. The soil is sandy, covered
with a thin deposit of ashes left from forest fires. The latter conditions, however,
were not unfavorable; for a sandy soil forms the natural habitat of the White
Pine, and the small admixture of ashes has some value as a fertilizer.

The highway from Saranac Inn to Harrietstown skirts the northern boundary
of the tract, while a branch of the New York Central Railroad, running from
Lake Clear Junction to the village of Saranac Lake, passes through its central
portion. @he Jand includes) all} or |parts, of Wots 105, 106; (93,63, ozmrancdmGny
of Township 21, Macomb’s Purchase, Franklin County, as shown on the large
Adirondack map published by the Commission.

Early last spring, as soon as the ground was free from snow, a careful exam-
ination of this territory was made by Commissioner Middleton and the Superin-
tendent of Forests with reference to the feasibility of undertaking reforesting
operations there. The only objection noted at the time was the proximity of the
railroad, which would form a constant source of danger from fire. This difficulty
was offset to a considerable extent by the fact that a district firewarden resided
close by, and that a number of people living in the immediate vicinity were
always available as a force for fighting fire.

Having decided to undertake the planting of about 700 acres of this tract the
question naturally arose as to the species which should be used. The White Pine
is the most available of our forest trees, and, as it had originally covered this
ground with a natural growth, preference was given to this species. The selection

was further indicated by the sandy soil which elsewhere throughout the Adiron-

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dacks is generally found in connection with this famous tree. But, as white pine
seedlings sufficient to cover the entire area could not be obtained at a satisfactory
price, other species would have to be used. Preference was accordingly given to
spruce as the next best; and, as none of the nurseries in this country or abroad
had done anything in the way of propagating our native spruce, recourse was had
to the Norway Spruce, a species which has been grown successfully in European
forests as a timber tree, and has also been raised extensively in American
nurseries for park or lawn purposes.

The Axton nurseries, operated by the State College of Forestry, having offered

a stock of seedlings at a low price, an order was given at the following rates:

50,000 White Pine transplants, 4 years old, at$6.25 . . . $312 50

10,000 White Pine seedlings, 2 years old, at$5 . . hone 50 00

40,000 Scotch Pine transplants, 3 years old, at$4 . . . . 160 00

EO.COOMSCOLChm Eine Seedlinasm2) years Oldwat pain eels 8 we 30 00

50,000 Norway Spruce transplants, 3 yearsold, at$4 . . . 200 00

200,000 Norway Spruce seedlings, 2 years old, at $1.50. . . 300 00
25,000 Douglas Fir seedlings, 2 years old, at$5:.. . . . . 125 00

30.000 Huropean Larch seedlings, 2 years old, at$2 . . . 60 00

5,000 Black locust seedlings, 2 years old, at$r- =. .Cti(“(t:téC;: 5 00

; D1, 242 50

The White Pine transplants, four years old, were from ten to twelve inches in
height; the seedlings, two years old, ranged from four to six inches The small
quantity of Larch, or Tamarack, as it is called in this country, was ordered for
experimental purposes, these plants being used principally where the ground
was low and wet; for this species finds its habitat, as a general rule, in swampy
land, although at some places in the Adirondacks it has attained a thrifty growth
on a high, dry situation. The Locust was also ordered for experimental work.
The plants were hauled in wagons from Axton to the planting ground, a distance
of seventeen miles, at a cost of $106.50, not including the board of the men and
teams employed on this part of the job

The work of setting out the little trees, together with the general management,
was entrusted to Abraham Knechtel, F. E., assisted by Mr. Clifford R. Pettis, F. E.,
who attended to the alignment of the rows, acted as timekeeper, and who has
had charge of the plantacion since. Mr. Ernest A. Sterling, F.. E., also on the
staff of the State Forestry Department at that time, remained at Axton, where

he prepared the plants for shipment and verified the count. The planting was

28 EIGHTH REPORT OF THE

commenced on April twenty-second and was completed May thirteenth, auring
which period over half a million of young trees were set out. From forty to
sixty-two men were employed daily on the work. The weather was cool and
cloudy with an occasional flurry of snow, conditions that, on the whole, were deemed
favorable. The plants were placed in rows, at spaces six feet apart each way, a
somewhat crowded condition being sought in order to facilitate the proper shedding
of the lower limbs in time, and to promote the necessary growth in height. This
spacing was adopted with reference to a thinning fifteen to eighteen years hence,
at which time the trees should be from sixteen to twenty feet high. .The thinnings
can then be sold for pulp-wood or fuel; and it is expected that the revenue from
this source will offset the expense of the plantation up to that time.

The advantages of a plantation composed of mixed species as compared with
one containing a pure stand were fully discussed, preference being given to the
former, more especially for White Pine and Larch, which, on account of their habit
of open growth, expose the soil to the drying influences of sun and wind, and which,
when grown in pure stand, do not readily shed their lower branches. These
were mixed with Norway Spruce, only a small area of each being planted unmixed
for comparison.

In setting out the plants the men were divided into two gangs, one of which
was provided with mattocks for digging the holes, while the other carried pails
filled with the seedlings, the roots of which were immersed in thick, muddy water.
The men were formed in two parallel lines, the mattock men in the front line six
feet apart, closely followed by the second line, which was composed of the planters
with their pails of seedlings.

Three or four strokes of a mattock* were enough to make a shallow hole in
the sandy soil of sufficient depth for a seedling tree. The planter, who in each
case followed a mattock man, dropped on his knees at each hole, and taking a
plant from his pail placed it quickly in the ground, packing the ioose earth
closely around the roots with his hands, after which he packed it still more firmly
with his foot before going to the next place. With the work thus systematicaily
arranged, the two lines of men moved across the fields at an even pace, covering
the ground at a rate that was extremely satisfactory. As the planters, in order
to keep up with the mattock men, had the hardest task, the gangs changed off
in their work after each crossing of a field, the planters then digging the holes
and the mattock men carrying the pails.

*The Commission imported a supply of Wutrtemberg planting irons from Germany for use on

this plantation, but for general work a mattock or grub hoe (single blade) proved more satisfactory
than the heavier German implement.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 29

As this was State work the men labored only eight hours a day in accordance
with the provision of the Labor Law regulating the hours on public works. The
laborers received a dollar and fifty cents per day, while the foremen, of whom
there were three, were paid two dollars per day. Ordinarily men cannot be
obtained in the Adirondacks at these wages, but the work was done at a season
of the year when there is little doing in the lumber regions or on the farms, a fact
which should be remembered when discussing the relative advantages of spring
and fall planting.

On favorable ground, when free from interruption by bad weather or other
causes, two men (a mattock man and his planter) set out about 1,600 plants in
eight hours, or one day’s work. But this average was not sustained during the
entire course of the planting. It required 747 days’ labor — including foremen,
laborers and water boys—to set out the 500,000 seedlings provided, or 669 plants
per day for each man and boy on the job. The total expense of the plantation,
including purchase price of seedlings, cartage on same and labor, amounted to
$2,496.22, or less than half a cent per plant.

The large gang of laborers employed obtained board and lodging at houses in
the immediate vicinity of Lake Clear Junction, or near Lots 105 and 106, the first
ones planted. But when the work extended to the lots farther south it was found
that too much time was consumed in walking to the ground each morning and
in returning at night. Forester Knechtel then made a written application to
Mr. F. A. Harrington, Division Superintendent of the New York Central Railroad,
asking for transportation for the men to and from their work, whereupon
Mr. Harrington kindly ordered that free transportation be furnished on the
railroad, and that the passenger trains on the Saranac Lake Branch should stop
morning and evening to let off or take on the planting gang at whatever points on
the line might be most convenient for the work.

The seedlings having been set out at intervals of six feet, there were 1,210
plants per acre, and hence the ground actually occupied by the half million
seedlings includes only 414 acres. But owing to frequent obstructions, swampy
places and thickets of sapling trees, the boundaries of the territory planted embrace
nearly 7oo acres.

The thick growth of ferns, which covered the ground and could not be removed
except at too great an expense, caused some apprehension through fear that it
might choke the young plants or seriously retard their growth. But nothing of
the kind occurred, and the little trees grew thriftily among the overshadowing
brakes, which, in fact, proved valuable as a protection against the heat of the sun

in July and August.

30 PIGHDE (REPORT Oe rn:

Mixed with the ferns was an abundant growth of huckleberries that furnished
another cause for anxiety when the picking time came lest the young trees, hidden
from view by the ferns and bushes, might be trampled and killed by the people
who thronged the adjoining plains while gathering the fruit. -As the plantation
was on public land, unfenced, some plan had to be devised for keeping the berry-
pickers off the ground. To this end Forester Pettis, with two laborers, using
short. scythes or bush-hooks, went over the planted territory and cut off the tops
of the huckleberry bushes before the fruit was ripe. As a result of this simple
expedient the berry-pickers went elsewhere, and the plantation was not injured
by them.

so far as can be observed the condition of the plantation at the present time
is very encouraging. Of the half million plants set out the percentage of loss was
astonishingly small—far below the number expected as based on the usual
percentage of failures given in tables published by various authorities. It was
only after a long and careful search that a dead plant could be found. Most of
the seedlings showed a rapid growth also, the leaders on the White Pine attaining
a length of from four to ten inches during the summer following the planting.
The Forestry Committee of the State Legislature, Hon. Thomas M. Costello,
Chairman, while on its annual tour of inspection in the Adirondack Preserve,
visited the plantation last August in company with Commissioner Babcock, and
each member of the Committee expressed himself as highly pleased and satisfied
with the appearance of the work.

For several years to come, in early spring or late fall, there will be some
danger from locomotive sparks, which may start fires in the dead leaves on the
ground and spread into the plantation. But this evil can be minimized greatly
by employing one or two patrols during the few months in which there is a
liability to loss from this source. Last spring a fire, caused by a locomotive,
started in the immediate vicinity of a planted area while the men were at work
there. Driven by a high wind, it quickly assumed a threatening aspect; but the
forester in charge of the planting immediately detailed a gang of men to fight it,
and it was extinguished before any damage was done.

The planting having been completed, Forester Pettis was directed to make a
topographical survey of the lots included in the work, using contours of ten feet.
I submit herewith the map made by him in connection with this survey, on
which the area occupied by each species is indicated by the special color desig

nated in the legend.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 31

Forest Narsertes.

If the Commission is to continue its work of reforesting the denuded lands of
the State Preserve, there will be some difficulty in obtaining a sufficient quantity
of seedlings for the annual plantings. It is doubtful whether the desired species
can be procured in sufficient quantities. Assuming that the plants are obtainable,
the current rates quoted in the price lists of the nurserymen indicate that the
expense would make reforesting operations too costly or unprofitable. This
difficulty may be successfully obviated by establishing State nurseries in which
our foresters can propagate seedlings to furnish annually the necessary supply.
Availing itself of its ownership of the land and the expert services of its
foresters the Commission can provide a stock of seedlings at a comparatively
small expense.

To this end a nursery has been established in the Catskills, at a location in
Ulster County about one mile south of Brown’s Station, on the Ulster and
Delaware Railroad. After a careful examination of various pieces of land suitable
for nursery purposes in that vicinity a selection was made of about four acres
situated on the farm of Egbert Dederick, located as just described. The ground
was prepared early last spring — ploughed, harrowed, picked free of stone — and
laid out into beds four feet by twenty, which were planted with the seeds of
White Pine, Scotch Pine, Norway Spruce and European Larch. Some planting
was also done in rows, in which were used the seeds of Chestnut, Black Walnut,
Red Oak, Pin Oak and Basswood. The soil is a clayey loam, somewhat gravelly.
The land slopes to the northwest, and is partially protected from unfavorable
winds by a belt of woods close by. A northwestern exposure may seem, at first
thought, to be an unfavorable condition, but it has this advantage —that the
plants will not thaw out too quickly after a late frost in the spring.

As most of the reforesting operations conducted by the Commission will be
carried on in the Adirondack Preserve, a site for another and larger nursery was
selected in Franklin County, at Saranac Inn Station. Here there is an open field
of about seven acres, immediately adjoining the State Hatchery at that place,
and sheltered on all sides by a standing forest. The soil is a sandy loam, which,
under proper treatment, is best adapted to the growth of the coniferous species
to be propagated there.

This nursery will have a capacity of 1,000,000 seedlings and transplants, and
in time will furnish the entire stock necessary for the reforesting work of the
Commission in the Adirondacks. Its close proximity to the railroad station will

save considerable expense in the transportation of seedlings, while the employees

32 EIGHTH REPORT OF DHE

at the State Hatchery will at all times furnish protection in case of fire., The
location is an ideal one, and no other place in the Adirondacks can be found that
will so completely satisfy all the requirements. Work was commenced on the
ground this fall, two teams and five men being employed in ploughing and preparing
the soil. Next spring it will be laid out in beds four feet by twenty, in which
will be planted seeds of White Pine and the native Adirondack Spruce, together
with such other species as may be deemed advisable for experimental purposes.

The operation of this nursery will be dependent on a small annual appropriation |
by the Legislature—say $450 or thereabouts. An additional sum may also be
necessary, when it is well started, to provide for a fence and for a small house
in which there should be a sleeping room for the forester in charge, and a loft
where the supply of seeds can be prepared and safely stored. A tool shed will
also form a convenient addition to the building.

The Legislature, at its last session, appropriated the sum of $4,000 for under-
taking reforesting operations and other work incidental thereto. Of this sum
$2,496.22 were expended in the purchase of seedlings and for labor in setting them ~
out on the Lake Clear Plantation, and $706.37 were paid out in establishing the
Catskill Nursery. The latter amount included $92.65, paid to J. M. Thorburn & Co.,
New York City, for seeds. The balance of the appropriation will be available
for the preliminary work at the Saranac Nursery.

Instead of purchasing seed for its nurseries the Commission intends to obtain a
supply from our native forests. Fresh, live seed will thus be secured; and the
foresters, in collecting it, will have a good opportunity to familiarize themselves with
that important branch of silvicultural work. As 1902 was not a seed year for the
White Pine we were unable to collect any this fall, and so will have to purchase
seed of this species for our nursery work next spring. An effort was made to find
seed-cones of the White Pine in the Adirondacks, and Forester Knechtel made a trip
to the Ontario forests for the same purpose, but without success in either locality.

Last season, however, was a seed year for the Adirondack Spruce, and so
Forester Pettis, with the aid of a few laborers, collected a supply of cones which
yielded ten bushels of these tiny seeds. Part of this supply will be used in the beds
of the Saranac Nursery next spring; the rest will be available for some broadcast
sowing on denuded lands, and also for free distribution in small quantities to any
of our citizens who may wish to start small nurseries for forestry purposes, or for
raising spruce-trees direct from the seed without transplanting.

As the details connected with the work of gathering spruce-cones and extract-
ing the seed may be interesting to people who desire information as to the method

employed, I append a report, made by Mr. Pettis, in which it is fully described.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 33

Present Area of the Forest Preserve.

During the past year there has been some increase in the acreage of the Forest
Preserve through acquisitions made by the tax sales of 1900, for which the period
of redemption expired just before January 1, 1902, and also by purchases made
under the last appropriation granted for that purpose. This appropriation was
made in 1900, but, owing to delay in perfecting the titles, several tracts were
not conveyed until after January 1, 1902, and hence they were not included in
our printed land list or in the statement of acreage published in the report sent

to the Legislature one year ago. ‘The acreage as stated at that time was:

ADIRONDACK PRESERVE.*

Counties. Acres.
Clinton coed: COMET ODMR bic eae) mutating To Teng iwi tee 20,105
Hssex Erg mR, tis Sod OMI ef Ee GA ES ES 231,764
evpental kal illest sine enue cass, celebs Sie ale Cay) WR eet sculls 159,633
Fulton Seer SrA al ater Mtn, Oh ace alee Baur 21,426
Lami COMMER Ron) cl etn nrc tta yn: ne gh tr aR Ue a Seay 578,34¢
ERC rks Ciapean ere ces A oro oui ei a eteee yay te OS 146,733
IVC Wil Seer | Se ae OL ay, anit aMcaete neg Pk 4,539
Oneida Mm ere ee Pee RT Gen ee, eben Nir. VRE SPO ks | 6,637
Stee AW REINC Chater sr SAMIDE Ns Rl intial eels) Fe 34,683
Saat OC Peay he he Te hae Sap eae iS 11,588
AV iateicc EE ee ecm Ve eae ety ue aS eRe 2 108, 283
TY Sn SABO ca a ee Rc 2,129

Rotarian. 3. SR Moet ea Glelny So igd ea seed Rare a oie ope ee aR O LECT

CATSKILL PRESERVE.

IW aWa he marie ya esgic ae in Epa eee ana 12,936
Greene Be MU ee OS dn Sect oe fc poo ircny, Saas Olan Sen ir 4,269
SS UMM ee a ce Re ee EN SE tien Son inal haat fie taka 888
Ulster Meer mare eRe tre etn hip ee canna g aba Meee ee oa 64,237
OTE =. a ates ea mR eG FS Ra Se 82,330
SUMMARY.
ENGI OMA Cam eTeSe I5Vel Meare vty 2) Weir ee) arian etm nereretay2icg 8 cor
Catskill Preserve A STH ce Nath Yoon ae La eC Rn ak OR 82,330
Total Forest Preserve Seni Anas a aaah eee Wh MENTS OO. TSH

*To prevent confusion in the use of terms, it is well to remember that the Adirondack Preserve
includes the State lands outside the Adirondack Park as well as the lands within the Park boundaries.

3

34 EIGHTH REPORT OF THE

To the foregoing, the total Forest Preserve, must be added the acreage

acquired in 1902, which is computed to be as follows:

Acres.

Tax sale of stqo0e) =). ie) ics eee ee eT chy,
Purchases, in 19029) 272 scr at-gh ae ie ort eg cere eT STC
28,663

ess, redemptions ¢ 5720 agora ui a eee ee 158
Total. g's 5an ere seiner tiene Nene tags Cir Tees AND OMT XO

Adding the latter amount to the acreage reported one year ago, the total
acreage of the Forest Preserve on January 1, 1903, will be 1,436,686 acres.

Although the time for redemption of non-resident lands from the tax sale of
tg00 expired in December, 1go1, certain other lands, on which there may be a
so-called occupancy, are entitled to a longer period of grace, and may be redeemed
at any time within the six months following the service of the Comptroller’s
notice on the occupants. As the agents of the Comptroller served these notices
last September and October, the title of the State to these parcels cannot be
perfected until April, 1903, or thereabouts, the exact time varying with each lot
according to the date when the agent filed his return, or affidavit of notice, in
the office of the Comptroller at Albany. This leaves the exact acreage of the
Forest Preserve somewhat in doubt just now, as there will still be numerous
redemptions made under this provision of the law, amounting, perhaps, to 2,000
acres or more.

The total acreage just shown does not include the State lands in the towns of
Altona and Dannemora, Clinton County, which are excepted in the law defining
the Forest Preserve. These tracts, which were reserved for the use of the
Dannemora Prison, contain 14,347 acres, and should be included in the Forest
Preserve, even if the amendment making the necessary transfer contains some
proviso that the care and custody of these forests shall remain in the Prison
Department. The lands in the International Park, situated on the St. Lawrence
River, in Jefferson and St. Lawrence Counties, are also omitted in computing
the area of the Forest Preserve, although this property is placed by law under
the care and management of the Forest Commission.

In my report, one year ago, I submitted a tabulation showing the classified
acreage of the Adirondack Park as based on the returns of Foresters Bryant and

Williams, who made a personal examination of all the townships included within

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 35

the park. (See pamphlet containing Seventh Annual Report of the Commission,
January 30, 1902.) But within the past year the lumbermen and _ pulp-wood
operators have cut and removed 501,765,565 feet of Spruce, Pine, Balsain and
Hemlock, four fifths of which or more came from the forests within the ‘‘ Blue
Line,” or park, boundaries. Some of this output was obtained also by a third
cutting on park lands that were previously classified as lumbered. No supple-
mental work was undertaken to determine the area of virgin forest cut over last
year, but it may be safely estimated at 70,000 acres. With the former tabulation
revised, accordingly, we have for the classification at this date the following

statement:

CLASSIFIED ACREAGE OF THE ADIRONDACK PARK.

JANUARY I, 1903.

Private Individuals or

Class. State. preserves. companies. Total.

ORES Pe mummies asa kaw wre 455,415 257,186 375,453 1,088,054
uimibeneday wire yy tena: FO2,O20 BOS tnX WO,SO4 TWAT Ro)
NWVS COMgee ee Oh ae dean gna Pat 10,275 22,483 15,793 48,551
BaEne dian 2 cee ew Bate 14,617 5,301 23,247 43,165
Demucdediay ay tat St ek 15,739 13,555 27,388 56,682
Walldismcacdowsie, ahs) eta 9,961 380 12,188 22,529
kenorowe dimen hy Cease 0 4,642 6,239 90,099 100,980
AVIA C Tete Bniel sir Recs oars Vine 60,135 32,655 32,254 125,044

elo. nL Ohne mm O Ss Oia nae aI ONOMOMmEcayZ 20s 4

The term ‘‘ Lumbered,” as used here, is intended to include lands that are not
covered with virgin forest, and from which the lumbermen have removed the
merchantable Spruce, Balsam, Pine and Hemlock, leaving the hardwood trees,
which, as a general thing throughout the Adirondacks, constitute from sixty to
seventy per cent of the forest. But it was difficult for the foresters to classify
these lands exactly in every case, for on some tracts there was a sparse growth
of small Spruce and Balsam that was available for a second or third cutting of
voung trees suitable for pulp-wood. Hence it is not claimed that the classification,
so far as it relates to lumbered land, is strictly accurate or definite. Much of the
land thus described will still yield from one to three cords of pulp-wood per acre,
while here and there may be found small clumps of large Spruces which were
not cut by the lumbermen because the unfavorable location of these trees made

their removal unprofitable at that time.

36 EIGHTH REPORT OF THE

Prwate Preserves.

In the Adirondack region there are sixty preserves, with an aggregate of 791,208
acres, held as private property by sportsmen’s clubs or individuals. The boundaries
of each preserve are posted at intervals of forty rods, with printed notices warning
people that it is private land on which no trespassing, fishing or hunting will be
permitted, the posting of such notices being required by the law authorizing the
establishment of private parks or preserves. The club or individual is not neces-
sarily the owner of the property; in some instances the land thus occupied and
posted is leased, the exclusive fishing, hunting and camping privilege having been
obtained through some such arrangement with the lumber company or person in
whom the title is vested. Some of these preserves are situated, wholly or partly,
outside the Adirondack park, and hence the acreage just mentioned exceeds that
given in the table showing the classification of lands wzthzn the park.

Throughout all the private preserves the land is well wooded, and each contains
some lake, pond or fishing stream. The forest, on some of these holdings, is a
primeval one — untouched by axe or fire. On several of the larger preserves the
owners are conducting lumbering operations; but as the cutting is done under a
conservative and intelligent management, and is restricted to softwood species
of medium diameter, a large revenue is derived from the property without
impairing its capacity for future production. Then again there are clubs which
own large tracts that have been lumbered, but as the logging was done fifteen
years ago, or more, at a time when the lumbermen took the large timber of one
species only, these forests retain much of their primitive condition.

The private preserves in the Adirondacks, with a slight exception, have been
established within the last sixteen years— most of them within eleven years — and
the comparatively sudden exclusion of the public from its old camping-grounds
has provoked a bitter hostility on the part of the hunters, fishermen and guides who
formerly ranged over this territory. The sportsman who returns to some favorite
haunt only to find himself confronted with the words, ‘‘ No Thoroughfare,” turns
back with a resentful feeling, while the guides, who were wont to conduct their
patrons wherever game was plentiful, view with threatening looks the hired game-
keepers that guard the forbidden lands.

On the other hand, the owners of the preserves point to the protection of the
forests, fish and game afforded by them, and to the large number of guides and
woodsmen to whom they furnish constant and lucrative employment. In 1899,
the dry season in which forest fires were raging in the Adirondacks to an unusual

extent, it was noticed that there were no fires on the private preserves, aside

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. By

from incipient ones that were extinguished before any serious danger was incurred.
This was due to the large number of forest patrols employed by the owners of
these tracts.

It is not necessary that the State should purchase these private holdings in
order that the tree growth may be protected, for the owners can be relied upon
to preserve the forest conditions that are so essential to the enjoyment of their
property. The acquisition of these high-priced lands may be safely deferred until
the rest of the Adirondack Park has been purchased. But the tenure of title to
these private preserves is not permanent like that of the State Preserve; these
properties change hands frequently; public sentiment is always gratified when any
of this territory is opened to the people, and so it would be well if the State
kept a fund on hand, available at all times, for the purchase of such tracts
whenever any portion is thrown upon the market.

The ownership and acreage of the various preserves are as follows:

ADIRONDACK PRIVATE PRESERVES.

Acres,
ADIRONDACK CLuB.— McIntyre Iron Company, owner. Townships 45, 46

and 47, gores east and west of Township 47, and part of Township 27,
Totten and Crossfield Purchase, in the western part of Essex County.
Includes the larger portion of Mounts Marcy, Colden and McIntyre, and
all of Mounts Santanoni, Henderson, Redfield, Allen and Adams, with
Lakes Sanford, Henderson, Colden, Avalanche and Harkness . . . 59,300

ADIRONDACK LEAGUE CLUB.— Hon. Warren Higley, President. ‘Townships
I, 2, 6 and part of 7, Moose River Tract, in the counties of Hamilton
and Herkimer. Embraces twenty lakes and ponds, including Honnedaga,
ilies Wilooss aiaxsl MiWforoclloybillll Wakes Be se es en et ae

ApIRONDACK Mountain Reserve.— William G. Neilson, President. Town-
ship 48, Totten and Crossfield Purchase, in the central part of Essex
County, part of the Roaring Brook Tract and Lot 68 of Townships 1
and 2, Old Military Tract. The boundary lines cross the summits cf
Mounts Marcy and Dix. The high mountains known as Noon Mark,
The Gothics and Haystack are within its boundaries, as are also the

two Ausable Lakes SET Al tne ir) cee ee ERAT raEs oF yw) Le aria <2 CHO: S

ADIRONDACK ForEestry ASSOCIATION. Gen. Hazard Stevens, Oscar B.

Ireland and George E. Terry, Trustees. Part of Township 22, Totten
and Crossfield Purchase, in the northern part of Hamilton County. Is

Neamevones Wake manpartotuthe landeadjominestheysame: se.) tu) 4,358

38 EIGHTH REPORT OF THE

A.tTamontT Cius.— Union Bag and Paper Company, owner. Northern part
of Township 8, Moose River Tract, in the western part of Hamilton
County. Contains the Middle and West Canada and some other lakes.
Altitude 2,348 feet above tide

AMPERSAND PRESERVE.—Santa Clara Lumber Company, owner. Part of
Township 27, Great Tract 1, Macomb’s Purchase, Franklin County.
Mount Seward, with several lakes and ponds, are on this property .

AnTHONY Ponps.— Harper Brothers, owners. Part of Township 22, Totten
and Crossfield Purchase, in the Northern part of Hamilton County

Boa Lake Camp.—Charles A. Tatum and Edmund C. Converse, owners.
Part of Township 37, Totten and Crossfield Purchase, in the northern
part of Hamilton County. Contains Bog Lake and Clear Pond

BRANDRETH ParK.— Franklin Brandreth, Ralph Brandreth and Gen. E. A.
McAlpin, owners. ‘Township 39 and part of 42, Totten and Crossfield
Purchase, in northern parts of the counties of Hamilton and Herkimer.
Contains the headwaters of Raquette, Beaver and Moose Rivers, Bran-
dreth Lake and several smaller lakes or ponds

Camp ArsputTus.— Archer M. Huntington, owner. Parts of Townships 27
and 28, Totten and Crossfield Purchase, in the western part of Essex
County. Lake Arbutus (Ockerman Pond) is on this preserve

CHILDWOLD Park.— Henry G. Dorr et al., owners. Part of Township 6,
Great Tract 2, Macomb’s Purchase, in the southeastern part of St.
Lawrence County. Includes Lake Massawepie

CauGHNAWAGA CLuB.— William H. Clark, President. Part of Township 28,
Totten and Crossfield Purchase, in the counties of Essex and Hamilton.
Includes Catlin Lake

CuTtTinc PRESERVE.— Frank A. Cutting, owner. Part of Township 12,
Great Tract 2, Macomb’s Purchase, in the eastern part of St. Lawrence
County

De Bar Mountain Parx.— William Rockefeller, owner. Parts of Town-
ships 12 and 15, Great Tract 1, Macomb’s Purchase, in the central part
of Franklin County. Contains De Bar Mountain and De Bar Pond
(see also Everton Park and Rockefeller Preserve)

Deer Lick Raprips Cius.— Part of Township 4, Great Tract 2, Macomb’s
Purchase, in the central part of St. Lawrence County. Contains Spruce

Pond and other waters

Acres.

4,595

32,407

,OOU

5,018

27,298

1,699

13,090

8,838

eo,

11,675

Mp9 22

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

EVERTON Park.— William Rockefeller et al., owners. Parts of Townships
1zr and 12, Great Tract 1, Macomb’s Purchase, in the central part of
Franklin County. Stacey Mountain is on this tract (see also De Bar

Mountain Park and Rockefeller Preserve)

-FENTON GAME PRESERVE ASSOCIATION.— Leased land. Charles Fenton,
Secretary. Parts of Townships 3, 4 and 5, John Brown’s Tract, in the
counties of Herkimer and Lewis. Contains Beaver, Francis and several

other lakes or small ponds

FoLLeNspy PonD PRESERVE.— Titus B. and Ferris J. Meigs, owners. Parts
of Townships 25 and 26, Great Tract 1, Macomb’s Purchase, in the

southern part of Franklin County. Contains Follensby Pond

Forest Park AND Lanp Company.— William W. Durant, President. Part
of Township 34, Totten and Crossfield Purchase, in the central part of
Hamilton County. Contains Utowana and Eagle Lakes, and adjoins

Blue Mountain Lake

““G” Lake PRESERVE.—E. Z. Wright and John D. Collins, owners. Part
of Oxbow Tract, in the southern part of Hamilton County. Includes
“Ge LAS

GRANSHUE CLuB.—Charles R. Holmes, President. Part of Township 7,
Great Tract 2, Macomb’s Purchase, in the central part of St. Lawrence
County. Contains Long Pond

GrassE RIVER OutTiIne CLus.— Charles E. Brown, President. Part of Town-
ship 5, Great Tract 2, Macomb’s Purchase, in the southern part of
St. Lawrence County

Hamitton Parx.— Hon. William C. Whitney, owner. ‘Townships 23, 36,
north half of 35, parts of Township 21 and of the triangle east of
Township 23, Totten and Crossfield Purchase, in the northern part
of Hamilton County. Contains Little Tupper, Round, Big Salmon
Lakes and many other smaller lakes and ponds

HamiLTon Lake PRESERVE.— John A. Starin, owner. Part of Township 1,
Totten and Crossfield Purchase, in the central part of Hamilton
County

Hotiywoop Crius.—Dr. C. C. French, President. Part of Township 7,
Great Tract 2, Macomb’s Purchase, in the central part of St. Lawrence

County. Contains Clear Pond

Acres,

20,000

60,000

4,855

4,838

480

8,752

5,520

71,281

3,202

2,360

40 EIGHTH REPORT OF THE

HorsesHoE Forestry Company.— Augustus A. Low, President. Parts of
Townships 2 and 3, Great Tract 2, Macomb’s Purchase, in the southern
part of St. Lawrence County. Contains Horseshoe Lake, Lake Marian
and many other lakes and ponds. The Bog River flows through this

preserve

INLET CLUB PRESERVE.— Part of Township 9, Great Tract 2, Macomb’s
Purchase, in the eastern part of St. Lawrence County. Contains

Whitney Pond and other waters

Kame Kitt Kare.—Hon. Timothy L. Woodruff, owner. Parts of Town-
ships 5 and 6, Totten and Crossfield Purchase, in the central part of

Hamilton County. Contains Lake Kora, formerly Sumner Lake

KILDARE CLus.— Ehrich Brothers, owners. Part of Township 9, Great
Tract 2, Macomb’s Purchase, in the eastern part of St. Wawrence

County. Contains Amber and Jordan Lakes

KNoLLwoop Crius.— Louis Marshall et al., directors. Part of Township 21,
Great Tract 1, Macomb’s Purchase, in the southern part of Franklin

County, on the northern shore of Lower Saranac Lake

Laxe Priacip Cius.— Melvil Dewey et al., owners. Lands in town of
North Elba, about Lake Placid and Mirror Lake

Lake Reserves.— Dr. William Seward Webb, owner. Part of Township 8,
John Brown’s Tract, in the eastern part of Herkimer County. Lands
about Big Moose and the Fulton Chain of Lakes (see also Nehasane
Park)

LITCHFIELD Park.— Edward H. Litchfield; owner. Part of Township 25,
Great Tract 1, Macomb’s Purchase, in the southern part of Franklin
County. Contains Lake Madeline (formerly Jenkins Pond) and several

other bodies of water

Lone LakE PRESERVE — Raquette Falls Land Company, owner. Part of
Township 22, Totten and Crossfield Purchase, in the northern part

of Hamilton County

Luoyp TrRianGLe.— Theodore Page et al., owners. Triangle in northwest
corner of Township 41, Totten and Crossfield Purchase, comprising that
portion of the township which is situated in Herkimer County. Con-

tains Russian Lake and Merriam and Gull Ponds

Acres,

27,431

6,700

1,030

450

2,148:

8,470

12,427

2,200

3,600

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

Massawepig Cirus.— Hon. A. P. Hepburn, owner. Part of Township 4,
Great Tract 2, Macomb’s Purchase, in the southern part of St. Lawrence

County. Contains Brother Ponds and other waters

Mat-a-Mex PRESERVE.— Hon. Ashbel P. Fitch, owner. Parts of Town-
ships 8 and 9, Old Military Tract, in the eastern part of Franklin

County. Contains a part of Ragged Lake

Meacuam Lake Preserve.— Part of Township 15, Great Tract 1, Macomb’s
Purchase, in the central part of Franklin County. Contains East

Mountain, Meacham Lake and several ponds

Mouecan Lake Camp.—J. Pierpont Morgan, owner. Part of Township 5,
Totten and Crossfield Purchase, in the central part of Hamilton County.

Contains Mohegan Lake

Moose Ponp PRrRESERVE.— Hon. George R. Finch, owner. Part of Town-
ship 26, Totten and Crossfield Purchase, in the southwestern part of
Essex County. Contains Moose Pond and several other bodies of

water

MorEHOUSE LAKE CLuB.— W. W. Mosher, President. Part of Arthurboro
Patent, in the southwestern part of Hamilton County. Contains

Morehouse Lake

NeEHASANE Parx.— Dr. William Seward Webb, President. Parts of Town-
ships 37, 38, 42 and 43, Totten and Crossfield Purchase, in the
northern parts of Hamilton and Herkimer counties. Contains Lake
Lila, Nehasane Lake and several other bodies of water, large and

small

NortuH Woops Cius.—James Yalden, Secretary. Part of Township 16,
Totten and Crossfield Purchase, in the southwestern part of Essex

County. Mink Lake and several ponds are on this property

PauL SMmITH’s PRESERVE.— Paul Smith’s Hotel Company, owner. Parts of
Townships 18 and 21, Great Tract 1, Macomb’s Purchase, in the
southern part of Franklin County. Contains the St. Regis Lakes,

Osgood Pond and other bodies of water

Ping Lake Cuius.— Watson T. Dunmore, President. Part of Arthurboro
Patent, in the southwestern part of Hamilton County. Contains Pine

and Snowshoe Lakes

4l

Acres,

1,720

1,854

5,580

Les

800

1,500

42,848

4,583

18,484

987

42 BRIGHTH REPORT OF THE

PLEASANT LAKE CLuB.— Thomas H. Wagstaff, President. Part of Glen,
Bleecker and Lansing Patent, in the northwestern part of Fulton

County. Contains Pleasant Lake

PLEASANT LAKE PRESERVE.— Part of Township 7, Great Tract 2, Macomb’s
Purchase, in the central part of St. Lawrence County. Contains

Pleasant Lake and Blue Mountain .

PuTNaM PRESERVE.— Dr. Charles P. Putnam, owner. Parts of Roaring
Brook and North River Head Tracts, in the central part of Essex
County. Contains Twin Ponds and several other small bodies of
water

READ AND STRONG ParxK.— Part of Township 25, Great Tract 1, Macomb’s
Purchase, in the southern part of Franklin County. Contains Mount

Morris and Little Simon and McBride Ponds

ROCKEFELLER PRESERVE.— William G. Rockefeller, owner. Townships 16
and 17.) Great Lract 1) Macombis; Purchasesiny they central partmor
Franklin County. Contains Follensby Junior, Wolf and McDonald
Ponds and several other bodies of water (see also De Bar Mountain
and Everton Parks)

SABATTIS Park.—Charles R. Christy, owner. Part of Township 37, Totten
and Crossfield Purchase, in the northern part of Hamilton County.

Contains Bear Pond and some other small bodies of water

SAGAMORE Park.— Alfred G. Vanderbilt, owner. Part of Township 6,
Totten and Crossfield Purchase, in the central part of Hamilton

County. Contains Lake Sagamore (formerly Shedd Lake)

SANTANONI ParK.— Hon. Robert C. Pruyn, owner. Part of Townships 27
and 28, Totten and Crossfield Purchase, in the western part of Essex
County. Contains Newcomb Lake and several ponds .

Saranac Cius.— Jonathan J. Broome, President. Part of Township 23,
Great Tract 1, Macomb’s Purchase, in the southern part of Franklin
County, on the old Bartlett Carry, between the Upper and Middle
Saranac Lakes

STILLWATER CLUB PRESERVE.— J. H. Rushton, Secretary. Part of Town-
ship 6, Great Tract 3, Macomb’s. Purchase, in the central part of
St. Lawrence County. Contains Cranberry Pond and many other

bodies of water

Acres.

1,000

8,750

75375

92,335

1,633

153°

I1I,205

20,000

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 43
Acres.
Upper Saranac AssociaTion.— Dr. Samuel B. Ward, President. Part of
Township 20, Great Tract 1, Macomb’s Purchase, in the southern part

of Franklin County, at the north end of Upper Saranac Lake. . . 2,751

Vitas PRESERVE.— E. A. Carpenter, owner. Parts of Townships 9g and 12,
Great Tract 2, Macomb’s Purchase, in the eastern part of St. Lawrence

COUR cee aliens 0 Ce Negi Millan red Nee Jorn ty at PERO mE

WILDERNESS ParK.— W.S. De Camp, owner. Parts of Townships 1 and 7,
John Brown’s Tract, in Hamilton and Lewis Counties. Contains Nick’s,

BlackiootandsGibbsmUuakesmand several sponds sem een i ee ee a) 20,507,

Wizmurt Crius.—Hon. Titus Sheard, President. Part of Arthurboro
Patent, in the southwestern part of Hamilton County. Contains
IVolannrs tele acer mia tenied toe, thew tac) tates Stance ae Ngee achat Sk Risin ye 1,655

ZACK LAKE PRESERVE.— Raquette Falls Land Company, owner. Part of
Township 27, Totten and Crossfield Purchase, in the western part

Ol Wesex Coumuy, ~ZXes IAG IS Om WAS OMENS “5 G55 ce Ha os D725

MO talaCke aCe Oa Met nome Certs oo Wangs KC fou nlh shocnctl nn may Mae ne OT ZOO

The total area of the private preserves as given here is much less than that
shown in the lst published by the Forest Commission in its annual report for
1893. This decrease is due to large sales made to the State and to lumber
companies. Since 1896 the State has purchased 75,000 acres from the Nehasane
Park Association; 35,932 acres from the Adirondack League Club, and 30,000
acres from the owners of the Santa Clara Preserve.

In addition to the preserves mentioned in the foregoing list, there is a large
amount of forest property in the Adirondacks composed of small holdings — from
five acres to one hundred acres each — on which cottages, or ‘‘camps,”’ as they are
called, have been erected. These summer residences, with their pretty boathouses
and other buildings, are often located at sightly points on the lakes — particularly
the Raquette, Saranacs and St. Regis where they form a never failing source of
interest to the tourist, as they represent large expenditures of money and are
models of good taste combined with solid comfort. They furnish employment
at high wages for a large number of people — ‘’ house guides,” servants and men
on private launches—and contribute in various other ways to the prosperity of
the region. Together with the ‘‘camps”’ on the larger private preserves, there are

at present 419 of these summer residences in the Adirondacks, costing from

4A EIGHTH REPORT OF THE

$5,000 to $100,000 each, in which the investment for buildings, exclusive of land,
amounts in the aggregate to $3,846,500.

If there are any to whom these figures may appear unduly large, their attention
is respectfully called to the beautiful and costly summer homes, near Raquette
Lake, owned by Mr. J. P. Morgan, Mr. A. G. Vanderbilt, Hon. T. L. Woodruff and
the late Mr. Collis P. Huntington; to the forest villas on the St. Regis Lakes
of Hon. Whitelaw Reid, Mr. F. W. Vanderbilt and Mr. H. McK. Twombly;

oe

to the expensive and tasteful ‘‘camps” on Upper Saranac Lake belonging to
Hon. L. P. Morton, Mr. Isaac Seligman, the Messrs. Swenson, Mr. Julius S. Bache,
Dr. lL. E:. Holt and Mr; D. HB. Kahn; to the buildings of the Knollwood Climb on
Lower Saranac; the numerous fine cottages of the Adirondack League Club
on Little Moose, Honnedaga and the Bisby Lakes; the houses of the Saranac
Club on the Bartlett Carry; the large number of beautiful cottages at Lake
Placid and Keene Valley, and the extensive buildings on the private preserves
of Hon. Robert C. Pruyn, Dr. W. Seward Webb, Mr. William Rockefeller,

Gen. E. A. McAlpin and Mr. A. A. Low.

Adirondack Sammer Basiness.

The business done each season by the hotels and boarding-houses in the
Adirondacks contributes largely to the development and prosperity of Northern
New York, fairly approaching in its magnitude that of the great industries which
are dependent on the forest product of that region. In the management of this
business employment is furnished to thousands of people, trade is stimulated by
the large purchases of supplies, building operations increase the demand for skilled
labor, while the railroad and steamboat lines reap the benefits accruing from the
large passenger and freight traffic. Of more importance, however, far greater in
its humane aspect than mere commercial advantages, are the sanitary benefits
afforded by the Adirondack forests to the thousands who there find relief from
disease and enjoy a new lease of life. The healthful climate is due largely to the
pure air, which, carried by mountain winds over great forest areas, is freed from
dust, smoke and miasmatic influences, while in its course it is charged with balsamic
exhalations that carry healing to the lungs of invalids.

The statistics published in the annual reports of the Adirondack Cottage
Sanitarium show a remarkable percentage of cures effected in patients suffering
from incipient consumption; and a large proportion of the population in some of
the Adirondack villages is composed of people who enjoy comparatively good health
in that climate, although they could not live long elsewhere. Of this class many

find employment in various vocations, while others, whose incomes will permit,

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 45

maintain a permanent residence there without engaging in any business or
occupation.

I submit herewith a carefully prepared table showing the capacity of the hotels
and boarding-houses in the various localities throughout the Adirondack region,
compiled from their advertisements, in which each proprietor states the number
of people that can be accommodated, this advertised capacity being cut down in
many instances to better suit the facts in the case. It does not include the

occupants of private camps and sanitariums:
ADVERTISED CAPACITY OF ADIRONDACK HOTELS AND
BOARDING-HOUSES.
COMIPALILIZID) BW ILOCAILIINNTS,

CLINTON CouNTY.

BS Titi © tate eae teas cecabey el aen mieha coe Minnie a PRIR. Riec isnt | aebo 40
Clhravwsaimeny Lake (Uix0E) 5 oe ale (a 6 ee Hee 385
@ialzynel atcCW anes cay va CW utes Boden eal ees een aney a Uiateely cee ales Gl 85
Clliité Inlenvem, (Clravayoleyia Jgsernlolhy) 5 5) 6 6 eo oe 875
ISt@eelh (Claigienyeylenbay Sees a Meaietnt: uments CRG Cond beh NE ee om 525
INGOT Clipe pare tirte cto ce ene eis Mean eal amie ie on hse Ras 223
SSI Crete alle he pamemercers ne liact ANea pale omen tye Seats get Se 20

Total Reeth DEN RS cee ee Trey) Maes ye MESA NSN MN AG ONS

Essex Counry.

JNIIGUSTAN, “SABIE I Aa oth ces a en eM Gaal te ae eS 50
JENS ONS LNG AES it te Cag es Ul RR ci Mn A ke ces a 233
I omits Clal CR ea ay come) tears on elcehea RVR cae tca as aru By here 299
TBC MRTG OSE erg. te yin ee uel wie: uN mene a ceamite ee Y 20
ORCAS HHNViC Tha beaan mene ony ees ta a AO Us Cale mna ected cg ay oa aah 24
CaAascadeealceser ey wyke ct) hep cm aN oten) BU REG Runes aie Sea 85
Shri Sonim alweye hers oi ee Ul Nii oh eit ipa len mente meee aE Art 55
Crown Point De aeNice ete SS Mica. BS ole ae me ie mar ree at, & 237
IZ AD CUM C OWN meet ate yee 827, enn. ciekce! Wea ee sceshr oe att: 686
Elk Lake Mea pen ac Se aa Maks (age mie eae ak ef CoE a 30
SS Care Meee Meee Mee rah ia TY ohne meena ey eee aft WS 102
AN ene he False lat Ring Sate k IN oS San ae RM mang Re Hae gases T9I
IMC EME MO ONIGGOAM ss * attra! Liar Peay ic etna Oe I pe em nec 65
Ieee mem Elerodatsy tsa ty) Mastin < aire (col inn ume pn eM CR Roun coer 315
eee male my Veal iy: en be eas cern at apie an ede Mee RATS au tae 525

IGS SS wall le hey ere cy ti cert si eee hci eee onan ie tay MLMINT oN bene Rice her NS Ea By

46

EIGHTH REPORT OF THE

Essex County — (Concluded).
Lake Placid .
Lewis . .
Loch Muller .
Minerva
Newcomb
New Russia .
North Elba
North Hudson
Olmstedville .
Paradox Lake
Port Douglas
Rontilenny,
Port Kent
Pyramid Lake
Ray Brook
Schroon Lake

(See also Schroon Lake, Warren County. )

Schroon River
South Schroon
Underwood
Wadham’s Mills.
Westport .
Willsboro .

Wilmington .

Total

FRANKLIN COUNTY.
Axton . SURUOT even ta pede lire
Chateaugay Lake (Lower)
Duane.
Gabriels
Goldsmith's
Harriettstown
Lake Clear
Loon Lake
McCollom’s
Meacham Lake .
Mountain View .
Onchiota .
Paul Smith’s

2,259
54
45
65
55
68

170
70
34
35
65

Igl
41
95
45

555

15
65
95
48
28
70
185
385
45
85
95
35
475

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

FRANKLIN County — (Concluded).
Rainbow Lake
Raquette River
St. Regis Falls .
Saranac Lake (Upper)
Saranac Lake (Middle)
Saranac Lake (Lower)
Saranac Lake (Village)
Spring Cove .
Tupper Lake :
Tupper Lake (Junction)
Vermontville

avojealll

Fuiton Counry.

Canada Lakes
Caroga Lakes
Northville
Stratford .

Total

HamiILtTon Country.

Blue Mountain Lake

Cedar River . a
Chain Lakes (Township 18)
Fulton Chain (Fourth Lake)

Fulton Chain (Seventh Lake) Side AN ce ete
(See also Fulton Chain, Herkimer County.)

Hope :

Indian Lake . :
Indian Lake (Village)
Lake Pleasant

Long Lake
Long Lake (West) .
Morehouseville

Piseco Lake .
Raquette Lake .
Wells .

Total

120
35
40

589
85

Se

1,138
65

188

72
18

4,626

245
55
res)
35

410

625
40
35

295
65

460

47

48

EIGHTH REPORT OF THE

HERKIMER. COUNTY.
Beaver River
Big Moose
Bisby Lakes .
Clearwater
Fulton Chain

(See also Fulton Chain, Hamilton County.)

Fulton Chain Station .
Honnedaga Lake

Little Moose Lake .
McKeever ,

Moose River Chain
Moose River (North Branch)
Nobleboro

Northwood

Old Forge

Otter Lake

Twitchell Lake .

Wilmurt

Total

Lewis Country.
Brantingham Lake.
Croghan
Harrisville
Lake Bonaparte :
Number Four (Fenton’s) .
Oswegatchie River .

Aeozall

ONEIDA County.
Otter Lake
Trenton Falls
White Lake .

Total

St- LAWRENCE CouNTY.
Benson Mines
Childwold
Cranberry Lake
Gale’s .
Hollywood
Kildare

80
355
85

2

oO

886

45
IIo

205

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

St. Lawrence County — (Concluded).
Newton Falls
Piercefield
Sevey .
Star Lake

Total

WARREN Country,

Brant Lake
Chestertown .
Friends Lake
Horicon
Johnsburgh
Loon Lake
Luzerne (Hadley)
North Creek
North River
Pottersville
Riverside .
Schroon Lake

(See also Schroon Lake, Essex County.)
Stony Creek .
Thirteenth Lake
Thurman.
Warrensburgh

Total

Lake George

SUMMARY.

Clinton County .
Essex County
Franklin County
Fulton County
Hamilton County
Herkimer County
Lewis County
Oneida County .
St. Lawrence County .
Warren County .
Lake George

Total

4

OR

220

49

50 INEAsMhise WIGAN Oia Wiews,

In August the hotels and boarding-houses, with few exceptions, are filled to
their utmost capacity, and the total just given (27,502) indicates closely the
number of guests in the Adirondacks at that time. With these figures must also
be kept in mind the equally large capacity of the private ‘‘camps”’ and cottages,
each occupied during the season by some family and its guests. But the summer
boarders are coming and going from June to September, staying, on an average,
about two weeks each. In the White Mountains an exhaustive census of the
summer people and the hotel business shows that sixty-two per cent of the arrivals
remained less than one week.* A careful estimate of the total number of summer
visitors from the beginning to the end of the season, as reported by the Adirondack

3

hotels and boarding-houses, to which are added the occupants of private ‘‘camps,”
shows that 193,681 people went there last season for recreation and health. This
aiso includes the sportsmen who went there in May for the fishing, and in October
or November for deer shooting.

That this number is not an overstatement is evident from the information
kindly furnished this office by the general passenger agents of the New York
Central and the Delaware and Hudson Railroads, from which it appears that
225,000 passengers were carried on the Adirondack divisions during the summer
season. These figures do not represent the entire passenger traffic during that
period, but the difference obtained by deducting from the total summer traffic
an amount equal to that of the winter months, the difference evidently showing
the number of summer boarders, hotel employees and sportsmen on their way to
and from the woods.

The following statistics are based on the returns made to this office by each

hotel and boarding-house in the Adirondack region:

VOLUME OF ADIRONDACK BUSINESS.

Capital invested in buildings, furniture, boats, horses, carriages, etc., of

wncluding land :

lotels andisboanrdineahouSsesy em laamern ey ae eb OCy MORE
Brivateyescampsims anGdecottaces tem mewn: Wc t) (jl eal 3,846,500

Total Se tea aWice (eesti iS anaes | eater! eens PROMOS MMS

’

*<«The Summer Season in New Hampshire.’’ Special Report by the State Bureau of Labor.
L. H. Carroll, Commissioner, Manchester, N. H. Public Printer, 1900.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 51

Number of male help employed (clerks, porters,

cooks, bell-boys, musicians, boatmen, stable-

ier, ‘GChenieres, Meo Ore, WHO) 4 gs 6 a 3,461
Number of female help employed (waitresses,

chambermaids, cooks, laundresses, musicians,

telegraph operators, typewriters, etc.) . . . 9,846
aoe 13,397
Ro talmwalceSepalGs ites. ct e re SN Ne ert oe kl, OE ce. $993,530
CASA RECSAVEC! itor InoeieGl, CevEriaGIeS, IDOLS, GUE, = 6 6 os BR kau 210
Cash received for railroad and steamboat fares . . . 875,000
Total number of hotel guests, boarders, fishermen, hunters

and occupants of private ‘‘camps” or cottages ao 8 193,681

It is not claimed that the foregoing figures are absolutely correct, as the
statements made by some of the hotel proprietors and boarding-house keepers, in
filling out their returns, were at times somewhat confused and indefinite; but they
will give a fair idea of the stream of wealth that flows into Northern New York
each summer, conducing so materially to the development and prosperity of the
State. It is also well to note that a good share of the patronage comes from
people who reside in other States, and that the profits derived from their
business furnish a revenue that is especially valuable in that respect. Hence the
continuance of this business, with all its accruing benefits, is dependent on the
preservation of the Adirondack forests.

The average wages received by the employees, and the average amount paid
by guests, may seem too small unless one keeps in mind the short season, during
which it is necessary for the Adirondack hotels to employ their help, and the
short stay of a very large proportion of the summer boarders. In connection
with the preparation of these statistics the following letters, containing interesting

and valuable information, were received:

Tue DELAWARE AND Hupson Company.
OFFICE OF THE GENERAL PASSENGER AGENT.
ALBANY, N. Y., December 24, 1902.
Cov. Witi1am F. Fox, Superintendent State Forests, Albany:

Dear Sir.—A careful examination of our passenger traffic statistics, made
with reference to ascertaining, as nearly as possible, the number of passengers
carried and the revenue derived from strictly pleasure and recreation travel to
the Adirondack region (in which are included Lake George and Lake Champlain)

52 BIGHVE REP OR OH ELE

during the season of t1g02, discloses that this traffic approximates closely to
175,000 passengers and $475,000 passenger revenues to the company. We estimate
that about sixty per cent of this traffic originates in other States. These
estimates do not include the freight and express companies’ earnings.

It is apparent to those who have kept in touch with the remarkable development
of the health and pleasure resort region of Northern New York during the past
ten years that the State has in that country an asset of almost incalculable
value to its citizens in its power to attract revenues to its farmers, its merchants
and its hotel and transportation interests. As one who, in connection with his
avocation, has made a life study of the best means of developing health and
pleasure travel resorts, I would suggest that the best investment the State could
make in this direction would be the construction of a model system of highways
through its Adirondack domain, affording means of easy communication between
points of interest to the tourist somewhat after the policy adopted in Switzerland,
in the Austrian Tyrol, in the mountainous tourist region of Norway and through
the White Mountains of New Hampshire. If this were done, it would result in
a great increase of travel, not only from other States, but from Europe as well,
and I believe that the roads could be properly maintained by tolls without
further expense to the State than their initial cost.

Very respectfully yours,
J. W. Burovicx,
General Passenger Agent.

New York CENTRAL AND Hupson RIVER RaILRoAD Company,
GrorGE H. DANIELS, GENERAL PASSENGER AGENT,
GRAND CENTRAL STATION.
New York, December 23, 1902.
Subject: New York State Summer Resort business.
Cot. Witiiam F. Fox, Superintendent State Forests, Albany:

Dear Srr.—Mr. Burdick wrote me recently in reference to your call upon
him for information which you desired to embody in your annual report, covering
the value of summer and pleasure travel to the Northern New York resorts.

Our auditor has made an examination of our reports and approximates the
following figures, covering business for three months of the summer :

Passengers. Pee
Naiinomdackese CtlOnwras a mnCnnE tin ie iene ter 100,000 $400,000
Mnousandalisland section ass a. ieee 50,000 160,000
Niagara Falls Sei hs EROS CB Ss a ace coe 160,000 170,000

Catsiailll Mountains ess 4 marae er eee 85,000 155,000

Total es cedar sie 2 ai eos): 0s. Pee age me 395,000 $885,000

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 53

This information, of course, can only be given approximately; but this will
afford an opportunity for the people to get some idea of the development of the
Adirondacks and other resorts, and what it means to the transportation and hotel
interests in the State at large. A large amount of this business comes from
outside the State.

The aggregate number of tourists carried by all lines, and the amount of
money spent by them for railroad fares, hotel and boarding accommodations and
incidental expenses, amounts to large revenues to the transportation lines and
residents of the State. It is worthy to be recognized as a business, and its possi-
bilities of development should command attention.

I shall be glad to give any further information desired in connection with this
question, and shall be pleased to receive a copy of your report after it is printed.

Very truly yours,
GrEorGE H. DANIELS,
General Passenger Agent.

The large amount of summer business done in the Catskill region, as indicated
by the figures in Mr. Daniels’s letter, is also worthy of consideration in discussing
the great advantages accruing to our State from its forest districts, but through
lack of time I was unable to include in this report any details relating to the

hotels and boarding-houses in that region.

Forest Prodact for 1901.

As customary in the annual report, I include here a statement showing the
amount of timber cut for various purposes in the Adirondack and Catskill forests
during the year 1901. Considerable time is required for collecting the returns
from the different lumber and pulp mills, and as such returns cannot well be
made until the year has expired, the publication of these statistics is necessarily
delayed until the next annual report of the Commission.

The figures for the year 1901, as compiled from the reports made to this office
by the various lumber, wood-pulp, cooperage and wood-acid operators, show a
slight increase in the amount of timber cutting in the Great Forest of Northern
New York when compared with those of the preceding year, but as compared
with 1898 the output is nearly the same. While the total production has not
varied much of late years, there has been a continuous increase in the amount of
Spruce used for pulp-wood. The returns also show an increase in the cutting of
hardwoods throughout the Adirondacks, due, in part, to the recent erection
of cooperage and wood alcohol plants.

The amount of Spruce cut for pulp-wood, as stated here, contains considerable

Balsam and some Poplar; but as the Balsam is mixed with the Spruce in the log

54 EIGHTH REPORT OF THE

drives and shipments by rail it would be very inconvenient for

the operators to

determine the amount of each, and hence no distinction was made in their

returns. The amount of Spruce reported by the sawmills also contained some

Balsam, but the proportion of the latter, cut into lumber, is much less than that

used by the pulp-mills.

OULPUG OF FADE ONDIAC KE ORG SACS:

1gol,

Ft. B. M.

Spruce, (Gawamillls) 5 eames snr eyelet) een eemTCerTORo RT
SMCS ((gulfosamlls) eS 45 se ok AQT MRR, TAG
Plemlock Way en 5) ce eantemen att vie ike eat aera O MOCO MES
Mid ebqueyy cibel ee ene acd cee Gan ela rig ia AULOne oir
diarcdwoodsy (SawanillS) as ee ene: anne anal OFAC IL
Hardwoods (cooperage, chemicals, etc.) . 6,036,804

MBotals. ili epee hi 0 GRR Beihate ahaa pte Ne eases cae M UROL ROS
Shingles ivy! otegsy eae y aswel ge Se etal Mie Citar. Ue NIRS ZO ONO
Tea ye Me eC Si og ngsh vai eth ee Me aIMO MNP IE cathy ct heat TORI OOO

OUTPUROR CATSKIEE FORESTS:
Goes Ft. B. M.

Spruce Seats 2,578,000
Frem locks 5. seh eg, ea aie eee (eee re Ta 0o A ROMO OK OTS
White Pine . 9,185,346
Hardwoods. . Ree oe ae hee ore EN ENE cE VALte)
AWN@oGl tigie Cacmmcals (OG ,uPeA Com) 5. 6 Ss 6 6 o $2,222,076
Wood for excelsior (3,800 cords) . 2,086,200
Wood for furniture (1,510 cords) . 828,990
Wood for pulp (3,800 cords) 2,086,200

AO tal wr numa. ict CoRR ins eo a Mite rans eaeeT CMMI NO V2Y2
Shingles 399203 7/52
ath. 4,867,800

The hardwoods used in the Catskill sawmills consist mostly
Oak —species which do not grow on the Adirondack plateau.
output of the latter region is composed of Yellow Birch, Beech

a small amount of Basswood, Cherry and Elm.

of Chestnut and
The hardwood
and Maple, with

Some of the furniture factories in the Catskills made their returns in feet

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 55

(board measure) and some in cords. When the amount was expressed in feet it
was tabulated with the sawed lumber, but if in cords it was nlaced with the
items of that class.

The total output of the Adirondack and Catskill forests is:

Ft. B. M.
NGITONGACKS Wn jeacn. cyl ss say a eC a RA oi CAA On A OOS:
Catskills . 115,127,022

Total 659,382,520
Shingles 38,148,250

Ate ete eaten aarti ls seq ee ea =e GOS 890,200

But the forest product of the Empire State is not confined to the output of
the Adirondack and Catskill regions. There is a large area of primitive forest in
Lewis County, west of the Black River Valley, in the towns of Osceola, Montague
and Highmarket, which, owing to its isolated situation, is not considered as a
part of the Adirondack district. A wide area of productive woodland still remains
in some of the counties on the southern tier, especially in Cattaraugus and Chau-
tauqua, while throughout all the farming districts there are scattered belts of timber
that furnish a stock of logs, principally hardwoods, for many small mills. Hence
the entire forest product of New York is considerably greater than that reported
here from the Adirondack and Catskill counties. Any consideration of the latter
two districts would thus be misleading as to the total extent of the forest wealth
and resources of the State.

Hitherto this Department has made no effort to secure accurate returns from
the sawmills outside the Adirondack and Catskill counties, this information being
obtainable at intervals from the report of the United States Census. From the

latter it appears that the total forest output of New York for the year 1899 was:

Ft. B. M.
S/ORUCS = 5 0 a BN cata Phe Ck she ae eee 255,939,000
Hemlock : Be aes ie Pah a Ua ty eee 314,191,000
A Vale em trae area eee, gata Pee Stn ae ee Bae ee 122,756,000
Other comikensiiia tee as sein a ete een erties ae 5,950,000
Helfan GliwiO.0 GS) eee ee ern oes SPS ieee 207,976,000
S Pou ee (orca NS) pecs oe te 199,520,325
Boplare(pulpemilils)Soeivg sc as (sic) ap ec cee 17,630,586
Opler Soscies (ouiljosells)). =. 8 so ce a to 5,196,834

IE Calpe Ons tt Aneesh Name eens Sita ara I,129,159,745

56 BIGHMY REPORT OF LAE

The pulp-wood in the foregoing table is given in the census returns as 363,425
cords of Spruce, 32,114 cords of Poplar and 9,466 cords of other species, which
are converted here into feet on a basis of 549 feet (board measure) per cord. As
the total output of the Adirondack and Catskill counties in 1901 —the largest in
any of the last ten years—amounted to 659,382,520 feet, it leaves 469,777,225
feet as the lumber output of the outlying counties.

Aside from the Adirondack and Catskill forests, it is doubtful if the woodlands
of this State produced 469,777,225 feet of lumber in 1899, and we are forced to
the conclusion that the returns for this industry, as made to the Census Bureau
by its agents, included some overestimates.

Be this as it may, however, the information contained in the Twelfth Census
relating to the lumber and pulp industry of New York is extremely interesting,
giving all the statistics pertaining to forest products with a wealth of detail that
makes the report valuable to every one interested in these lines of business. From
the censuses of the preceding years it appears that the lumber output of New
York passed its maximum years ago. In 1850 it was the leading State of the
Union in this industry ; in 1860 it was passed by Pennsylvania, and in 1900 it
dropped to twelfth place on the list. But it still retains its supremacy in the
manufacture of wood-pulp and paper, having a long lead of any other State in

the magnitude of these industries.

Partition of Lands.

The printed land-list, published in rgo1, is an octavo of 367 pages, containing
a schedule of the 5,934 different lots or tracts constituting the Forest Preserve.
In this list there are sixty-one parcels, amounting to 16,088 acres, in which the
State has an undivided interest, or joint ownership, amounting to 7,478 acres. In
the past year a partition of interest was effected in two cases, the land being
divided so that the State received a tract of equal acreage and value, set off by
itself, and in which the State has the sole ownership.

One of these partitions was made with the Raquette Falls Land Company
with whom the State owned an undivided ten forty eighths in certain lots situated
in Townships 25 and 26, Totten and Crossfield Purchase, Essex County; the
other was made with Charles A. Darby, with whom the State owned an undivided
one half interest in Lot 85, Paradox Tract, Essex County. Before making any
division the lands were inspected by Forester Sterling, who filed in the office a
report in which he described fully the amount and kinds of standing timber, and

submitted maps showing the location and topography. As Lot 85 is situated on

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 57

Paradox Lake, a division was made which gave the State half of the shore-line
as well as its share of the land and timber.

It is extremely desirable that a partition of interest should be made in all the
lands of the Forest Preserve where the State has a joint ownership, for the joint
owner has partnership rights which, if exercised, would conflict with the forestry
laws and the management of the public interest. The parties who own these
lands jointly with the State seldom ask for a division of the property, preferring,
as a general thing, to let the titles remain as they are. If a division of the
lands is to be effected, it will be necessary for the Commission to authorize
its attorney to commence partition suits as provided for in the Forestry Law;
or, what would be better, obtain from the Legislature an appropriation sufficient

to purchase these outstanding interests.

Loan Commission Lands.

Another source of annoyance in the care of the Forest Preserve are the lands
acquired by the State through foreclosure of mortgages made to the Commissioners
of the United States Loan. Perhaps some explanation may be proper here in
relation to this class of lands, showing how they were acquired and why they are
included in the Preserve.

In 1836, the United States being free from debt and with a large surplus in
its treasury, apportioned this surplus among the various States in proportion to
their representation in Congress, retaining $5,000,000 in the Government Treasury.
These moneys were given to the several States as a loan, to be repaid when
called for.

The Legislature of New York then enacted (Chapter 150, Laws of 1837) that
the money thus received should be distributed to the various counties accord-
ing to population; that the Governor should appoint two commissioners in each
county who should loan these funds ‘‘on mortgage on improved land” in sums
not exceeding $2,000, and for periods not longer than five years; that in case of
foreclosure the property should be sold to the highest bidder, and that in case no
bidder appeared it should be bid in for the State by the commissioners.

Under the provisions of this law the State acquired and now owns parcels of
‘land, containing in the aggregate 10,488 acres, situated in the Adirondack and
Catskill counties. The loan commissioners have the right, under the law of 1837,
to sell these lands again, and acting under its provisicns they sold last year
several lots in Ulster County that are borne on the Comptroller's books and on

the land-list of the Forest Commission.

58 EIGHTH REPORT OF THE

Although the law of 1837 confines these ioans to improved property, many of
the farms thus mortgaged included considerable wild land, wood lots and areas of
forest, the cleared ground on which the buildings stand forming in some instances
only a small portion of the acreage. In some cases the farms have been abandoned,
and the parts that were cleared have become overgrown with small trees or bushes.

For instance, take Lot 375, Township 11, Old Military Tract, in the town of
St. Armand, Essex County. This lot contains 160 acres. About thirty-five acres
were cleared at one time and a house built, but the farm was abandoned and the
clearing has grown up largely to brush and scrubby trees. The rest of the tract
is covered with a hardwood forest, the Spruce and other softwoods having been
cut out by lumbermen several years ago. Only a few acres were cultivated by
the last occupant, who also cut some wild hay on this lot. The State acquired
title to this land in 1893 through foreclosure of a mortgage, and has paid taxes
on it since that time. It is assessed to the State on the tax-roll of St. Armand
for this year; is borne on the Comptroller’s books as part of the Forest Preserve;
is on the published land-list of the Forest Commission, and is colored red on the
Adirondack map to indicate the ownership. And yet the loan commissioners of
Essex County leased this lot on January 14, 1892, to one Joseph Fortain for five
years, at an annual rental of twenty-five dollars.

The law defining the Forest Preserve provides that it ‘‘shall include the lands

owned or hereafter acquired by the State” in sixteen specified counties, with
certain exceptions, among which are: ‘‘Lands xot wld lands acquired by the
State on foreclosure of mortgages made to loan commissioners.” This would
indicate that the forest areas and ‘‘wild lands” thus acquired belong to the
Preserve ; otherwise the exception is meaningless and unnecessary. Still, where
one of these lots is part clearing and part forest, it is difficult to determine its
status at present and whether it is within the jurisdiction of your Commission.

To avoid conflict with any loan commissioners as to the management of such
properties I would respectfully suggest that a survey be made of each, and that
a map of the same be filed with the Comptroller, showing just how much is wild
or forest land; that the portion so described be set off in each case and added
permanently to the Preserve, and that the legislation necessary to effect such an
arrangement be obtained. If this is deemed unadvisable or impracticable, it would
be well to amend the clause containing the exception quoted so as to leave all
these lands in the care and custody of the loan commissioners.

It may be well to add here that the peculiar class of lands discussed in the
preceding paragraphs should not be confounded with the bonded lands on our

land-list, title to the latter having been acquired from a different source.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. Ne

Foresters’ Reports.

Though centuries old, forestry is a science which is a progressive one. Modern
inventions and mechanical appliances are developing improved methods for exploit-
ing our woodlands, while the researches of foresters and horticulturists are evolv-
ing new lines of silvicultural work.

The American Chestnut is a forest tree that has always furnished merchantable
timber; and now, through scientific experiment, its desirability as a nut-bearing
species has been enhanced by the propagation of varieties which bear fruit of
large size and superior quality, thereby giving an increased value to a species
which is so common in the Catskill forests and other parts of New York. My
attention having been called to the successful efforts made in a neighboring State
for the cultivation of this species and the improvement of its nut-bearing capacity,
Forester Sterling was directed to make an extended tour through the localities
where Chestnut groves have been established. He was instructed to obtain all
possible information as to the result of this experimental work, to secure photo-
graphs of the plantations, and to make a written report to this office.*

The Forestry Department of the Commission has received several letters from
citizens soliciting information regarding the management of their woodlands, or
advice as to the treatment of trees which were failing, or dying, from some
unknown cause. In some of the latter cases, when the regular business of the
Department would permit, a forester was detailed to visit the place, examine the
trees, give such information or advice as the circumstances seemed to demand,
and make a written report on the same to the Superintendent. As some of these
special reports contain information and suggestions that may be of benefit to
others, I append here one made by Forester Knechtel regarding the destruction
of shade-trees in Flushing and Port Jefferson, Long Island, where he had been
sent in response to demands on the Department for expert assistance.

Nt of which, together with the subreports of the foresters just referred to,
are respectfully submitted.

Wixuiam F. Fox,

Superintendent State Forests.

* This article, ‘‘ Chestnut Culture in the Northeastern States,’ by E. A. Sterling, was published
in the supplementary volume of the Seventh Report.

60 EIGHTH REPORT OF THE

Special Report of Forester Knechtel on Dead and Diseased
Trees in Flashing and Port Jefferson, ong Island.

ALBANY, N. Y., December 9, 1902.
Cov. Witiiam F. Fox, Superintendent State Forests, Albany:

Sir.— On the twenty-eighth of last March I visited Flushing, N. Y., in
accordance with your instructions, to determine, if possible, the cause of the
death of trees reported to the Forest Commission by the Good Citizenship League
of that place. Dr. E. P. Felt, State Entomologist, whom I chanced to meet at
that time in New York City, very kindly accompanied me.

The shade-trees of Flushing are remarkable for their number, beauty, size and
variety. One hundred and forty species, native and foreign, together with
numerous varieties, have been counted within the hmits of the place. For two
centuries its trees have been the pride of the old town.

Nurseries founded there in early times have facilitated the planting of trees.
The horticultural interests of America were first established commercially in
Flushing, although the arts of budding and grafting had been previously practiced
by the French Huguenot immigrants. In 1737 William Prince began a nursery
and garden which, in 1860, contained 113 acres. The Civil War, however, curtailed
the patronage to such an extent that the business was ruined and the lands were
afterwards appropriated by the village for building purposes.

In the year 1790 James Bloodgood founded the nurseries bearing his name,
now under the very successful management of Messrs. Keene & Foulk. These
are the oldest nurseries in continuous existence in the country. For nearly half
a ceritury they were conducted by Mr. joseph H. King, one of the most
enterprising citizens in the town.

The Parsons Nurseries were established in 1840, and, with the others mentioned,
have made Flushing known to horticulturists all over America.

To the nurseries must be attributed much of the taste for rural adornment so
characteristic of the place. Besides the native species of trees are to be found
the Cedar of Lebanon, the Chinese Taxodium, the Southern Cypress, the Paulownia,
Japanese Maples, and many other nursery varieties.

Some of these trees are very noted. A stone near the sidewalk on the west
side of Bowne avenue, opposite the Bowne House, marks the site where stood two

famous Oaks called the ‘‘Fox Oaks.” Under these trees George Fox, the founder

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 61

of the Society of Friends, held a ‘‘glorious and heavenly meeting,” as he himself
described it. They measured respectively thirteen feet and twelve feet four inches
in circumference. One of them fell in the year 1841 and the other in 1863. In
Washington Place stands a Weeping Beech which Sir Joseph Hooker pronounced
the largest specimen of its kind in the world. On Parsons avenue, just south of
Broadway, there is perhaps the finest row of Taxodiums in the United States.
A very fine Cedar of Lebanon stands in the dooryard of the Prince House, on
Bridge street and Lawrence avenue. The streets are beautiful with great Oaks,
Tulips, Maples and Lindens.

Like men, trees live, grow old and die. Many of the trees in Flushing are old,
some being more than too years of age. To be sure, in the forests trees may
be found that have lived 500 years; but in a city, where so many injurious
influences are at work, a tree does well if it lives a century. Robert Hartig, a
German writer upon plant pathology, does not admit that a tree dies from internal
natural causes. The cause of death, he asserts, is always to be found in unfavor-
able influences. Be this as it may, when the decay of trees becomes epidemic it
is evident that it must be attributed to external causes. A large number of the
Flushing trees died in the years 1901 and 1902, and it was on this account that
the request came to the State Forest Commission from the Good Citizenship
League for an investigation.

On examining the trees of the place many species were found to have on the
bark numerous cocoons of the white-marked tussock moth. These cocoons are of
a dirty gray color, and each bears upon it a glistening white object which, upon
close examination, is found to consist of numerous eggs partly covered by white
spittle-like matter. Sometimes this mass consists of 7oo eggs. The eggs hatch
about the middle of May, and the young caterpillars scatter over the tree and
feed upon the leaves, often causing entire defoliation. A full description of the
insect and its habits, accompanied by colored illustrations, can be found in an
article by Dr. Felt in the Fourth Annual Report of the Forest, Fish and Game
Commission.

Evidence of a great ice storm, which occurred in this locality last February,
was everywhere visible. Very many trees were broken, some being utterly
destroved. Along the streets were large piles of rubbish, consisting of limbs
broken off by the storm.

On examining these branches it was found that the leopard moth had also
been active among the trees. This is considered probably the worst insect enemy
of the shade-trees in the vicinity of New York City. The eggs are deposited in

crevices of the bark. On hatching the young caterpillars enter the twigs, usually

62 BiGHtEH REPORT VOR. Eth

at the base of a bud, and tunnel along the pith, eating away the wood here and
there almost to the bark. As the caterpillars increase in size they attack the
larger limbs and even the trunk of the tree.

The curiously shaped bags, or larval cases, of the bag-worm were also found
suspended from some of the trees. This insect, in the adult stage, is a moth.
The larve are caterpillars, which are leaf-feeders, attacking many species of trees,
but more especially the Arbor-vite and the Red Cedar.

There is need of more definite observation to determine how long trees will live
when defoliated each year by insects. It is well known that they will endure
defoliation once without serious injury. Certain trees in Flushing, which were
pointed out as having been entirely stripped of leaves last year, were in
August ‘of this year in) the’ most’ luxuriant foliage, Mir Wo ssi) eertont
Superintendent of Parks of Albany, states that a tree will endure defoliation by
insects for about four years. Borers, such as the leopard moth, that destroy the
branches, are more to be feared than the leaf-feeders. Evidences of the work of
the leopard moth, however, were not sufficiently abundant to warrant the
conclusion that the trouble was very largely due to this insect.

No doubt the trees of Flushing have suffered from insect attack, especially from
that of the white-marked tussock moth, and I advised the Good Citizenship League
to have the school children collect and burn the cocoons of this insect, also the
larval cases of the bag-worm. As a result many thousands were thus destroyed
last spring.

However, the impression seemed to be general among the people that the
trouble was due not so much to the insects as to electricity from the trolley
wires and to gas leaking from the mains. To investigate this matter a blank
was prepared for the purpose of locating trees that had died within two years,
and to determine whether the trees stood on the same side of the street as the
gas mains or trolley wires, or across the street from the same. Twelve copies of
this blank were sent to Mrs. Mary K. Whittaker, who distributed them among
members of the Good Citizenship League. Twelve streets were recorded as
having dead trees. All these streets had gas mains and five had trolley lines.
Twenty-six trees were reported as killed. Eleven were on the same side as the
gas main and five were across the street from it. ‘The remaining ten were
indefinitely reported. Two trees were mentioned as being on the same side as
the trolley line and one across the street. Thirteen were on streets that had no
trolley line. The trees reported as killed were Tulip, Linden, Southern Cypress,
Elm, Maple, Oak and Fir. From the tabulation of answers the evidence seems

strongest against the gas mains.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 63

I visited the place again in August and had a dead tree dug up to see if gas
had injured the roots. In this I was kindly assisted by Mr. Charles Thomas,
Vice-President and General Manager of the Flushing Gas Company, who furnished
the men to do the digging. A Maple tree, fifteen inches in diameter and about
thirty-five feet high, which stood in front of the schoolhouse on Sanford avenue,
was selected, a permit having been obtained from the Commissioner of Parks.
The roots were much blackened, as if colored by acids, and a strong odor of gas
came from the excavation. It should be stated, however, that the branches of
the tree had been broken by the ice storm which occurred in February; telephone
wires were strung upon it, and it had suffered somewhat from insects. Sections
of the trunk and branches were sent to Albany by Mr. Frank A. Collins, Deputy
Superintendent of School Buildings. These, though showing some rot, do not
give evidence that the borers had injured the tree sufficiently to cause its death.
It is well known, however, that leakage from gas mains is a common cause of
the destruction of trees. Twenty were thus killed in Albany this year: six Norway
Maples on Western avenue and fourteen Elms on State street. How much the
death of trees in Flushing is due to leakage from gas mains can be determined
only by the examination of a large number of dead trees, and this examination
can be carried on best by the people who have suffered damages from this
cause.

Trees are, no doubt, injured by electricity when feed wires come in immediate
contact with the branches. Many instances are known of their having been set
on fire from trolley wires. Unless such contact exists, however, it is doubtful if
the trees receive any injury from electricity.

As in all cities, many trees had been damaged by mutilations, some by the
gnawing of horses, and some by having been cut in digging for water mains, gas
mains and sewers, and in laying curbstones. Trees also die, no doubt, from lack
of plant-food, or from lack of water and air about the roots. Streets and sidewalks
are made hard and nearly impervious to water and air, and trees standing close
to them must suffer as a consequence.

I would refer the Good Citizenship League to Bulletin 131, published in
November, 1900, by the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, New Haven,
Conn., and would advise that they act, as far as possible, upon the following
recommendations, which I have here given essentially as they are written in that.
publication:

(1) The rigid enforcement of the city ordinances which forbid the bruising,
injuring or destroying of trees, and the fastening of animals to trees in such a

way as to injure the latter.

64 EIGHTH REPORT OF THE

(2) That all trees, standing within reach of horses in the street, be protected
by frames or wire netting so that they cannot be mutilated.

(3) That when limbs are removed from trees greater care should be exercised
to cut them smoothly, close to and even with the trunk and without tearing the
trunk bark. The exposed wood should be painted with coal tar.*

(4) That the stringing of electric wires be done only. under the supervision of
the Board of Public Works, and that this supervision be paid for by the company
doing the work.

(5) That when trees are killed by gas leaking from the mains, the owners of
the mains be required to pay to the city the cost of the removal of trees killed
and of planting new trees in their places.

(6) That the land under trees in city parks be annually dressed with wood
ashes.

(7) That on new streets, when the building line is far enough from the street
line, it is desirable to plant just in front of the property line rather than just
back of the curb.

(8) That trees infested with leaf-feeding insects be sprayed regularly for a few
years, and thereafter as seems necessary.

(9) That in winter insects and the cocoons of insects that injure the trees be
collected and destroyed.

I advised the Good Citizenship League concerning the measures that should be
taken for the protection of the trees. As my recominendations, however, con-
tained practically the same advice as those quoted from the bulletin referred to,

it is unnecessary to repeat them here.

Trees at Port Jefferson.

On the twenty-first of November I visited Port Jefferson, Long Island, to deter-
mine, if possible, the cause of the unhealthy condition of Pine trees reported by
Mr. A. W. Law, of New York City.

The trees I found to be Pitch Pine (Pinus rigida). They are in a park on the
property of the Crystal Brook Park Association, of which Mr. Law is a member,
and are situated on a gravelly ridge; excellent soil, I should judge, for the growth
of this species. A number of trees were dead and others were fast dying.

Two trees were dug up by the roots and examined thoroughly. One of these
was still alive though in a very weak condition, due, it appeared, to two causes.

The tree had been pruned probably two or three years ago and decay had entered

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FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 65

the trunk through the wound. It was also suppressed by the shade of larger trees
surrounding it. Several Pines in the park were found to be suffering from this
latter cause. The other tree examined was dead. The roots, to the distance of
four or five feet from the tree, had been attacked by fungi, which also had
ascended the trunk for about two feet. The tree had also been much damaged
by borers and bark beetles. I examined a large number of trees in the park and
judged that disease among them was very largely due to insects and fungi.

The trees were being pruned at the time of my visit, the branches being
chopped off at a distance of from three to six inches from the trunk, and fresh
stable manure was being placed around the roots.

I would suggest that all old, rotting logs, all dead trees, and all dying trees
beyond hope of recovery, be removed from the park, as this dead material
furnishes excellent breeding-places for insects, and gives food for fungi, which
also attack the living trees.

The trees should be trimmed with a saw and the branches should be cut close
to the trunk. Spores of fungi, which will cause the tree to decav, find a good
lodging place on a ragged cut, such as is made with a dull axe. If the branch is
sawed off even with the trunk of the tree the new wood will grow over the
wound, while no such healing will take place if it is cut leaving a stub. The
wound should be covered with lead paint. This will exclude bacteria and fungi
and check the weathering without injuring the cambium and bark. March is
perhaps the best month for pruning, although the season is not so important as
the manner in which the work is done.

I would suggest that wood ashes be used as a fertilizer. Stable manure con-
tains beetles and fungi and brings them with it to the soil where it is applied,
while these are destroyed by the ashes. Moreover, wood ashes contain all the
elements that trees take from the soil, and hence are an ideal fertilizer.

A suppressed tree should be either relieved or removed. If, on account of its
species, or for any other reason, it is a more desirable tree than the others that
shade it, it should be relieved by the removal of one or more of the latter.
Otherwise it should be cut. 2s it hinders the growth and symmetrical development

of its neighbors.
Very respectfully,

ABRAHAM KNECHTEL,

Forester.

66 EIGHTH REPORT OF THE

Special Report of Forester Pettis on the Gathering of
Sprace Seed.

Apany, N. Y., December 8, 1902.
Cot. Witiiam F. Fox, Superintendent State Forests, Albany:

Sir.—In accordance with your directions I spent some time this fall in
collecting a supply of seed from our native Red Spruce for use in the State
nurseries next Spring, and would respectfully submit, in the following pages,
a report on the details of the methods and operations connected with that work.

The collection) of tree: Seeds is as much the work of thes torestemmasmm ae
gathering of seed-corn is that of the farmer. The market price of Red Spruce
seed, when obtainable at all, is two dollars or more per pound, with no assurance
of its quality or that it will germinate—facts which stimulated us in our efforts
to secure a supply. The results obtained from this work may render a record of
our experience valuable to others who may wish to collect seeds of this species,
and may be useful at the office of the Commission in answering requests for
information. Further work along this line will probably suggest better methods;
but, such as they were, I will venture to describe them here. Only Red Spruce
seed was collected, as no White Pine cones could be found in our forests

this year.

Red Sprace Cones.

The cones of the Red Spruce (Picea rubens Sarg.) are ovate-oblong, narrowing
gradually from near the middle to an acute apex. In length they vary usually
from about one and one fourth to two and one fourth inches, with a diameter at
the middle of five eighths to one inch. The cones are made up of scales attached
to a central stem and overlapping one another, an average-sized cone having
about fifty scales. At the base and on the upper side of each scale are two little
depressions, each of which contains a winged seed. The seeds are small, about
one third the size of a grain of buckwheat.

The largest quantity and best quality of cones were found on medium-sized
trees, twelve to eighteen inches in diameter, situated above the swamps or on the
hillsides. Similar trees were often found side by side—one with cones, the other
without. There was no apparent reason for this difference unless it was that the

fruiting tree enjoyed more light.

FHOTO.

KNECHTEL,

A.

WITH CONES.

WRU, ANOIP OU INZNILILIBIN “GIR CIS IPL IL IBID)

Cc. R. PETTIS, PHOTO.

RED SPRUCE CONES—THE DRYING ROOM.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION, 67

The cones are found on the uppermost lateral branches, and usually at the
tips, within six to ten feet of the crown. The greatest number are on the tip

top, with the largest and best cones on the ends of the lateral branches or twigs.

Gathering the Cones.

After a trip through the ‘Adirondack forests to find a favorable location for
carrying on the work, a place was selected in the vicinity of Fulton Chain, where
the trees were bearing well. There were six large lumber camps within a few
miles, and the trees that were felled by the axemen gave us easy access to the
cones, which were clinging thickly to the tops.

Progress at first was very slow. It was difficult to obtain laborers for this
peculiar work. The men around the logging camps could not understand why
any one wanted ‘‘Spruce buds,” as they commonly call the cones. They hesitated,
and were afraid to pick by the bushel. No amount of assurance that they could
pick a certain number of bushels per day would get them started. Then again
the ‘‘loose men” about a place are usually not very reliable, and one hesitates in
hiring them by the day, especially if they are to be left to work by themselves.
But the State requires only eight hours’ labor for a day’s wage, while the men in
the lumber camps had to work ten hours or more, and so I succeeded finally in
hiring enough help.

The cones were picked from the fallen tops on the lumber jobs; but as the
location of each job was three or four miles from Fulton Chain, it became neces-
sary for the men to board in the logging camps. These camps were crowded
with their own men, but through the courtesy of Messrs. McMulkin, Wakely and
Harwood I secured accommodations for the cone-pickers. It was a pleasure to
note the interest taken by the lumbermen in this work, and I desire to acknowl-
edge here the substantial assistance afforded by them whenever an opportunity
occurred.

The prevailing high rate of wages—thirty-five dollars to forty dollars per
month, with board—rendered the task of securing good men more difficult,
especially as our job was a short one. But I finally obtained the few men I
needed, industrious fellows, who did good work. ‘The first man began September
tenth at two dollars per day, and the second man on the twelfth. On the morn-
ing of the fifteenth four men went to work at seventy-five cents per bushel, and
on the sixteenth a third man by the day.

Each man provided himself with a small axe, pail and a bottle of kerosene oil.

He worked alone, following up a pair of sawyers, picking the cones from the

68 EIGHTH REPORT OF THE

fallen tops, bagging and carrying them to where they could be loaded on a wagon
or sled. The method employed varied with the individual. Some pickers put the
pail on the ground, pulling off the cones with one or both hands, after the fashion
of picking blackberries. Another method followed was to cut off the small, heavily
laden twigs, and thrash them over the edge of the pail until the cones had all
fallen into it. Probably the best way, especially for a man picking by the bushel,
is one that might be termed the stripping method. The pail was set on the
ground, under the end of a Spruce branch, or held between the legs. The picker
reaches back along the branch, one hand on either side, shuts his hands and pulls
towards him, stripping the cones off into the pail. A quart or more may often be
obtained in this way at a single pull. The only disadvantage is that many small
ends of twigs are broken off and have to be picked out later. As most of the
cones are covered with large elobules of soft pitch, the collecting is both unpleasant
and slow. This difficulty, however, is easily remedied by a few drops of kerosene
oil, which effectually cuts the pitch and allows the cones to fall from the hand
into the bucket.

The cones were drawn to the drying-house at Fulton Chain every third day,
or oftener. They could not be left in the sacks any longer, as they are at all
times apt to become heated. A reddish-brown color, a feeling of warmth, or a
strong, sprucy odor, are indications of heating. The topography will naturally
affect the expense of cutting roads and difficulty in getting the cones to the
drying-house. In this case the cartage amounted to ten cents per bushel, the

distance averaging six miles for the round trip.

Drying the Cones.

A room for drying the cones, so that the scales would open and loosen the
seeds, was rented at Fulton Chain Station. Wooden frames or racks, like the bunks
in a logging camp, were erected, into which the sacks were emptied and the cones
spread out to dry. Two stoves were put up in the room, and the drying process
was thus hastened by artificial heat.

Where a considerable quantity of seed is to be gathered, the bulky volume of
the cones necessitates a large room with a great area of drying space. From our
experience in this particular part of the work it would appear that the best form
for the racks or bins can be obtained by using two by four scantling for uprights,
with cross-pieces for the support of the boards which form the bottoms of the
bins. As the cones are heavy, these uprights should be placed at intervals of

six feet. The bins should be in tiers, one above another, four tiers high. The

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 69

bottom one may rest on the floor; the next one should be twenty inches above
the floor, while the two upper ones may be eighteen inches apart, the distance
being dependent on the ease with which the cones can be stirred and handled.
The tiers should run the whole length of the room, with aisles of suitable width,
say two feet and a half wide. The bins should be five feet wide; if wider, it will
be inconvenient to reach the middle, and if narrower, there will be too great
a proportion of aisle space. For the sides of the bins, inch boards, four or five
inches wide, turned on edge, may be used, although the mass of cones should not
be over three inches deep. The sides and bottoms should be made of inch boards
dressed on one side and jointed on the edges; then any shrinkage of the bottom
boards, caused by seasoning, can be taken up by inserting wedges between the
upright and the edge of the outer board. No nails are necessary, and the boards
can be taken down whenever the space is needed for other work. A tight bottom
can also be obtained by using tongued and grooved flooring (‘‘matched stuff’),
but the framework cannot be taken down so readily.

The cones, when brought to the drying-room, were emptied from the sacks in
a pile on the floor, where they were shoveied into a half-bushel measure, carried
to the racks or bins and spread out to dry, a record being kept of the number
of bushels thus handled. For clean cones the measure was taken level full, but
when they were not clean the measure was heaped to make allowance for dirt
and bits of twigs. When the cones were very dirty, the leaves, dirt, bark, dead

cones and twigs were picked out before measuring.

Cost of Gathering Cones.

Eleven and one half bushels were received September thirteenth; fifty-four
bushels on the eighteenth; seventy-two and one half bushels on the twentieth;
thirty-three bushels on the twenty-second; twenty-nine and one half bushels on the
twenty-third; total, two hundred and one half bushels. Of this amount one hundred
and forty-two bushels were received from the men who picked by the bushel and
fifty-eight and one half bushels from the men who worked by the day.

The cost of the cones obtained from men working by the day was eighty-seven
cents per bushel, or twelve cents more than those picked by the job. Good men
can easily average six to eight bushels per day when the yield of cones is as
large as it was this season. One man, by stripping the cones from the branches,
picked twenty-eight bushels in three days. The difficulty is in getting men
started, and it was for this reason that the liberal rate of seventy-five cents was

offered. In a good seed year fifty cents per bushel would be a sufficient inducement,

7O BIGHT ES REPORT OF THE

as profitable wages can be earned at a less rate by men who are not afraid to
work. The total cost for picking the two hundred and one half bushels was one
hundred and fifty-seven dollars and twenty-five cents, an average of seventy-eight

cents per bushel.

Extracting the Seeds.

Drying the cones and extracting the seeds is by far the most important and
critical part of the entire work. It is the longest process, one requiring the
most careful attention and the exercise of good judgment. When cones dry
naturally the scales near the base do not open and liberate the seeds, but in
a room properly warmed these scales open freely so that the seeds will drop out.
The length of time necessary for Spruce cones to dry, so that they will open
satisfactorily, depends:

(1) On the number of square feet of drying space per bushel.

(2) Whether the cones dry naturally, or whether artificial heat is used.

(3) The time of year when the cones are picked. |

(4) The humidity of the air during the drying process.

(5). The care exercised in stirring, sorting and cleaning while in the racks.

Naturally the thinner the cones are spread on the floor of the bin the faster
they will dry. A liberal allowance of space would be twelve square feet per
bushel. In a drying-room, which is well heated and thoroughly ventilated, they
will open much quicker than if the process is conducted under other conditions.
Ventilation is necessary to carry off the moisture and thus prevent mildew, for
if no heat is used the cones will lie in the racks a month or more without
opening.

Spruce cones picked when green are especially slow in opening. Those gathered
before September twentieth were, in this case, the last to open, while those
picked last opened first. Those received on September thirteenth lay in the racks
three weeks without showing any signs of drying, but the stock received last
began to open in less than a week.

When a few pounds of seed only are needed, September twenty-fifth, or
thereabouts, would be the best time for gathering Spruce cones in the Adirondacks.
After October first the shock to the tree in falling is sufficient to shake a large
part of the cones from the branches. It does not pay to pick them off the
ground, for they are too much scattered and covered with the rubbish that clings
to their pitchy surface.

“When the cones are first brought in from the woods they are so thickly

smeared with sticky, resinous matter that, when spread out on the racks, they

LUMBER JOB WHERE THE CONES WERE PICKED.

A. KNECHTEL, PHOTO.

C. R. PETTIS, PHOTO,

PLANTING AN OLD BEAVER MEADOW NEAR LAKE CLEAR JUNCTION.

A STACK OF WILD HAY APPEARS AT THE RIGHT, NEAR THE BROOK.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 71

are liable to form a solid mass and harden. Unless they are stirred daily to keep
this cake thoroughly broken up the drying process will be seriously delayed.
After a week or ten days, however, this troublesome condition ceases.

During the drying process heat may be used all the time, or only at the finish.
A large box-stove in the room, combined with ample means for ventilation, will
greatly facilitate the work. Should the weather be damp and cloudy, and no heat
be used, the cones will lie on the racks for weeks without showing any signs of
opening; but if the air in the room be warmed and dried, in a few days you will
both see and hear the scales open.

When the drying and opening process is fairly under way the partly opened
cones are assorted and placed in some warmer spot, after which the basal scales
will also yield and liberate their seeds. While the cones are drying considerable
moisture is thrown off, necessitating a complete ventilation of the room and a
daily stirring of the cones to prevent mildew. Should mildew appear the cones
must all be picked over and any thus affected thrown away. ‘The racks must be
stirred twice each day and better ventilation provided.

The Spruce cone is frequently infested with a borer which burrows in it and
destroys it without eating the seed. It usually bores into the smaller end, making
a hole scarcely larger than a pinhead. On this job the cones were all picked over
carefully by two men, who removed and burned the ones thus infested, after
which I had no further trouble from these worms.

The cones, as fast as they opened fully, were picked out of the bins and
thrashed at the rate of ten bushels per day. A bushel of green cones doubles its
bulk in the opening process. The removal of the opened cones depleted the
contents of the racks so that the remaining ones dried much faster —so rapidly
that we were soon able to take them off the upper bins by the double handful
and to reduce the temperature in the room. ‘Towards the close of the work three

men could assort and thrash forty bushels of open cones fer day.

Thrashing Oat Seed.

When the cones were fully opened, ready for thrashing, they were sacked and
left until ten bushels had accumulated. Then a peck of the opened cones were
put into a two-bushel bag, swung in the air and pounded on the floor, first
swinging the bag over one shoulder and then over the other so that the bag
would strike alternately on opposite sides. About twenty-five hard strokes removes
the seeds from the cones. The contents of the bag were then poured out on a

Wire screen with a quarter-inch mesh (a ‘ sand screen”) through which the little

2 CESS INIBICOIRMIE Ol Ashs,

black seeds were sifted into a receiving-box, the cones and refuse remaining on
top being thrown into a heap to be used for fuel.

One man can thrash ten bushels per hour, but the work should be arranged
so that the thrashing should not last over an hour or so at a time. It should be
done in a separate room or out of doors, because in pounding the cones the dried
pitch is pulverized and fills the air so that breathing becomes difficult. To
alleviate this annoyance each man wore a wet sponge over his mouth and nose

while thrashing.
Cleaning the Seeds.

The small size of Spruce seed renders the cleaning process difficult. The seeds
and dirt that fell through the screen into the box were sacked and stored in the
drying-house, where they would not gather dampness, to await the final process
of cleaning. When the time came to take up this part of the work the seeds and
fine dirt were taken from the sacks and rubbed through a screen with a fine mesh
to remove the larger particles of dirt, after which the seeds were put through a
fanning-mill. The wings of the seeds were broken and removed, for the most
part, in the thrashing, but some pieces, together with other material, still clung
to the seeds, and a fanning-mill was necessary to thoroughly clean them of all
chaff and dirt. On this job no mill was easily obtainable, and so I constructed
one to suit the emergency. It had four fans on its shaft, and was provided with
a double row of sieves. A four-inch pulley was attached to the shaft and belted
to a grindstone for the power. It was a crude, home-made arrangement, but it
did the work all right. |

When the mill was in motion the seeds were emptied into it, just back of the
fan and in front of the first sieve. The heaviest ones fell directly down, through
the mill, in front of the sieve and into a bag, while the dust and lighter seeds
were carried back where they received a further winnowing. The heavier seeds
that fell in front, freed from chaff and impurities, were kept separate. The lighter
seeds that fell through the farther opening were put through the mill again, and
these were also kept separate. Any seeds that were blown beyond the front
screens a second time were thrown away, as they evidently were not well filled.

As a final result we obtained 375 pounds of seed, or nine and three eighths
bushels, from the 200 bushels of cones. Of this amount 205 pounds were seeds of
the first quality. The following summary of facts, obtained during the course
of the work, may be valuable for future reference:

Six to eight bushels of cones can be picked, on the average, by one manina

day’s work of eight hours.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 73

Fifty cents per bushel will enable a man to earn a fair day’s wages.

Ten to fifteen square feet of drying space is required for a bushel of cones.
Sixty pounds per bushel is the weight of green cones.

One bushel of green cones will make two bushels of opened cones

One bushel of green cones will yield, on an average, 17g pounds of seeds.

One bushel of green cones will yield, on an average, 114 quarts of seeds.

One quart of seeds will weigh 114 pounds.

One bushel of seeds will weigh 40 pounds.

One ounce of seeds contains 7,500 grains.

One pound of seeds contains 120,000 grains.

One quart of seeds contains 150,000 grains.

Three hundred and seventy-five pounds of seeds contain 45,000,000 grains.

Three hundred and seventy-five pounds of seeds cost for collection $355.72.

One pound of seeds costs for collection 95 cents.

One quart of seeds costs for collection $1.19.

One pound of seeds costs at dealer’s price $2.

One dollar and five cents per pound saved in collecting our own seed.

Three hundred and ninety-three dollars and seventy five cents saved on 375
pounds of seeds.

The seeds are stored for the winter in a building near Lake Clear Junction,
Franklin County, ready for our spring work. They are in paper sacks, fifteen
pounds to the sack, packed in sand, well protected from mice, moisture, drying
out and other injurious conditions. The stock on hand is larger than is needed
for our nursery work, but the surplus can be used to good advantage for broad-
cast sowing on denuded areas, or for underplanting in forests where it may seem
desirable to create an undergrowth of Red Spruce. As we have such a large
supply on hand, some of the seed might be distributed free to any of our citizens
who may want to reforest their lands with trees grown direct from seed.

All of which is respectfully submitted.
CLIFFORD R. PETTIS,

Forester.

74. EIGHTH REPORT OF DHE

The Faana of the Woods.

Facts AND Statistics ABOUT THE ELK, DEER AND MoosE oF THE ADIRONDACK

REGION.

In response to a continued and growing demand for information about the
larger animals of the Adirondack region, the Commission has followed its usual
course in collecting various facts and statistics relating to the fauna of the woods.
Great care has been exercised to have the facts and figures given represent
accurately the conditions as they exist, and it is believed that the camper, the
sportsman, and even the resident of the Adirondack counties, will find something
of interest and value in what follows, The proof that the herds of Deer are
steadily increasing will, of itself, give much satisfaction, and the success that has
attended the effort to restore Moose to the woods will undoubtedly prove grati-
fying to the many citizens interested in the movement. The introduction of Elk
is at best an experiment, but it has thus far proved to be successful, and the
people of the State are indebted to a public-spirited citizen for generous donations
of these valuable animals. Many letters received by the Commission attest the
pleasure which the vast army of visitors to the Adirondack region has experienced,
and is yet to experience, from the introduction in this territory of the animals

mentioned.

The Adirondack Deer.

- One of the very best evidences of the value of protection is furnished by the
marked inerease in the number of Deer secured by hunters in the Adirondack
region annually. In spite of all predictions to the contrary the herds of Deer
have steadily grown; and although the army of hunters is continually increasing,
as shown by the heavy travel to the woods during the hunting season, the inroads
made yearly have not appreciably diminished the number of these animals within
the State’s forest domain. In response to the continued demand of those interested
in this subject, the Commission has collected, with the aid of the American and
the National Express Companies, a record of the shipments made during the
hunting season of 1902. These figures, and those of the two preceding years,

are as follows:

Year. Carcasses. Saddles. Heads.
1900 USA REESE Naess ef Cea Ot RRC iN yee Sea OO 89 95
IQOI NK (aetna en eis.) eh Eee an PNG Mal LEN) O:2 103 121

1902 SOOM MeSR MN oils ney Tol Jie epee tome EEC IZ| Ta 193

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

79

From the increase in the number of carcasses shipped it will be seen that, in

round numbers, about thirty per cent more Deer were secured by hunters in the

Adirondacks during the season of 1902

than during the

following the generally accepted rule, that four Deer are

for every one shipped out by rail,* the great increase in

by sportsmen as a result of protecting these animals will be

previous year. By
killed in the woods

the returns secured

readily seen.

The interesting statistics furnished by Superintendent John L. Van Valkenburgh,

of the American Express Company, and Superintendent T. L. Smith, of the National

Express Company, who vouch for the accuracy of the figures given, are as follows:

SHIPMENTS OF DEER FROM POINTS IN THE ADIRONDACK REGION.

SEASON OF 1902.

Mowawk AND MALONE RAILROAD.

Beaver River .
Big Moose
Brandreths
Childwold .
Clear Water
Eagle Bay .
Floodwood
Forestport .
Fulton Chain .
Hinckley
Horseshoe .
Lake Clear Junction
Lake Placid
Little Rapids .
Long Lake West
Loon Lake
McKeever .
Minnehaha
Ne-ha-sa-ne
Nelson Lake .
Onchiota
Otter Lake
Paul Smith’s .
Piercefield .

RAILROAD STATION.

Carcasses.

Saddles.

Heads.

117
45
4
16

20
14
I3
24
58

I

Teme)

w

44

co

17

10
Il
31

3

18

19

7
7

* A large number of deer are taken out of the woods each season in wagons by farmers and
sportsmen who live near the borders of the Great Forest of Northern New York; and a large
amount of venison is consumed in the hunting camps, lumber jobs, hotels and by the ‘‘natives’”’
or residents of the woods.

76

BIGHTH, REPORT OF THE

Mouawk AND MALONE RAILROAD —( Concluded ).

RAILROAD STATION. Carcasses. Saddles. Heads.

Pleasant Lake 9
Poland . 7,
Rainbow Lake 2
Raquette Lake 21 5
Saranac Lake. 6 2
Saranac Inn : 3 : }
Tupper Lake Junction . 64 6 6
White Lake Corners 9
Woods Lake . 24

Total 618 46 74

NEw YorK AND OTTAWA RAILROAD.

Brandon I
Derrick . 20 3
Dickinson Center 2
Kildare . 8 I
Madawaska 6 I
Santa Clara 14 2
Spring Cove 18
Sherman 3
St. Regis Falls 4
Tupper Lake . 2 8

Total 82 I 19

Utica AND Brack River RAILROAD.

Alder Creek 8
Benson Mines 42 2
Boonville 4
Carthag eter. 2 4
Castorland State 5
Glentreld> =.) By I B
Harrisville. . . 30 5
Jesrnllle ob. 6 3
Wovaalllemmrsaamcn\ tei tre 5 2
Ey onmiclllS mem meters 13
Natta BistdoeMmenmes ns puN 5
Newton Hallsie ic coum er- ae 74 3 3
OGWEEMOMIS 4 6 Goo Oo. 6 18 4 I
Porm ey dere waienerii erm smite) imine I
IPRORECE a) ga GO a OWES 6s S 40 I

Mo taliircineremiretnte te uerctitol hele len ite 277 18 10

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. ai
Rome, WATERTOWN AND OGDENSBURG RAILROAD.
RAILROAD STATION. Carcasses, Saddles. Heads.
Antwerp 2
Canton ; 8 2
De Kalb Junction 2
Edwards 3 I
Emeryville I
Limerick To
Potsdam 36 | I
Total £0 | 2 5
FonpDA, JOHNSTOWN AND GLOVERSVILLE RAILROAD.
Broadalbin
Gloversville 7
Johnstown 8
Northville . 96 13 20
Total 113 13 20
LittLe FALLS AND DOLGEVILLE RAILROAD.
Dolgeville .| 9 A | :
New York CEenTRAL AND Hupson River RAILROAD.
Fonda 4 2
Little Falls
Total 5 2
RuTLAND RAILROAD.
Malone . 3 21
Winthrop 4 I
Total 7 22
DELAWARE AND Hupson RAILROAD.
Corinth . 5
Warrensburgh on
Saranac Lake . I ;
Ticonderoga I 3
Port Henry 24 3 | 6
Loon Lake I 4
Stony Creek | 23
Bloomingdale . a I ; | :
North Creek 104 28 | 2

DELAWARE AND Hupson RAILROAD — (Concluded ).

EIGHTH -REPORD OF LEE

RAILROAD STATION.

Riverside
Hadley .
Caldwell

The Glen
Westport .
Crown Point .

Total

RECAPITULATION.

Mohawk and Malone Railroad
New York and Ottawa Railroad
Utica and Black River Railroad

Rome, Watertown and Ogdensburg Railroad
Fonda, Johnstown and Gloversville Railroad
Little Falls and Dolgeville Railroad :
New York Central and Hudson River Reaeee

Rutland Railroad

Delaware and Hudson Railroad .

Total shipments

Carcasses. Saddles. Heads.

27 5
ny

2

4
4 17
Mi I
193 3t 43
618 46 74
82 I 19
277 18 10
50 2 5
113 13 20

9

5 2

7 22
193 3t 43
1, 354 113 193

From the weight of the carcasses recorded in the shipping bills of the express

companies it will readily be seen that the Adirondack Deer,

when properly

protected, will develop a size and weight fully equal to or surpassing that of

the species in any other locality in North America.

of the shipments reported which seem worth noting:

SHIPMENTS OF ADIRONDACK DEER.

The following are some

RAILROAD STATION.

Big Moose

Eagle Bay

Hinkley

Lake Clear Junction
Benson Mines
Benson Mines
Boonville

Carthage

Castorland .

|

Soe fom Dresed | Live,
C. P. Floyd, Remsen 203 254
| J. Larsehn, New York City 200 250
J. L. Roberts, New York City 225 281
. J. Mulholland, Saranac Lake 206 257
| C. Simmons, Ogdensburg . 200 250
.| H. Miller Jr., Harrisville 202 252
| W. A. Brown, Utica 225 281
D. Mosher, Watertown 200 250
.| Harry Waugh, Fulton 200 261

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 79

SHIPMENTS OF ADIRONDACK DEER —(Concluded ).

Dressed Live

RAILROAD STATION. Consigned to— weight.* weight.
Glenfield George Bacon, Herkimer 208 260
Lowville L. Freis, New York City 200 250
Lowville A. G. Lewis, Buffalo 205 256
Lyon Falls H. L. Smallinger, Utica 200 250
Newton Falls . D. Gayne, Watertown 208 260
Prospect George Windheim, Utica 211 264
Johnstown . J. Stewart, Albany 200 250
Northville . J. Reeifer, New York City . 235 204
Northville . C. C. Weimer, Albany . 202 252
Northville . H. M. Bowler, Amsterdam 210 262
Northville . R. Christian, Amsterdam 210 262
Northville . AO sbornesohnstow:sleaee eee 215 269
Dolgeville . Ralph Graham, New York City 204 255
Winthrop F. F. Stevens, Ogdensburg 200 250
Otter Lake W. E. Champayn, Corning 226 282
Tupper Lake A. W. Lasher, Canajoharie 250 313
Port Henry J. E. McGue, Rouse’s Point 204 255
Stony Creek . G. A. Lawton, Hadley ; 220 275
North Creek . Mrs. Charles Smith, Glens Falls . 219 273
Riverside F. Pallarand, Saratoga 240 300

* As weighed and billed by the agent of the express company.

By adding one fourth to the dressed weight, the live weight of the animal may be

determined with reasonable accuracy.

Moose and E(k.

Under the appropriation of $5,000 made for the purpose of restoring Moose to the
Adirondacks, the Commission will, by the time this report reaches the public, have
procured and liberated in the forest a dozen of these animals. It is expected that as
many more will be secured in the near future. The restrictions on the shipment of
Moose from other States and from Canada have made it extremely difficult to procure
these animals, and carload lots are practically an impossibility. Stringent laws
exist in Canada and elsewhere against the shipment of live Moose at any season.
Those which have been secured and placed in the Adirondacks have done well,
and Protector J. Edward Ball, who has had charge of the work of liberating the
animals, reports that they are now in excellent condition. The Moose were set

at liberty near Uncas Station and have yarded for the winter in two places—one

80 EIGHTH REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

just south of Raquette Lake and the other about three miles east of Big Moose
Lake. The report of the protector says: ‘‘The Moose are doing well, and there
seems to be no reason why they should not increase in the Adirondacks. They
have plenty of food, and will do well if let alone.” He says further: ‘‘ The resi-
dents of the Adirondacks are taking great interest in the work of restocking the
woods with Moose, and, with the railroad employees, render all possible assistance
in handling the animals.” One of the Moose liberated last summer was shot by
unknown campers in the vicinity of Eighth Lake, and the Department is now
investigating the matter. Under the appropriation furnished the work already
done toward procuring Moose has greatly encouraged all those interested in the
effort to secure the return of this magnificent animal to the Adirondack region.

In addition to the twenty-two Elk placed in the Adirondack forest a year ago,
which were the gift of Hon. William C. Whitney, forty others have been shipped
by him from his private preserve at Lenox, Mass. This generous gift will be
thoroughly appreciated by all lovers of the Adirondack forests, and entitles Mr.
Whitney to the thanks of the people of the State. The Elk were donated from
Mr. Whitney’s October Mountain estate, and were shipped to Long Lake West.
Five other Elk were given during the year to Mr. William Dart, of Dart’s Camp,
near Big Moose Lake, by the Binghamton Park Commission. They will be cared
for during the winter by the Brown’s Tract Guide Association and liberated in
the spring. Mr. Harry V. Radford, who is an enthusiastic supporter of the plan
to restock the Adirondacks with Elk and Moose, recently paid a visit to the
woods for the purpose of estimating the number of Elk now there. His figures
show that there are upwards of eighty, which include those liberated and those
born in the forest. Both the Elk and the Moose are greatly admired by visitors
to the Adirondacks, of which there are thousands every summer, and it is believed
that these animals will thrive and become an important feature of the northern

wilderness.
The Black Bear.

The same forces which united to secure the restocking of the woods with
Elk and Moose are now interested in an effort to protect the Adirondack Black Bear.
Reports from all sections of the forest indicate that this is a move in the right
direction, and that, with suitable protection, the Bear will soon multiply to such
an extent as to become again an important factor in the game of the region.
No estimate has been made of the number of these animals in the Adirondacks,
but there is no doubt that unless proper protection is given, the Black Bear is in

danger of becoming extinct in Northern New York.

Report of the General Poreman of
Hatcherics
1902

To the Forest, Fish and Game Commission:

ENTLEMEN.—I herewith present my report for the year ending Septem-

(3 ber 30, 1902, showing the number of fish distributed by the Commission,

the number of each kind of fish and the size, from which hatchery or
hatching station distributed, and where the fish were planted.

There were 1,459. applications received by the Commission during the year
and 240 carried over from the previous year, making a total of 1,699 to be filled
during the year. Of these 1,078 were filled, 94 rejected for various reasons,
leaving 527 on hand at the close of the year.

No applications for Black Bass have been filled during the year, but several
thousand have been taken out of the canal and waterworks reservoirs at Rochester
and planted in near-by waters.

The policy adopted by the Commission, of rearing fingerling and yearling fish
for distribution, has been followed throughout the year, and every effort has been
made to increase the output of these sizes. The results of planting fingerlings

have been particularly satisfactory and productive of good results.

Improvements Made.

An additional pipe has been put in at the Adirondack Hatchery which will
more than double the capacity of that hatchery for rearing fingerlings. The out-
put from that hatchery has been much larger than ever before.

I would suggest that the plan adopted for improvements at that hatchery be
also adopted at the Fulton Chain Hatchery. This would give an opportunity for
a larger distribution in a section of the Adirondacks wherc the fish are much
needed.

The increased number of applications for fingerling fish will make it necessary
for the Commission to continue increasing the facilities for rearing fingerlings at
each of the hatcheries. Very few applications are made now for Trout fry.

6 81

82 EIGHTH REPORT OF THE

Spring Creek at the Caledonia Hatchery has been thoroughly dredged and
cleaned during the past year, and I have every reason to believe that the results
will be much more satisfactory during the coming year.

During the past year a new hatchery building, sixty by twenty-two feet, on
Whortleberry Creek in Cold Spring Valley (Margaretville, Delaware County), has
been built. The stream is a never failing one of pure spring water, with a very
even temperature throughout the year. About 120,000 Trout have been reared
during the past summer, a part of which has been distributed, and the balance of
about 50,000 was carried over for yearlings. This hatchery is located in a part
of the Catskills where there are numerous Trout streams and water suitable for
Trout, making it an admirable location for distribution. The result of the work
of this hatchery will be very evident in a year or two, and cannot help but add
to the attractiveness of the Catskill region. An expenditure of $3,000 or $4,000
for the purpose of constructing rearing ponds, races, dams and ponds would add
very much to the efficiency of the hatchery, and the output could be increased

about four times.
Rearing Black Bass.

The season at the Oneida Hatchery has been most satisfactory. I would
suggest that $2,000 be expended at this hatchery for the purpose of constructing
suitable ponds and races for rearing Black Bass, which are much sought after
from all sections of the State. I know of no better place for the purpose, as the
waters are suitable for Black Bass and the grounds are adapted to the construction
of the necessary ponds and races.

The Beaverkill Hatchery has been closed, as the location was not suitable for a
hatchery, the water being insufficient. All of the implements, cans, etc., have
been transferred to the Delaware County Hatchery. The building is of good
construction and in good condition, and I would suggest that the Commission
make some disposition of it as soon as possible

The output of the Cold Spring Hatchery has comprised the usual number.
The quality of the fish sent out has been of the best. A new heater should be
put into the hatchery and some repairs should be made to the foundation of the
building.

The usual number of fish have been reared and sent out from Pleasant Valley
Hatchery. The results of the work of this hatchery are apparent in Keuka Lake,
where fishing, during the last two or three summers, has been better than in any

other waters of the State.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 83

The Maskalonge Sapply.

The work at the Chautauqua Lake Hatchery has not been as satisfactory as I
could wish. The spearing of Maskalonge through the ice in the winter will sooner
or later completely deplete the lake of this species. I have been informed by
reliable persons that thirty tons of these fish were killed with spears last winter.
Of course, there can be but one end if such a slaughter continues. You will note
from a previous report that the number of fry taken from Chautauqua Lake each
year decreases very materially. It is to be regretted that the law permitting
spearing cannot be repealed.

The Sacandaga Hatchery is not well located and the water supply is not what
is necessary to show good results under the policy adopted by the Commission,
z. €., rearing fingerlings. A small expenditure of money for the construction of
rearing ponds on some suitable spring brook, a few miles from a railroad station,
would show much better results with the same cost of maintenance.

The United States Commission has granted every request we have made, and
thanks are returned for assistance rendered.

Every effort has been made to increase the output of cheap food-fish, and the
figures will show the result in the numbers planted. The result of stocking
the larger bodies of water of the State and Lake Ontario must show satisfactorily
in the very near future.

The usual exhibit was made at the State Fair. These exhibits are inexpensive
and always prove very instructive and attractive. I would suggest that they be
continued.

The increase of Carp in some of the best fishing waters of the State still
continues, and there appears to be no way of stopping it. They are a very
difficult fish to exterminate.

Few, if any, complaints have been made of the messengers who delivered fish
to the applicants, and very few fish have been lost in transportation. The few
losses in every instance proved to be due to the fault of the applicant, who failed
to meet the fish promptly at the time specified.

The policy of the Commission of beautifying the grounds about the hatcheries
and making them attractive has been adhered to strictly. The expense is slight,
as nearly all the labor is performed by the regular employees of the hatcheries.
The grounds at the Caledonia Hatchery might well be called a park, as they are
extensive and well arranged. The flower beds are large and very attractive, and

it is a popular resort for a large number of people during the summer months.

84 EIGHTH REPORT OF DHE FOREST, FISH AND! GAME COMMISSION:

The grounds at the Cold Spring, Adirondack and Pleasant Valley Hatcheries

are small, but are made attractive with well-kept lawns, numerous flower-beds
and shrubbery.
Mongolian Pheasants.

The rearing of Mongolian Pheasants is still carried on at the Pleasant Valley
Hatchery at a very slight expense to the State, and the birds are distributed to
applicants as usual. Reports from various localities indicate that the Pheasants
.are thriving, and that they are highly valued by those who receive them and
who, in every case, pay careful attention to their increase.

In conclusion, your attention is called to the very liberal courtesies extended
to the Commission by the railroads of the State (particularly the New York
Central and Hudson River Railroad, the Ontario and Western, the Delaware and
Hudson Company, and the Buffalo, Rochester and. Pittsburgh Railroad) for trans-
portation furnished free to the State fish car and to the messengers in charge of
the fish, and in returning the empty fish cans.

Respectfully submitted.
RICHARD CoOTCHEFER,

General Foreman of Hatcheries.

Report of the Chief Game Protector
1902

To the Forest, Fish and Game Commission:

ENTLEMEN.—I have the honor to submit the following report, showing
(5 the work of the force of protectors under my supervision, and calling
attention to some of the changes which occur annually in the form of
amendments to the law, and to other points that may be of interest to your
Honorable Board, as well as to the many persons who take a deep interest in
the protection of the forests and game of the State and the propagation and
distribution of fish, which has been carried on so systematically and extensively
that nearly all of our once depleted waters have become profitable for commercial
fishing and furnish sport for myriads of anglers.
Having been in the service for more than fourteen years, I feel like intruding
a little by calling attention to some very important changes that have occurred
in the work, so that recent converts to protection may know something of the
darker days and the difficulties under which the small handful of protectors and
the few sympathizers and supporters of the law labored at that time as compared

with the present state of affairs.

The Force of Protectors.

Prior to 1892 there were but fifteen protectors for the entire State, with
apparently no prospect of an increase, as the market hunter, together with the
net fisherman, presented such a solid front that it seemed impossible to make
any headway against their opposition to better laws. But, many thanks to the
few never tiring associations and persons who could see that, with the forests
denuded and the fish and game exterminated, the health and pleasure seeker
would soon abandon this State for other fields, thereby entailing expense which
many could not afford and which would have left the now prosperous health and
sporting resorts surrounded by barren ledges and unprofitable farming land as
against untold wealth at the present time. The first notable change for the better
was brought about by an act of the Legislature in 1892, as that body began to

85

86 IDMEISMNGL WITIXOIRMY OP IISUs,

see the force of the argument presented by lovers of fair play, increasing the
number of game protectors to twenty. This broke the ice, although many protests
were made on account of an increase in taxes. In 1895 a more liberal act was
passed, increasing the number to thirty-eight, which was further increased by
twelve by the Legislature of 1902, making at the present time a force of fifty
game protectors. I must say for the benefit of persons interested, and as a
compliment to the Forest, Fish and Game Commission, who have taken the
utmost care in selecting the additional twelve men, that the State now has fifty
game protectors who, with scarcely an exception, are bright, intelligent men, well
located to carry on the work assigned them. One can see this is not a large
force when taking into consideration the vast tracts of land which the State has
in the Adirondacks and Catskills which require constant watchfulness, as against
trespassers, the protection of game over the entire State, the numerous rivers
and lakes where incessant warfare is necessary against a persistent horde of
net fishermen and dynamiters, together with the large interests the State and
individuals have in oysters, clams and lobsters in the waters over which the
State has jurisdiction. The entire expense for the protectors is much less than
many of the second-class cities of the State are paying for their police forces.
It is a wonder to many how such efficient men can be secured when informed
that the average protector only received $500 per year, with an allowance of

thirty-seven dollars and fifty cents per month for expenses.

Illegal Devices Seized.

The table in the appendix will show the work of the protectors during the past
year as to the number of nets and other devices which, while being illegally
operated for the taking of fish, were seized and destroyed; also the number of
actions brought and concluded.

Several cases which are commenced near the close of the year necessarily
go over from year to year, fail to be reached for trial, or are appealed to higher

courts.

Actions Against Sqeatters.

Many actions for ejectment have been commenced against ‘‘squatters” on
State Iand who persist in building and otherwise trespassing. One important
case, known as Wells vs. Johnston & Gibby, was decided by the Court of Appeals

in favor of the people, which settled any further question as to the State’s title

“ONIHSIA AMId

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 87

to a tract of land known as the North Gouverneur Tract, in Oneida County.
The action arose on account of the seizure and sale by the Commission of about
$700 worth of pulp-wood cut on said lot and sold to Johnston & Gibby, whom the
Commission were bound to protect in the purchase. Mr. Wells claimed title to
the land by a county tax sale of Oneida County, and this decision settles for all

time any claim against land acquired by State tax sales over county sales.

The Cold Storage Case.

The noted case of the People vs. The Arctic Refrigerating Company of New
York City, which was being pressed in the Appellate Court at the time of the
issuance of the last report of the Commission, is now in the Court of Appeals
waiting its turn with other cases, and, judging by the decisions of the Supreme
and Appellate Courts, the people will be successful as to the major portion of their
claims. The defective points in the law, which affected a portion of the amount
claimed by the people, was so amended by the last Legislature that it now conforms
to what the courts held it should have been, and the masses of people interested
in the protection of song and insectivorous birds now realize that they have a law to

stand on no matter what may have been said to the contrary.

Game Law Amendments.

Several amendments were made by the last Legislature which materially
improve the Game Law and make possible the maintaining of actions as against
the former law. One very important amendment, which refers to fish and game
coming from without the State, now puts the Department in a position to bring
and maintain actions for possession no matter where said fish and game come
from. This was not possible under the old law after the decision of the Court of
Appeals in the case of the People vs. The Buffalo Fish Company, as the Court
held in that case that it was not the intent of the Legislature, when passing the
law relative to possession, that it apply to fish coming from without the State.

While continuous amendments from year to year are not advisable, as a
constant tampering with the law is confusing and misleading to the many people
interested, I feel that a few slight changes are necessary: First, for a more
uniform law as to open and close season in all counties, and make it possible for
one to hunt and fish in safety without stopping to determine the county lines.

Many of these laws are useless, and the benefit derived is of little or no value.

88 EIGHTH REPORT OF THE

Saggested Legistation.

The law affecting Black Bass should be uniform, and not as at the present
time, one law for the waters of the Thousand Islands, where the season opens six
days before it does through the State generally —especially as it makes two dates
in one county, viz: St. Lawrence County.

It is evident that Grouse are becoming scarcer yearly, and especially this year,
as last spring was so very wet and cold that it is generally believed many broods
were drowned; therefore it is recommended that the sale of Grouse killed in this
State be prohibited.

I would also suggest prohibiting the sale of venison killed within the Adiron-
dack Park. This would do away with quite a few market hunters who manage
to get around the law relative to transportation and make a business of hunting
wholly for the market. While the anti-hounding law is working admirably and
the Deer are steadily on, the increase, the law cannot be made too strict or
severe as to taking or harboring dogs of any description in forests which Deer
inhabit, as it is an undisputed fact that nearly all species of dogs will follow a
Deer and aid in its capture. In view of what the State has expended in past years
in purchasing Deer to restock the Catskill region, the law ought to be amended so
as to continue a close season in all the Catskill counties for at least three years.

I would also recommend that no Deer be taken for at least three years in
Oswego County, and in all that portion of Oneida, Lewis and Jefferson Counties
lying west of the Black River Railroad from Utica to Carthage and south of
Carthage, and the Rome, Watertown and Ogdensburg Railroad from Carthage
to Richfield Junction. In this locality there is a large tract of timbered land
well adapted for Deer where they were exterminated many years since, but in the
last few years several Deer have found their way into that locality and should be
protected.

The law regarding the use of nets in Raritan Bay is such that it affords no
protection to the inhabitants of Staten Island and Greater New York, who are -
interested in angling, as against non-resident Menhaden fishermen— mostly from
New Jersey. The law should be amended to either prohibit the use of nets in
said bay, or a law passed compelling purse-net fishermen to procure licenses,
which would give a protector some authority to board vessels to determine what
fish are being taken. The law regarding a non-resident paying a license to fish
or hunt in this State is not at all plain, neither does it fix an amount as a fee.

Therefore, as many States charge a license fee to non-residents, we would

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 89

recommend the law being amended so as to be more explicit, and also to specify
the amount of the fee.

As in my last year’s report, I would recommend that if game or fish are
found in the close season outside of warehouses where they can be bonded under
the present law, a law should be enacted declaring that if a seizure is made,
after the articles have served their purpose as evidence, they should be turned
over to the nearest charitable institution intead of being allowed to waste, thereby
giving the officer making the seizure, or the Court before which it had been used
as evidence, something definite under which to act.

I must continue, as in the past, to commend the work of the local protective
associations throughout the State, ‘and assure them that the assistance rendered
is ever appreciated. I would also express the gratitude of the Department for
the assistance which is rendered by the express companies, which are ever ready
to assist in detecting violations by persons who persist in illegally shipping

fish and game.

Respectfully submitted. ie WARREN Ponp,
Chicf Game Protector.

Report of the Saperintendent of
Shetlfisheries
1902

To the Forest, Fish and Game Commission:

ENTLEMEN.— Though frequent treatises upon the shellfish industry of
this country have appeared in print and from time to time articles
of considerable value concerning this subject have been produced, it

remains true that the public generally, and particularly those who reside at’
points remote from the seacoast, have but faint ideas of its relative importance.
Next to the State forests, which conserve the rainfall over a vast area and con-
stitute the reservoirs which equalize the flow of our mountain streams and great
rivers, preventing alternate floods and droughts, and preserving the navigability
of our waterways, so bringing continued prosperity to commerce and with regu-
larity watering the thirsty land, comes the shellfish industry in importance among
the subjects under the care of the Forest, Fish and Game Commission.

Years ago the State of New York adopted a policy calculated to foster and
encourage this industry, which, with the threatened exhaustion of the natural
beds of oysters and clams, bade fair to continue in but a languishing condition.
The result of this system was at once apparent, and so rapidly did the business
respond that at a net outlay of little more than $5,000 per annum from the State
Treasury a delicious food product, valued at many millions of dollars, is annually
gained for the entire people and is supplying an excellent and cheap item of diet
at a time when all other foodstuffs have materially enhanced in price to the
consumer. It is one great industry which has not been taken over by a trust,
though many attempts have been made to control it, with the result that never
have oysters been cheaper than at the present time. The oyster planters’ busi-
ness is at best uncertain and precarious. From the moment the beds under the
waters of our sounds, bays and rivers are cleaned, scraped and prepared and
the seed planted until the mature bivalve is dredged for market the work is
experimental. A severe wind from an unfavorable quarter, with its incidental
high waves and shifting sands, may in a few hours blot out the investment and

90

EIGHTH REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. g!I

labor of the year. Starfish may swarm over a well planted and well tilled bed
and leave scarcely a living oyster behind. The borer and periwinkle perform
their deadly work, and in addition to these known agencies of destruction, there
are conditions of water, etc., as yet not understood (as during the present season)

which materially affect the output.

The Oyster Crop.

The crop of the present season has been short, though unimpaired in quality,
it being stated that the quantity of oysters marketed does not exceed, in bushels,
the amount of seed oysters planted. The reason of this condition is obscure and
cannot be explained by the planters, who, in consequence of the poor supply, have
sustained severe loss, and were it not for the favorable system maintained by
the State many of them would have been forced out of business. About once
in from five to seven years there occurs in New York waters an abundant set of
young oysters. The last extensive set was in the summer of 1899, and in its
abundance it was altogether unprecedented. As the oyster requires from three
to five years to mature, a few years of plenty follow each general set of young
oysters to those planters who industriously cultivate their grounds and are
fortunate enough to escape all or most of the many dangers attendant upon the
occupation.

The liberal policies of the States of New York and Connecticut in dealing with
the shellfish planters have been imitated by other States with like excellent results.
Even the States upon the Pacific coast have been giving much attention to the
subject. State Fish Commissioner Kershaw, of Washington, is quoted as having
said: ‘‘Eastern transplanted oysters are coming to the front everywhere. People
who never investigated the subject do not know the importance of this
fishery question. It is now one of the four great industries of Washington, and
ranks with coal, lumber and wheat as a money producer. The oyster business

will, in my opinion, soon become more important than other fisheries.”

Sheltfish Cattare.

It may be of interest to describe here something regarding the men engaged
in the shellfishing business, and of the methods used by them in this odd style of
farming.

There are two classes of oyster planters: The first is represented by the poor

bayman who, without capital, cultivates a small piece of ground by his individual

92 BIGHDH REPORT OF fH

labor, with possibly the assistance of some member of his family or of a simiiarly
situated ‘‘partner.”” There are many hundreds of these who, by arduous toil, while
subjected to constant hardship and exposure, manage to wrest from the sand and
mud of our bays and harbors a frugal livelihood for themselves and families. The
numbers of this type are constantly increasing. Second, the planter with capital
sufficient to enable him to use every device and appliance necessary or convenient
to large operations, including the employment of well-manned steamers equipped
with steam dredges, Starfish mops, etc., together with extensive oyster houses where
oysters are opened or otherwise prepared for shipment, whence the product is sent
throughout the country, and indeed to all parts of the civilized world.

In commencing, or upon enlarging his business, the first care of the planter is
to select a tract of land under water which he believes to be unappropriated and
suitable for cultivation, marking out the boundaries by stakes or buoys; he then
consults the maps and records in the Shellfish Department of the Forest, Fish
and Game Commission for the purpose of determining that the lands in question
are open to entry. He is now prepared to make his formal written application
for a lease from the State, for which blank forms are provided by the Depart-
ment, giving, without actual survey, the best possible description of the ground,
making oath that the same has not within five years produced naturally sufficient
oysters to enable a man by taking them up to make a living, and that he intends,
in case a lease is granted, to use the lands for the purpose of shellfish culture
only. The application is thereupon filed and advertised during three weeks by
posting a notice in each of three places, to wit: in the shellfish office, in the
postoffice nearest the location and in the office of the town clerk of the town
in which the tract is situated, the time and place of sale of the grant being indi-
cated in the notices. At the expiration of the period of advertisement a certificate
is prepared, signed and filed by the clerk of the shellfish office that no objection, or
that objection, as the case may be, has been made to the granting of a lease.
If no valid objection has been received within competent time, the Superin-
tendent of Shellfisheries and the Surveyor of Oyster Lands unite in a certificate
(they having made any necessary investigation of the ground) that the tract is
not, or does not include, a bed of oysters of natural growth. At the shellfish
office, upon the appointed time, the grant of the lease of the land for the purpose
of shellfish cultivation is offered at public auction and awarded to the highest
bidder, the minimum price being twenty-five cents per acre per annum. After

the lease has thus been granted, the land is carefully surveyed and the boundaries

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 93

marked by the State Surveyor of Oyster Lands, who plots the tract upon the
maps of the office and furnishes an accurate description for the purposes of
the deed of lease, which is then prepared, executed by the Commission and delivered
to the lessee. Only inhabitants of the State may become original lessees or hold by
assignment of lease.

In certain localities the law permits what are called perpetual leases, or

franchises of land under water, for shellfish cultivation.

The Uear’s Basiness.

During the past year 125 applications were received for shellfish lands. Of
these applications eight were withdrawn, some of them covering ground for which
previous applications had been made. Of the remaining applications the lands
included in 114 have been leased to the highest bidders, and three are now in
process of advertisement. Thirteen hundred and seventy-two and four tenths
acres, to be added to the total of lands previously awarded, are included in these
117 applications. The total of lands held under lease and franchise by shellfish
cultivators now amounts to 27,252 acres. The lands applied for during the past
year are under the waters of Long Island Sound, Raritan Bay, Pelham Bay and
Jamaica Bay.

Mr. Charles Wyeth, the Surveyor of Oyster Lands, with an experience of
twelve years in this office, has carried forward during the year the surveys and
maps of the Department, a work commenced fifteen years ago under the charge
of Hon. Eugene Blackford, then Commissioner of Fisheries.

During the past few years the jurisdiction of this Department has by law
been extended to the lands under the waters of Pelham Bay. In Hempstead
Harbor and Manhasset Bay it has been contended that the lands are controlled
by the respective towns. The Attorney-General of the State has, however,
examined the questions carefully and advised that the jurisdiction is in the
State.

The effect of this enlargement of jurisdiction has been to extend the coast-
line, adjacent to State shellfish lands, to over 210 miles. Along this entire distance
it is necessary to maintain signal monuments, which constitute the basic points
of our system of hydrographic surveys. From these the necessary triangulations
are made and permanent maps prepared, by means of which the individual oyster

tracts are definitely located.

94 EIGHTH REPORT OF THE

Lobster Fisheries Dispate.

There has been no material change since my last annual report in the position
of the residents of the village of Noank in the State of Connecticut, who claim the
right to fish for lobsters in the waters of ‘‘The Race” in this State. Perhaps
the following correspondence between the Superintendent of Shellfisheries and the
Attorney-General of the State of Connecticut will make clear the present status
of the matter:

OFFICE SUPERINTENDENT OF SHELLFISHERIES,
No. 1 Mapison AVENUE.
New York, /uly 28, 1902.
Hon. Cuarves Purves, Attorney-General, Hartford, Conn.:

DEAR Sir.—About two years have passed since the case of the People ws.
Morgan was instituted. At that time it was claimed upon the part of the Noank
lobster fishermen that they possessed a prescriptive right to fish for lobsters in
the’ waters of ““Dhe) Race,” southwest of Misheris) Island, an this Statens duos
right has not been established, though from time to time it has been said that
the Connecticut fishermen would institute proceedings to test the question. The
only proposals looking to a solution of the matter have proceeded from this
Commission, which, in the fall of 1900, in a spirit of heartiest amity, suggested
reciprocal legislation upon the part of the Legislatures of the two States, which
suggestion was embodied in a recommendation to the New York Legislature
of Igot.

Mr. David Welch, who at that time represented the Noank people as their
attorney, undertook to draft a proposed law for adoption in both States, which
this Commission promised to recommend for enactment in the State of New York.
Upon consulting with his clients, Mr. Welch gave up the idea of reciprocity, and
reported that the passage of such an act by the Legislature of Connecticut
at that time would be ‘‘an utter impossibility.” It does not appear that the
question is any nearer being solved than at the beginning.

There is nothing pending upon which this Department can act, and as numerous
complaints are made that our shellfish non-resident law is not properly and
equally enforced, we cannot with fairness ask our protectors to overlook violations.

I beg to assure you of our most friendly disposition and entire readiness to
take up any promising measure which you may propose, and which will involve
not merely inaction by this Department in the execution of the law.

Appreciating your many courtesies, I am, with kind regards, yours respectfully,

B. Frank Woop,

Superintendent of Shellfishertes.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 95

STATE OF CONNECTICUT,
ATTORNEY-GENERAL’S OFFICE.
HartTForpD, /wuly 30, 1902.
Hon. B. Frank Woop, State Superintendent of Shellfishertes, New York:

Dear Sir. — Your favor of July twenty-eighth, concerning the matter of the
Noank lobster fishermen, is received.

I regret with you that results in the adjustment of the difficulties appear to
have been delayed. I hope now, however, that some progress will be made at an
early date.

The services of Mr. Hadlai A. Hull, a prominent lawyer of New London, have
been secured to bring the matter, if possible, to a speedy and amicable termina-
tion. Mr. Hull’s location and experience, I understand, will be of special
advantage to all parties concerned. I received a telephone message from him on
Monday that he was about to have an interview with your Mr. Overton, and
consequently I sent him a copy of your letter of July twenty-eighth, and you will
no doubt hear from him personally or through Mr. Overton.

I realize your position in the matter, and I desire to acknowledge my
appreciation of your most friendly disposition and continued courtesy concerning
the subject in question.

Thanking you for past favors, I remain, very truly yours,

CHARLES PHELPS,

Attorney-General.

It has been customary to distribute annually from the State Hatchery at Cold
Spring Harbor, in the waters of Long Island Sound, from 2,000,000 to 3,000,000
young lobsters. During the past year this work was necessarily abandoned as the
Department had no boat which could be used for the purpose. The naphtha
launch belonging to the Commission, not being a sea-going craft, was taken from
the waters of the coast and is now in use upon the inland waters of the State.
In many directions the work of this Department has been hampered by lack of
a suitable boat, and it is hoped that one may be provided for use upon our
coast and bays. Such a boat would be constantly employed in doing necessary

work.

The Menhaden Catch.

The Fisheries Company reports that the Menhaden catch during the season of
tg02 has amounted to 1,375,786 barrels, from which was obtained 55,000 barrels
of oil, rr,000 tons of dried scrap and 32,o00 tons of acidulated scrap. Not only

has the catch been large, but the price also larger than last year. It is said

96 EIGHTH REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

that the catch of the year now closed has not been equaled in twenty years,
and fully fifty per cent more fish might have been taken had the factories
been of sufficient capacity to handle them. It has been determined that food-fish
and Menhaden do not school together, scarcely enough food-fish being taken by
the Menhaden steamers to supply the wants of the crews in that direction. Wage
United States Fish Commission caused a searching investigation to be made, with
a view to determining this question, and has reported as above. Regarding the
periodical scarcity or abundance of food-fish many theories have been advanced,
but no good reason has appeared for the sudden changes from scarcity to
abundance and vice versa. Those who, from experience and study of the subject,
would be deemed most competent to answer such questions, say that it is beyond
the power of man to explain why fish, after having been supposed to be almost
extinct along certain lines of coast, will suddenly appear in great quantities. The
difficulty of regulating the ocean fisheries by legislation is therefore apparent,
and serious results are apt to follow such attempts.

Respectfully submitted.

B. Frank Woop,

Superintendent of Shellfishertes.

Ninth Report

of the

Forest, Fish and Game Commission

Albany, N. U., Janeary 13, 1904.

Hon. 5. Frederick Nixon,
Speaker of the Assembly:

Sir.— We have the honor to submit herewith, as
required by law, the official report of this Commission for
the year ending September 30, 1905.

Very traly yours,
Dewitt C. Miadieton,
Commissioner,

J. Dancan Pawrence,

Depaty Commissioner.

State of New Uork

Porest, Fish and Game Commission.

Dewitt C. Middleton, Commissioner, - - - - - - Watertown,
J. Duncan Lawrence, Deputy Commissioner, - - : Bloomville,
Secretary, - - - - - - - John D. Whish, Albany,
Superintendent of Forests, - - - - William F. Fox, Albany,
Chicia'GanlemProtectory a. - - - - - J. Warren Pond, Albany,
Superintendent of Shellfisheries - B. Frank Wood, Jamaica,

SS eases

t

NG

Report

of the
Porest, Fish and Game Commission
1904

To the Honorable the Degistatare:

N transmitting the Ninth Report the Forest, Fish and Game Commission calls

| your particular attention to the facts and statistics presented, which are calcu-

lated to show the actual value received by the people from that portion of the
business of the State entrusted to its care.

Every department (Forestry, Fisheries and Game Protection) is productive of
some return, and in each case the income is greater than the appropriation made
annually for its support.

The Adirondack forest, concerning which a separate and more extended report
will be presented to your honorable body later in the session, is a source of great
revenue to at least ten of the counties of the State, and the purchase of land in
this region has been a most valuable investment. Up to January 1, 1903, the
State had paid for Adirondack lands, exclusive of tax sales, $2,329,101.60. The
receipts from visitors to this region during the yeas 1903 amounted to $3,999,139.
This large sum of money was distributed directly to the people, and was spent by
thousands of visitors who sought the forest for rest, recreation or health.

Within the woodland territory in particular, and also in many other localities,
are located almost innumerable lakes and streams which are stocked liberally from
the system of fish hatcheries which the State has established. To these waters
flock annually thousands of fishermen who are able and willing to spend money
freely in pursuit of their favorite pastime. It is no longer disputed that the
continual replenishing of our waters with fish is necessary to keep pace with
the steady growth of our population. Without such attention as is given to public
waters by the Commission, it is conceded by those who have studied the problem

99

100 NINTH REPORT OF THE FOREST. FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

that a most desirable and comparatively inexpensive variety of food would
speedily be lost to the people, not to mention the loss of a form of recreation
that finds favor with thousands of sportsmen whose requirements have created ,
industries which produce goods worth great sums annually and which give
employment to an army of workingmen, The hatchery system, maintained at a_
moderate cost, returned last year in the actual market value of the fish produced
more than three dollars for every dollar spent for its maintenance. The value
to the people of the inland fisheries thus fostered amounts to hundreds of
thousands of dollars annually, as the statistics show.

In the Department of Shellfisheries, to which careful supervision is given by
the Commission, an even greater value is shown by the returns. The figures
given indicate that the business done amounts to nearly $7,000,000 yearly, that
this results in the payment of over $250,000 in wages, and that vessels are employed
in the work worth over $600,000. The amount of money spent by the State for the
care of this great industry is very small in comparison with the results secured.

Similar remarks might be made with reference to the work of protection,
which gives employment to a limited number of experienced men whose constant
watchfulness is necessary to prevent infractions of the law, and whose work is
productive of much good to all the interests concerned.

Finally, the Commission makes no recommendations for legislation, believing
that this may well be left to the representatives of the people in the Senate and
Assembly. Your attention is, however, respectfully called to the suggestions
contained in the appended reports of the Superintendent of Forests, the Superin-
tendent of Shellfisheries, the Chief Protector and the Hatchery Foremen. ‘To
such enactments as your honorable body may be pleased to make, and which
receive Executive approval, our best attention will be given.

BY THE COMMISSION.

Joun D. Wuish,

Secretary.

Report of Saperintendent of Forests
190)

To the Forest, Fish and Game Commisston:

ENTLEMEN. —I respectfully submit herewith my annual report in relation
to the work of the Forestry Department and such other business as was
entrusted to its care during the past year. Owing to the prolonged drought

last spring, together with certain causes beyond the control of the Department, the
forest fires at that time were the most extensive and destructive of any that have
occurred since the organization of the Forest Commission. Other States also
suffered serious losses, the extent of the burned areas and destruction of timber

in some of them exceeding that in New York.

Rocesitaueimes:

The woodland fires in the Adirondacks generally occur in April and May. At
this time of year the ground in our forests is covered with a thick layer of dead
leaves, which, with the first warm sun and south wind, become so dry that a single
spark will ignite them and start a blaze that will immediately spread in all directions;
or, under the influence of a strong breeze, travel rapidly over brush lands and
through the timber belts. If in its course it reaches the slash or dry refuse of an
old lumber job, the flames cannot be controlled, and the fire increases in its headway
and intensity.

In June, or after the hardwood trees are in full leaf, there is little danger.
Fires occur but seldom then; and if they do they cannot run far, as the dense
shade and leafy undergrowth retain moisture and promote conditions that prevent
any serious damage. During the last eighteen years we have had but one serious
fire in the summer—that of 1899— which was due to the extraordinary heat and
prolonged drought in August and September of that year. The fires at that time
occurred mostly on open, waste lands; and it was noticed that in many places

their progress was arrested when they reached a body of green timber. But in

IOL

102 NINTH REPORT OF THE

April and May of every year, when the trees and undergrowth are bare, the mass
of dead leaves, stumps and fallen tree trunks are exposed to the sun and drying
action of the wind, rendering them highly inflammable and ready to burst into
flames wherever a spark may fall or a camp fire be carelessly left burning.

No rain, except slight local showers, fell in the Adirondack region from April
fourth to June eleventh. The month of May was the driest in seventy-seven
years—since 1826. In Albany the rainfall was only fifteen one hundredths of an
inch, and it was still less in Northern New York. Combined with the lack of rain
there was an unusually high temperature, the month of May showing an accumu-
lated excess above the normal of eighty-nine degrees. On May sixth and nineteenth
the temperature at Saranac Lake was in the eighties. On the twenty-seventh the
mercury stood at eighty-five degrees, with a strong south wind blowing; and on
June sixth and seventh it reached over ninety degrees in the shade.

In the early spring this year, soon after the ground was free from snow,
several small fires occurred; but as usual in other years these were quickly extin-
guished by the firewardens and their men before the flames had attained any
headway or done any damage. In the latter part of April forest fires broke out
with alarming frequency along the lines of the New York Central, the Chateaugay,
the New York and Ottawa, and the Saranac and Lake Placid Railroads.

At first the firewardens extinguished these railroad. fires wherever they
appeared, but the locomotives continued to throw sparks and start fresh ones
faster than the men could attend to them. The dead leaves, bushes, undergrowth,
stumps, logs and leafless trees became so dry that it was only by the utmost exertion,
combined with skillful, experienced methods, any one fire could be controlled.
The conditions were such that incipient fires sprang up in the wake of nearly
every railroad train. The line of the New York Central, from Fulton Chain to
Mountain View, was bordered with smoke and flames, except on the eight-mile
stretch through the private preserve of Dr. W. Seward Webb, where a large
number of patrols were employed at his expense to follow each train, night or
day, and extinguish the locomotive sparks that fell along the road.

A question may arise here: Why did not the firewardens do the same? But
the law defining their duties does not permit them to employ men until a fire is
seen; it makes no provision for patrolling, or for the prevention of fires. Never-
theless, when it became evident that patrolling was absolutely necessary to save
the remaining forest in certain localities, orders were issued to watch the railroads
at these exposed places, after which few new fires started along the tracks, and
the larger gangs of men were employed in fighting those which were already

burning.

A. KNECHTEFL, PHOTO,

SPARK ARRESTER, OR SCREEN, IN

LOCOMOTIVE.
THE MANHOLE IN THE CENTER HAS A MESH OF THE SAME

SIZE AS THE REST OF THE SCREEN.

A. KNECHTEL, PHOTO.

PN Galley Aleen S)e/Alars

SECTION OF SPARK ARRESTER.

IN GENERAL USE ON LOCOMOTIVES OF THE ADIRONDACK

PATTERN OF SCREEN

CENTRAL RAILROAD.

NEW YORK

DIVISION,

EER ges Ce
ied ma eats

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 103

Another disastrous condition existed in the wind, which was blowing steadily
most of the time, generally from the northwest, and which on April thirtieth
became a furious gale that filled the air with sand and gravel, forcing travelers on
the highways to seek shelter, and pelting the buildings with a sound like that
of driving hail. The wind carried sparks and burning brands from the railroad
fires a long distance through the air and started fresh flames miles away. The dry
condition of the forest generated an intense heat when once fairly aflame, rendering
it- extremely difficult and dangerous to approach a burning area except on the
safe side. In the fire on Township 41, where the large trees grew close
to the side of a quiet pool in the inlet of Big Moose Lake, the burning timber
threw out a fierce heat that raised the temperature in the pool so that its surface
was strewn thickly with dead Trout. These were the conditions under which the
firewardens and their men were obliged to fight in the fires of 1903.

At the first outbreak of the trouble the attention of the railroad authorities
was called to the dangerous conditions existing along their respective lines, where-
upon they issued orders that the screen on each locomotive should be inspected,
and that defective ones should be repaired immediately. Still, the engines con-
tinued to throw sparks and ignite the dead grasses along the track, or kindle
flames in the dry brush and fallen leaves along the boundaries of the adjacent
forest. As the resident population was too small in numbers to cope successfully
with the increasing fires, the New York Central sent several carloads of Italian
laborers to assist in the work along their line, for which no charge was made to
the town or State. The superintendent of the Adirondack Division, in compliance
with a request from this Department, placed patrols, one man to the mile, on the
Saranac branch in order to protect the State plantation of 700 acres near that portion
of his line. Freight trains were divided and run in two sections for the purpose of
lessening the load on the engines and thereby decreasing the force of the exhaust;
and on May seventh orders were issued discontinuing some of the freight trains
temporarily in hopes that rain would soon relieve the situation.

But the officials of the Saranac and Lake Placid Railroad made no apparent
effort to lessen the danger from their trains, and manifested a surprising indiffer-
ence when notified of the destruction caused by their locomotives. The great
fire which at one time threatened the hotels at Lake Placid, and burned over an
area of several square miles, was started by a locomotive on that road. At this time
a construction company was engaged in the work of widening the gauge of this line
and making a new roadbed in places. In the performance of its contract this com-
pany employed some small engines—such as are used by contractors in railroad

building — which were evidently starting some of the fires along that line as well as

104 NINTH REPORT OF THE

the locomotives on the regular trains. The Chief Firewarden, Mr. L. S. Emmons,
while watching one of these construction engines, saw two fires start up behind it
immediately after it passed by. On its return he stopped it, examined the stack,
and found it without a screen of any kind. He compelled the engineer to put
one on before going any farther; but he could not arrest the man, because the
section in our fire law relating to railroads makes no provision for any such action.
Under the law he could only sue the engineer in a civil action, and, if successful,
recover $roo. But he would have the railroad company to contend with instead of
the individual as the actual defendant, the case would be appealed to the higher
courts, and years might elapse and thousands be expended by the State before he
got the hundred dollars.

Although the railroad officials claimed ‘that every locomotive was properly
screened in compliance with the law, there were nights when the usual quantity
and size of the coals thrown from some stack could be plainly seen in the
darkness, and indicated that the appliance was not in good condition.

On the other hand, we had cases hke this: A fire was started May thirteenth
near Colby Pond, Franklin County, by sparks from Engine No. 683 of the New
York Central Railroad, which destroyed several hundred acres of timber. A forestry
otficial immediately obtained permission to examine the screen of this engine, but
he found it unbroken and in proper condition. Most of the iron netting used
for locomotive screens has a mesh five sixteenths of an inch square, or two and
one half openings to the linear inch; and experts assert that a locomotive cannot
‘‘make steam” with a mesh of smaller size. Still, live coals as large as a pea
will be thrown by the exhaust through nettings of this pattern. The screens are
not placed in the stack, as many suppose, but are bolted firmly to a framework
in the forward extension of the boiler. The sparks and live coals from the flues
or tubes first strike a solid wrought iron shield, which slopes downward at an
angle of forty-five degrees, and are deflected to the bottom of the smoke box,
after which such as are carried upward by the draft strike the screen, which
slopes upward and forward, and, with the exception of the smaller ones that go
through this netting, fall back. But in the little engines used by the contractors
on construction work —such as the ones just referred to —the screen is in the stack.

On the nineteen miles of the Raquette Lake Railway, running through the
State forest from Clearwater to Durant, no fires occurred, because in granting a
charter for this road the Legislature stipulated that the locomotives must use
petroleum for fuel.

The railroad officials expressed themselves as anxious to do everything practicable

to prevent the starting of fires by their locomotives, as the company is legally

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 105

responsible for all damages arising from this source. They also manifest an
interest in forest preservation because their summer traffic is dependent on it.

Our present law is insufficient in its provisions to prevent a recurrence of
these railroad fires, and the only remedy lies in an amendment compelling
the companies to use electric motors or petroleum burners; or, failing to do this,
to patrol their lines during the dry season with a sufficient number of men to
extinguish the live coals and sparks wherever they may fall outside the tracks.

In the forests of Germany, although traversed most everywhere by railroads,
there is no loss caused by locomotives; at least the fires from this source are so
few and far between that the woodlands of that country are practically exempt
from this evil, a fact often alluded to in discussing the damage to woodlands
caused by railroads in the Adirondacks. But it must not be inferred from this
that the widespread destruction of standing timber caused by the railroads in
INorthenne New eVor< is idtles to, any. ineticiency on themipanumot tie tonest
management. The conditions differ widely from those which exist in the European
forests — conditions beyond the control of the Department.

The locomotives in Europe throw sparks the same as here. But in a German
forest, where timber cuttings have been made, there is an entire absence of tree-
tops, limbs and brush. All this is removed when the timber is taken out, leaving
the forest floor clean and free from inflammable material. Moreover, there is
scarcely any undergrowth aside from the seedlings which are to furnish the future
crop, while in some forests even these are not found, the ground being as free
from litter or young growth as a city park. The right-of-way along the railroads
is cut out to a greater width than in our State, and is entirely free from logs,
stumps and bushy growth. Except in mountainous districts, the land between
the railroad tracks and the adjoining forest is ploughed, leaving a broad strip of
fresh, upturned earth over which a creeping fire cannot pass. Where the right-
of-way is wide enough two strips of fresh earth are thus exposed, which are
connected at short intervals by cross-ploughing, thereby preventing a fire running
lengthwise in the grass between the strips. A good example of this may be seen
by tourists in traveling along the railroad from Heidelberg to Darmstadt. I
mention this route in particular as so many of our summer tourists travel that
line. For many miles this railroad is bordered on either side by contiguous
forests of Scotch Pine, a highly resinous species. The ground is level, sandy and
easily ploughed.

But in our Adirondack forests we have entirely different and more dangerous
conditions. The forests along the railroad lines, owing to their accessibility, have

all been lumbered recently, and the ground is covered waist deep with dead tree-

106 INDONINSy IRIAPOIMIY ON" ADIEU,

tops, limbs and dry brush. When a surface fire starts at the railroad track and
reaches this mass of tinder a furious conflagration ensues, which can be extin-
guished only by the most arduous work and at great expense. It is useless to-
talk about ploughing along our railroad lines as done in Germany. Any one who
has traveled over the line of the Adirondack divisions and noted the topography
will readily understand the difficulties of attempting such a method. In place
of the level, sandy soil, so often found in European forests, there is a rocky,
uneven surface interspersed with stumps, the right-of-way presenting a succession
of steep knolls and depressions. Even if the stumps were grubbed out by the roots
the broken rock, which crops out everywhere, renders ploughing impracticable.

Furthermore, it is doubtful whether any law could be passed, even if it were
constitutional, that would enable the State to dictate to the lumbermen as to how
they should conduct their business on private lands. The lumberman cannot
convert his tops and limbs into money, as is the case in Germany; neither do we
have the peasantry, who would go into the woods afterwards and clean up every
faggot and little twig. The time will undoubtedly come when, with a scarcity
of wood and higher prices, our forests will be exploited in as safe and intelligent a
manner as abroad. But until then we must recognize existing conditions, and in
our forest traanagement modify them as best we can. Any talk about European
forestry with reference to our railroad fires is therefore a waste of time, and
any indulgence in it betrays an ignorance of the actual situation.

But all the Adirondack fires did not originate along the railroads; there were
other causes at work. At this season of the year there are a large number of
fishermen in the woods, many of them belonging to a careless, shiftless. class,
unworthy the name of sportsmen. They employ no guides, but straggle aimlessly
through the forests, camping out wherever night overtakes them. As they move
on from place to place they generally leave their camp fires burning; when they
make coffee at noon they make little or no effort to extinguish the small fire
kindled for that purpose. With the woods as dry as they were last spring, several
fires, which started up in remote, unfrequented places, were fairly attributable
to fishermen of this class, some of whom were reported as having been seen in
these localities.

Hitherto we have had but little success in prosecuting these offenders, because
it was so difficult under the circumstances to secure the positive evidence neces-
sary to conviction. The local juries, too often in sympathy with the defendant,
refuse to render a verdict for the State on presumptive evidence merely. The
only remedy for this evil is the employment of patrols in sufficient numbers so

that each fishing party may be followed and closely watched. This plan may

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FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 107

be expensive, but it would be far cheaper than fighting the fires which otherwise
will occur. |

With few exceptions the private preserves escaped damage, for the lands of
this description were thoroughly patroled by men in the employ of the owners.
A notable exception, however, was the Rockefeller Preserve, through which the
line of the New York and Ottawa Railroad runs for several miles, which was burned
extensively by fires started by locomotives before measures were taken to thoroughly
patrol the road.

As in previous years, some of the burned area was due to farmers who kindled
their brush or fallows in violation of the law forbidding agricultural work of this
kind between April first and June first. But each offender of this class, as shown
farther on in this report, was arrested and punished.

Some conflagrations were started by incendiaries and degenerates, prompted by
malice, revenge, or criminal instincts. It has been alleged that some fires were set
by inen in order to get employment, but no evidence whatever has been furnished
thus far in support of this theory. The rate of wages for fighting fire in each
town is fixed by the town board of auditors, not by the State. The price varies
in the different towns from one dollar and twenty-five cents to two dollars per day.
The work, when properly performed, is the hardest and most exhaustive that men
are ever called upon to do, and the wages paid are none too high for the services
rendered. In view of the scarcity of labor and high wages in the Adirondacks
there was little or no need of any one becoming an incendiary in order to get work.
A man who would set fire to the woods is a criminal in every sense of the word.
Now, a criminal will commit crime in order to evade work, but not to get
work. The arduous service required by the firewardens offers no inducement to
men of this character. It is granted that bad men will burn the woods through
motives of revenge, but hardly to get honest employment. In each case where a
man was convicted of incendiarism last spring it was noticed that he had not
applied to any firewarden for employment. Furthermore, the towns, as a rule, do
not pay immediately, but wait until the boards of supervisors meet in December
to apportion the money for the payment of their fire accounts and other expenses,
and these payments are delayed still further until the taxes then levied can be
collected. Every man in the Adirondacks knows this, for the delay is a matter
of common complaint. JI am aware that some of the lumber companies paid cash
down to the men who protected their property at this time, but as these men were
called from other work for this purpose they did not have to light brush heaps
in order to get a job. Even if it should appear conclusively that some man had

kindled the woods in order to get work, it would be absurd to abandon the employ-

108 NINDE PRE PORT Okt Eek:

ment of men for fighting forest fires on that account, for men will not perform
the hard labor necessary for the protection of forest property without pay. If,
as claimed by some, the rate of wages is unnecessarily high in this service, the
auditing board of each town has the remedy in its own hands. I have discussed
this matter before in previous reports, and regret that it seems necessary to
allude to it again.

Another serious condition which confronts our forest management in the Adiron-
dacks is the ever increasing number of residents. I do not refer to our summer
hotels and their patrons. ‘The trouble is caused by the farmers who are carrying
on agricultural operations of a minor character, and by the large number of men
who remain in the region after the lumbering operations on which they were
employed have ceased. Fifty years ago, when there were scarcely any people in
our woods, forest fires were almost unknown. Fires do not start spontaneously;
some man’ or railroad is responsible for them in every case. The more railroads
we have the more of the idle, shiftless class come in, hence the greater the danger
to our woodlands. It is to be hoped, however, that the State in carrying out its
policy of acquiring lands will purchase the holdings of the small farmers, together
with other petty interests detrimental to the safety of forest property, and thereby
minimize this prolific source of evil.

Though an unpleasant duty, attention is called to the laxity of public opinion
‘which prevails in certain parts of the Adirondack region as to the cause of forest
fires. In nearly every village there is a disreputable class whose presence is
inimical to the preservation of our forests. They are the men who, having been
arrested at some time for violation of the Game Law or timber stealing, have
a grievance against the authorities. They hang around hotels or taverns and
when any so-called ‘‘State man” is in hearing, delight in making threats that,
“The State has got to look out or there will be more fires in the woods,” to which
the bystanders listen with smiles or nods of approval. It is discouraging to
post the rules and regulations regarding the use of fires only to have them torn
down by a fellow who afterwards struts around some barroom bragging of his
exploit. Nor is this all. It frequently occurs that when a farmer wilfully burns
his fallow in defiance of the law and warnings of the firewarden, thereby destroy-
ing the adjacent forest, the citizens refuse to furnish evidence of the crime,
although they are fully cognizant of the facts.

- Aside from the railroads, the remedy for this evil les with the residents them-
selves. It rests with them to create a healthy public sentiment that will prevent

the careless and criminal use of fire. If the taxes caused by the expense of

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 109

protecting forest property in the town become burdensome, they are largely
responsible for it; and instead of spending their time in useless complaint they
can utilize it better in remonstrating with the men who carelessly or wilfully
violate the law.

Whatever the causes of the fires may have been, there was no remissness or
inefficiency on the part of the firewardens in attacking them promptly and ener-
getically wherever they broke out. Everything was done that human activity
and experience could accomplish. I heard some unfavorable criticism at times,
but it came from persons who were hanging around hotels, stores or railroad
stations— men who refused to work when ordered out, preferring to spend their
time in finding fault with those who were at work, and in explaining to each
other how the thing should be done. There are 132 town firewardens appointed
by the Commission, each one of whom appoints district firewardens in his town,
making 661 in all. In this large number there undoubtedly are some who are
not as competent, or as well adapted to the work, as could be desired. But so
far as I can learn each one of them did the best he could.

As the fires increased in number it became difficult to get men enough to
fight them. The railroad companies brought in large gangs of laborers from
outside the woods to work along their lines, but that did not relieve the situation
at other places. A great many who had turned out willingly and fought fire at
the start abandoned the work after a while, explaining that they could not afford
to labor any longer and wait on the town nine months for their pay. I then
made an arrangement with some of the lumber companies, whose lands were in
danger, to send in all the men they could spare from their jobs and to advance
the cash needed to pay them promptly, the companies to wait for reimbursement
until the towns could settle the account. Under this agreement a large number
of experienced woodsmen were set to work.

But this did not help materially in protecting the great areas of State forest
in which there was no resident population, and in which no one had any individual
interest. Everywhere, with few exceptions, men refused to fight fire on State
land if they had to depend on the town for their money. In this emergency I
applied to Governor Odell, who promptly requested the Comptroller to place
$15,000 at the disposal of the Commission. With this fund available we were
able, whenever a fire broke out in the Preserve, to quickly hire a gang of selected
men and set them to work. Of the total burned area in the Adirondack and Catskill
forests only twelve per cent was State land, this low percentage and immunity

from extensive loss being due largely to the assistance rendered by the Governor.

TIO NINTH? REPORT OF THE

There seems to be an impression on the part of some people that the efforts of
the firewardens were of little avail, and that the termination of the fires was due
solely to rain. This is an error to a great extent. The rain was certainly a great
blessing, but when it finally came, on June eleventh, the greater part of the fires
had been extinguished, or were under control, although the burned area in many
places was still smoking. By the phrase ‘‘under control’ I mean that the
wardens had reported that these fires were completely corralled, and that a crew
was on watch to prevent any fresh outbreak.

In many cases, as just stated, the flames were completely extinguished —the
one on Township 41, for instance, which occurred on State land in a heavily
timbered Spruce forest that had never been lumbered. In other places, where the
progress of the fire had been effectually stopped, the burned area continued to
smoke and smolder, owing to the extraordinary dry condition; but the ground
was closely guarded, and whenever there was any indication that the wind might
cause a fresh outbreak measures were taken to prevent it.

A noticeable example of good work was seen at Fulton Chain Station, where
by judicious back-firing and effective work a general disaster was averted and the
village saved from destruction. Also on Township 28, Hamilton County, the lumber
crews, acting under the direction of Mr. John Anderson and the Chief Firewarden,
after working night and day, stopped a large fire that threatened at one time to
sweep over the entire town. Many other instances could be cited if necessary
where extensive and dangerous fires were fought to a standstill without the aid
of rainfall.

Though they extinguished many fires new ones were starting continually, hence
the question may arise as to why this was permitted. But under the weather
conditions no earthly power or organization could prevent this evil when loco-
motives were daily kindling fires in the dry grass along the railroads, and wandering
fishermen were leaving their smudge and coffee fires burning in the woods uncared
for. The city of Chicago had a model fire department, but that did not prevent
the great catastrophe in 1871, when a large portion of the city was destroyed by
fire. And so the firewardens of Northern New York, energetic and efficient as
they are in fighting fire, have to work under discouraging conditions so long
as the railroads and careless natives are continually firing the woods.

Every effort was made to enable the gangs to work to good advantage. The
best time to check a large fire is early in the morning — at daybreak —for the flames
die down in the night. The air then is cool and damp; there is little or no wind.

Where a fire occurred at any considerable distance from a camp or boarding-

ECHTEL, PHOTO.

. KN

A

PACKING IN FOOD FOR THE FIRE FIGHTERS

A. KNECHTEL, PHOTO,

COOK.

TNSUS, IMIURID, INGISMIMSIRS
PREPARING SUPPER FOR A PARTY OF MEN WHO ARE FIGHTING FIRE IN THE WOODS CLOSE BY.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. III

house, the crew was ordered to remain there all night and sleep on the ground,
‘arrangements having been made at the same time to send in food and blankets
to them. This involved no hardship, as the men were used to camping out;
moreover, the nights, with one exception, were warm, and there was no rain. In
each case of this kind the firewarden was ordered to make a contract for food
supplies and some simple camp equipment at the nearest store, lumber camp,
hotel or boarding-house, and to detail one or more men with pack-baskets to
carry in this material. Under this plan many fires were checked and extinguished
which could not have been controlled by fighting them in the daytime only
and allowing the crew to leave their work at a critical time to go some distance
for meals and lodging. Expenses thus incurred, as well as the wages of the men,
were assumed by the towns.

Some idea of the activity with which the work was carried on is attested by the
fact that 6,487 men were ordered out by the wardens, and that the total number
of days worked at the fires in the Adirondacks amounted to 77,290. Moreover,
there was only a sparse population to draw from. Hamilton County, one of the
largest in the State, has only 4,947 people all told — men, women and children.

Had it not been for the active, efficient work of the wardens and their men
during this prolonged drought, the numerous fires would have coalesced — ‘‘run

?

together,” as it is termed — and the Adirondack forest would have been destroyed,
leaving nothing but a bare and blackened ruin throughout its entire extent.
A careful tabulation of the firewardens’ reports of each and every fire enables

me to submit the following result:

ADIRONDACK FOREST FIRES.

1903.

ACROSS Cit qubanlorsre IeyaGl jones Be a Se 6 es gg) BOR SAT
Ncresiomonusheland@tmrned: soe = — aa ciao eee agent 7/2008,
Valle OF Srameolinc iraimloere clesiimoyeel 5 6 5 6 5 sk KOO, ROH
Waluciot logs. pullp-wood etc, destroyed as Ly Sell
Weallievots btiilicliimorsmbytitatie cies yaa oe eer ee 34,418
Aopealleriritaa ly eka Ol CanySael a by O Teen gare ear fe ee ee 77,290
ACES. Oi SAWS, oa over ayavel Joba kk 33,698
Acres of State brush land burned t SAG) cere ames Tan wy 24,420

* Included in first item. + Included in second item.

112

NINTH REPORT OF THE

CATSKILE, FOREST, FURS:
1903.
Acres of timber land burned 20,469
Acres of brush land burned . 15,860
Value of standing timber destroyed $29,075
Value of pulp-wood, etc., destroyed 7,934
Value of buildings burned 25
Total number of days’ labor 4,492
Acres of State timber land burned * 100
Acres of State brush land burned ¢ 65
Losses By COUNTIES.
ADIRONDACK REGION.
Value of Value of
meant Total days’ A f A f Valuesof logs, pulp- buildings,
counties “ghar? | anberina, | omaha, [sanimetin, Aiiaha, | ure
Clinton . | 969 2, 290 3,470 $5,020 $775 $280
Essex | 10, 794 32,755 24, 701° 55, 870 35, 335 16, 895
Franklin 26,678 84, 081 45, 287 179, 272 732247 5, 198
Fulton 810 2,155 1, 185 2, 890 100 75
Hamilton 11, 882 54, 317 6, 638 257, 550 2, 746 Tas
Herkimer 5,580 15, 895 8, 315 40, 280 WSs 70 450
Lewis 5, 285 20, 990 15,258 30, 800 4,650 985
Oneida . 1, 307 4, 665 4, 720 4, 500 304 goo
St. Lawrence . 10, 221 68, 076 58,974 75, 260 12, 532 2, 380
Saratoga 271 196 780 I, 400 oraies 140
Warren . 2, 534 6, 091 2, 376 II, 765 562
Washington 860 610 304 1, 600 35
Total 77, 290 292, 121 172, 068 $666, 207 $145,457 $34, 418
CATSKILL REGION.
Delaware 1, 387 3, 604 3, 231 $3, 185 $5, 511 $10
Greene . g21 Ty 2Qy/ 1, 207 4, 270 120
Sullivan TAS 13, 170 8, 884 21,215 2,138 15
Ulster 409 2, 368 2,538 405 165
Total 4, 492 20, 469 15, 860 $29, 075 $7, 934 $25

* Included in first item.

+ Included in second item.

TOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 113

The area burned over, as reported by each firewarden, was carefully proved or
corrected by referring to the recorded acreage of each lot mentioned in his report.
At the same time no deduction was made for the fact that on many lots the fire
ran across in streaks, a part or parts of the tract thus escaping damage. For this
reason the area reported exceeds somewhat the actual acreage damaged.

In estimating the value of the standing timber destroyed the firewardens were
cautioned against placing it any higher than the market price per acre at which
these lands had been selling. The percentage of virgin forest was small. By far
the greater part of the timber burned was on what are known as lumbered lands,
such as the State had been buying for one dollar and fifty cents per acre, but
which, through the recent rise in value of this class of property, are now worth
from two dollars to three dollar per acre. Some lands of this class, situated near
a railroad, or otherwise accessible, are worth more.

The firewardens were also directed, in making their estimates, to deduct the
value of standing timber that was killed, but which was still available if cut
within a year or so, for timber, pulp-wood or cordwood. A large proportion
of the timber included in the reports was damaged by what are known as
ground or surface fires, which killed the trees without consuming any part of
them. Where this damage occurred on private lands the owners have been busy
all this season in cutting their dead trees, leaving their live timber for future
operations. Consequently this large amount of salvage has reduced the estimate
of loss materially.

But on the State lands the standing timber killed by the fire, though still in
marketable condition, will result in a complete loss, as the Attorney-General
has rendered an opinion that, owing to the restrictions in the forestry clause
of the Constitution, this material cannot be cut or removed. This state of
affairs is also unfortunate, because these areas of dry, dead timber and slash are
very liable to take fire again and burn with uncontrollable fierceness.

The loss in buildings, fences, etc., includes the large hotel south of North
Elba, known as the Adirondack Lodge; the Loomis Camp, on Little Tupper Lake;
several miles of wire fence on Nehasane Park, and several barns or outbuildings
at various places.

The loss in logs, pulp-wood, etc., includes the large amount of acid wood
that was cut and piled on the lands of the Brooklyn Cooperage Company; several
thousand cords of pulp-wood and cordwood, belonging to the Chateaugay Iron
and Ore Company, piled at Plumadore Station, Franklin County; numerous skid-
ways of logs left in the woods last winter through lack of snow, and piles of

cordwood in forests near villages or shipping points.

Ii4 NINTH REPORT OF DHE

There was also a loss in the burning of young trees and seedling growth; in
the destruction of the forest humus, and in the creation of barren conditions that
prevent, in a great degree, the natural reforesting of the denuded lands. But no

estimate could be made of consequential damages or prospective losses.

CAUSES OF FIRES AS REPORTED.

Naigoad locomotives: .2 29) a tie) VWintereneen=pickers ey iin!
Burning fallows:.! 2 Se soe es eS) SIe Umaye Ce ma eee eee
Krom other fires by twindy |. 392. Or | Doonyarcdetire i yale ts 2. n
Fishermen) 2) 7) 40 tes BAe Childrenmat yplaiy: sy reshma
MOKA CeO 5 5 Gh sl AR Sowing On a Inecladnoe 5 >» « i
Hunters 7. Se Burnineg aestrawabcCiaes a ee ine a
Incendiaries 6 Burning brakes <(ferns)\ eee
Camp fires 6 > Blasting Stone =a. 35s” 55 yee
Burning buildings 2 SPanks! from stORCha: iq eee a ee L
Sparks from chimneys 3 -daghtning. 209.004; a Soe er

There were the usual large number reported as “Cause unknown,” many of
which were started by sparks carried through the air a long distance from other
fires, and several that probably were caused by locomotives, as they began at
some railroad line.

As in other years, a number were started by farmers who took advantage of
the dry spell to burn their fallows; but with a few exceptions these did not result
in serious damage. They occurred mostly at places where there was a resident
population, and hence were seen immediately by some district warden and quickly
extinguished.

The law prescribing a close season, in which the farmers are forbidden to
burn their brush or log heaps, has been in operation but a few years. During
this time, however, copies of this section of the law, printed on cloth, have been
posted conspicuously throughout the entire region. Several thousands of these
notices for posting, or replacing those that have become defaced or weather-beaten,
are sent each year into the forest districts by the Commission. Ignorance of the
law is no excuse for its violation.

When the fires ceased last June, Mr. L. S. Emmons, the Chief Firewarden,
commenced immediately the prosecution of all persons who had burned their
fallows between April first and June first as forbidden by law. Suits were
commenced against each offender, irrespective of the fact that in many instances

the fire did not escape from the owner’s premises. The law was intended to stop

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. Tet 5

a dangerous practice; hence no distinction was made in this respect. Up to this
date Mr. Emmons has obtained judgments in fifty-six cases, and has collected
fines to the amount of $1,781.45, not including costs, which in each case were
paid by the defendant in addition to the penalty. The fines imposed ranged from
twenty dollars to one hundred and seventy-five dollars, and in a few instances,
where the defendant refused to pay, he was sent to jail. Several suits are
awaiting trial, and other prosecutions will be commenced as soon as the necessary
evidence is obtained. This work has kept the Chief Firewarden busy the entire
summer. Also, several arrests were made by the town firewardens, which resulted
in the conviction of the various defendants and the enforcement of a penalty in
each case.

It may be reasonably expected that this vigorous, wholesale enforcement of
the law will tend to decrease largely the number of fires from this source in the
future. Anyway, there are fifty-six farmers who will not burn their fallows here-
after in the close season, and their neighbors have had a good opportunity this
summer to learn what they also may expect in case they violate this section
of the law. .

Of the incendiaries arrested, three are now serving terms in State Prison for
their offence. In some other prosecutions begun for this crime we were unable to
obtain a conviction. Among the different causes reported by the wardens there
are many attributed to fishermen, hunters, campers, etc. This may suggest that, as
the firewardens knew the source of these fires, some arrests should have been made
in connection with them. But these statements of the wardens were based upon
their opinion in the matter, and not upon any positive facts or information.
While they had every reason to believe that the fire originated as described,
they could not obtain evidence of the definite character necessary to secure
a conviction of the suspected parties. This will always be the case until we
are authorized to employ patrols who can follow and watch fishermen, hunters,
campers and other persons who would be lable to start fires while wandering
through the woods.

The Forestry Law of the State of New York, so far as it relates to extinguish-
ing fires, is a good one. It is admirably drawn, is well adapted to the various
requirements which it is designed to meet, and it has been perfected by years of
experience in its practical working. It has been used as a model by the forestry
departments of other States, which have copied it, in the main, making only
such modifications as their peculiar conditions or amount of appropriations made
necessary. While its various sections enable the Commission to use all proper

means for fighting forest fires, it: does not contain sufficient provision for their

116 NINTH REPORT OF THE

prevention. The best way to fight fires is to have no fires. Our present law
works well enough in ordinary years, but it does not accomplish its purpose in a
season of exceptional drought, and it fails to eliminate the danger from railroads.
Unless amended in these respects it will be only a question of time before there
will be a recurrence of a similar or worse disaster.

The patrol system may be expensive some years, but it will cost less than
fighting fires that otherwise will surely occur, to say nothing of the loss of prop-
erty and injury to forest conditions. It cost $153,000 to fight fires this year, the
most of which could have been prevented by the expenditure of a small propor-
tion of this money in hiring patrols to guard the railroad lines and to watch the
dangerous parties who were strolling through the woods. I doubt, however, if
any law or force of patrols can prevent incendiary fires, for the men who commit
these crimes in most instances select places and opportunities that enable them
to avoid detection.

The patrols are needed only during a part of April and May, and in many
years a rainy spring would render their services unnecessary. A summer drought
may occur some year (as in 1899) when the firewardens would have to order
them on duty to guard the forest. That portion of the expense incurred by
patrolling railroad lines should be borne in part by the railroad companies,
the proportion to be determined by the Legislature. But however this may
be arranged, the patrols should be under the sole authority and control of the
local firewardens. In other localities the expense should be borne by the town
and State, as provided under the present law for fighting fire. If the railway
managers would consent to the use of petroleum in April and May, and at such
other times as the forest conditions might require, the number of men needed
for this purpose would be greatly reduced. But petroleum is much more expensive
than coal, and so the companies may prefer to employ patrols rather than make
any change in their motive power.

This is no new idea. The system has already been in force for several years
by the Canadian Government with good results. In 1902 there were 234 rangers
employed on the Crown lands at an expense of $34,200. This plan was put in
operation in 1885, at which time thirty-seven men were employed on this duty.
The result was so satisfactory that the number was increased from year to year,
until now there are 234 men employed on this work. The great Algonquin Park,
in the Province of Ontario, which has an area of 1,109,383 acres, is also watched
carefully by forest guards whose principal duty is the prevention of fires. The
Dominion Government has found that, in the administration of its own lands,

the method of prevention is the cheapest in the end.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. Wy

I here wish to call your attention to the important services rendered by
Mr. L. S. Emmons, the Chief Firewarden of the Commission. During the fires
last spring he was on the ground every day from first to last, assisting the wardens
in organizing working parties, and, at times, superintending the men personally.
When this work was finished he devoted his time to the prosecution of persons
who had violated sections of the Fire Law, after which he returned to the Albany
office, where he has been busily engaged in the adjustment of the accounts between
the various towns and the State.

I also desire to acknowledge the valuable assistance received from Foresters
Knechtel and Pettis, each of whom worked faithfully during the critical period
of the fires. Through the energetic care and activity of Mr. Pettis the extensive
plantation of seedling trees at Lake Clear Junction was saved from destruction.
With a party of men he stopped a dangerous fire that burned its way to the edge
of the plantation and extinguished it there before any loss was sustained, except
on a small area of planted ground along the border. Forester Knechtel also
rendered valuable assistance in the tabulation of the statistics in the 643 reports
received from the firewardens, and in preparing for future reference a practical

digest of other information, which also appears in these returns.

Annaal Forest Prodact.

As customary in my previous reports, I also submit here, for your informa-
tion, the yearly statement, showing the extent of the timber cutting in the
Adirondack and Catskill forests and the amount of the product. The statistics
Sivenmearey 10h the | years 1902, aS) the returns for the jeurrent year are mever
obtainable in time for my annual report.

A tabulation of the returns made to this office from each sawmill, pulp-mill,
acid factory, cooperage plant and wood-consuming industry, drawing its supply

of raw material from the Adirondack forest, shows the following output:

ADIRONDACK FOREST.

Feet B. M.
SPI Ceo ie mnie dems e kal “et pana Meee cert io panei ein A OO 5 O83 Tal
FemlOCkarien Cusiayr sou ah So ee ayy es eee Aa ee Aen O Ont niT Aza c
iT Se Par vides neat hy dh ictal Reean ee eein es ae ee ETA ©! 2h O)- OAS
Ptachiwi00 Gites marie ek Un oh eye ogee) doy mse ee Mee CoTeG a.a
Ftp avo OC (A Omi SOOmCOTGS)c1 tu) oe: eee eee EES Lia Ad:
Wood for chemicals, cooperage, etc. ek ee Ae BOS 7,0

PE Oa ss Es Satan es eee Sais, | Oe eth eee ort ee NER. UR 72E 02/2" OO!

118 NINTH REPORT OF THE

ADIRONDACK Forest — (Concluded).

Shingles
Lath

Total

Pieces,
32,826,000

45,987,200

78,813,200

his asthe largest output of any year in the history of the State, and exceeds

that of the previous year by 27,767,711 feet.

The sixth item includes 35,000 cords of wood cut by the Chateaugay Ore and

Iron Company and used in their works at Lyon Mountain, Clinton County.

LuMBER CoMPANIES UsING THE LarGEest AMOUNT OF STOCK.

COMPANY. Location, Feet B. M.
Norwood Manufacturing Company . Tupper Lake 22, 355, 000
Finch, Pruyn and Company . Glens Falls 20, 550, 000
Beaver River Lumber Company Castorland 12, 900, 000
Kenyon Lumber Company Sandy Hill 12, 753, 260
Buck’s Bridge Lumber Company Canton II, 000, 000
Moose River Lumber Company . McKeever 10, 325, 000
Sherman Lumber Company Tupper Lake 10, 052, 035

INDUSTRIES CONSUMING THE LarGEST AMoUNT OF PuLP-Woop.

COMPANY. Location. Cords,
International Paper Company Watertown 40, 688
J. and J. Rogers Company Ausable Forks 33, 049
Hinckley Fibre Company . Hinckley . 33, 000
Union Bag and Paper Company Ballston Spa. 30, 000
International Paper Company Piercefield 28, 292
International Paper Company Cadyville . 23, 923
Dexter Paper Company Dexter 18, 000
International Paper Company Glens Falls 17,515

These figures do not indicate the relative amount of business done by the pulp

companies, as many of them get a large proportion of their stock from Canada,

and hence some of the largest concerns do not appear in this list.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. I19g

CATSKILL FOREST.

Outeut oF Tuts REGION AND INDUSTRIES IN WHICH USED.

Feet B. M.

ILithanloeie’ (Geoselhy Ineutchy@ocl) 5 5 6 5 5 ye 6 | AOR RIE
JNCIGL TACHOBIOS (2,606 COMES) o 6.5 5 6 6 6 5 KO ;3OezReXou
DxCeliiore, jorbo, Cue, (Gp Ae8 Cols) . .. 6 6 6 & Ong se Oy,
MROCalP a eee a ee We en eran ae RTE OH O.0 0) S520.

Pieces.

STING SSE ke est uke hake ote Noe ei ge eerie ey Meee 4,698,000
AG eae Pc cee hcg EG ADE dA Cane Mea ame Ural Lae 4,454,500

Motalimcs (nett hier ts awn Ob atin Reed We eeerate SAGE Su O)STCS 2 SOOO

LuMBER PRODUCT OF THE CATSKILL REGION BY COUNTIES.

Feet B. M.
Delaware iy eto Ninn eage nh ut St) esi Oem Ranier at Sate 20h TOMO S
CHRECTICwE amp Mention tay cus Wat hr. ele nat aay rea nner 6,205,794
SUMMA RGeeae oie ee eg coins vie Gs |e ee TTT On SAO
WISE teigubesaieee a4 Woe ab sta au alc hr oral LI an Wea ets ent ni 8,422,860
MING Call es rrr taney Pete ret I Sl iu EE pee seem ONO MOR Ka

SUMMARY.

Feet B. M.
Adirondack forest ADE Soe wat sin OR, GY aR eae e Ti 2RO 22hOO
Catskill Piorestpeueenice es St) ol ee ere See CROC ONE 7'O
Motaliptete Ne ene fe ka Aer Sie anaes Ae OG OAT Obits 214)

As the collection of the information relating to the annual forest product
necessitated a correspondence with 655 different firms or individuals and the
tabulation of the statistics thus obtained, it will be seen that no small amount
of time and work were expended on this part of our office business. In some
instances, where a firm or individual failed to make a return, a special journey
to the mills of these parties was made in order to obtain the desired information.

The thanks of the Commission are due to the various persons engaged in these
industries for their prompt and courteous replies to our request for a statement,

their cooperation in this respect enabling us to ascertain definitely the facts

120 NINTH REPORT OF THE

as to the extent of the annual output, a knowledge of which is so essential to a
correct understanding of the forestry situation in our State. In the collection
and tabulation of the statistics thus obtained I am indebted to the assistance of
Mr. A. B. Strough of this office, his previous experience for several years on this

same work enabling him to collate the figures with accuracy.

Forests as a Sammer Resort.

The annual supply bill, passed by the Legislature of 1903, contained the
following item:

‘‘For the expense of collecting and publishing statistics and other information
relating to amount of capital invested, number of persons employed, wages paid,
and volume of business done at the summer resorts in the counties containing the
Forest Preserve and public parks of the State, $1,560, or so much thereof as is
necessary.”

It was further provided in the act that the work necessary in securing and
publishing this information should be done by your Commission. During the
summer a list was made of the 3,526 hotels and boarding-houses in the Adiron-
dacks, Catskills and at the Thousand Islands. A circular-letter was mailed to
each proprietor explaining the object of the Commission in thus addressing him,
and with the circular was sent an information-blank, which he was asked to fill in

with the desired statistics. The forms used for this purpose read as follows:

STATE OF NEw York.
Forest, Fish AND GAME COMMISSION,

ALBANY, October 1, 1903.
Dewirr C. MIDDLETON, Commussioner.

J. Duncan Lawrence, Deputy Commissioner.

DEAR Sir.— We shall include in our annual report for 1903 some statistics
showing the extent of summer-resort business carried on by the Northern hotels
and boarding-houses, the total capital invested in buildings, the number of guests,
number of employees, total wages paid, and gross receipts from all sources. As
it is essential that these statistics should be based on statements furnished by the
proprietors of the various hotels and boarding-houses, instead of on estimates
made by others, a copy of the enclosed circular has been mailed to each.

The figures thus obtained will not be printed, but will be treated as a confi-
dential communication. In no case will they be shown to any assessor, or used

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION, e250

in any way that might influence the assessment of property. The published
statistics will contain no information as to any particular hotel or boarding-house,
but will show only the total footings of the returns.

Will you kindly fill out the blank in the enclosed circular at your earliest con-
venience and remail it to us. In case you cannot readily refer to your accounts
or hotel register, you are at liberty to fill out the answers from memory, or as
near as you can.

The combined figures from the returns will show the volume of the Northern
summer-resort business of New York, the large amount of money distributed
there for wages, and the influence of this business on the development and pros-
perity of that region. This valuable and interesting information, together with a
schedule of the summer hotels and boarding-houses, their proprietors, and the
capacity of each place, will be printed in a special report, a copy of which will
be mailed to your address.

Trusting that the interest you must feel in all information of the kind will
prompt you to cooperate with us in this work, we remain,

Yours very truly,

Forest, FisH AND GAME CoMMISSION.

COPY OF INFORMATION-BLANK FURNISHED.

STATE OF NEw YorK.
SuMMER HoTEeLs AND BCARDING-HOUSES.
SEASON OF 1903.

INAmMemo tenor ly Orem to@ Ait Cima INO US eV wis errse eats 20 eee Fares ae rors eet melee eee ene
IN [arta CMO ban 1; OO Tel CLO lees een eee eee JXOUOIT CS BUCO OSS a ee
NamoOad stations set Mad Ae OS eet, Capacity at ae ee neers eee aerate
Total number of guests, boarders, fishermen and hunters in 1903. Ede See ttia ete
SIN Gtiiran oe vant Oe ate SES pate eas teetg © ran ita ce Gl OyV Ze Taegu; ©)p VK 1 Se nnn eI
Nitti role ae Sess EO MEOLESIGe Olen SEA Cu Olyy NIC vin NGO Ig core eee anes tucets nna ee Ise rise
Total capital invested in buildings, all kinds, and furniture, not including land, $...
Total number of employees (clerks, cooks, porters, waiters, chambermaids, bell-boys,

house mechanics, musicians, stablemen, drivers, house guides, etc.)

Total wages paid employees and help, male and female, $

Total receipts for board, laundry, carriage hire, boat hire, golf grounds, etc., $

Note.—If your hotel is open all the year, please omit any figures for your winter or commercial
' business, but include tourists, pleasure and health seekers, fishermen and hunters.

As a general thing the replies were prompt and satisfactory. But many of the
proprietors, fearing that the information might be used to their disadvantage
by the town assessor, answered only in part and omitted the figures showing the

value of their buildings or capital invested. This omission was unnecessary, as

272 INPONAD SE WVSIOMI Os Ass,

the circular sent them stated plainly that their replies would be treated as a confi-
dential communication. Still, some persons flatly refused to furnish this particular
item, and so an official of the Commission, competent to make a fair estimate as
to the value of this class of property, was sent to obtain the lacking information.

In some instances, where parties made a complete return, the value of the
property was evidently an understatement, the owner having the assessors in mind
when he filled out his report. On the other hand, some hotel proprietors, actuated
by a feeling of rivalry or pride in their business, reported their yearly receipts at an
amount beyond that which the extent of their buildings and accommodations
would indicate. For these reasons the figures in the condensed statement may
be regarded as approximate rather than strictly accurate.

The information compiled in the course of this work is too voluminous for
insertion here, and hence it will be sent to the Legislature as a special report.

I am able, however, to submit the following:

SUMMARY.
Guests Guests
Total Total Sate :
LOCALITY. d aad b f remaining from outside
“capacity. | “guess. | overtwo | of New York
Adirondacks 32, 863 204, 523 44,956 22, 876
Catskills . 89,978 224, 382 89, 732 44, 866
Lake George 5,389 26, 272 5, 237 3, 110
Thousand Islands . 4,918 47, 200 4, 316 17,251
Total ail 133, 148 502, 386 144, 241 88, 103
Total capital Total Total
LOCALITY, invested Renee id Total
ae of Saal reas, aeons receipts,
Adirondacks $4, 164, 620 7,452 $541,959 | $3,999, 130
Catskills . II, 131, 200 17, 986 539, 580 4, 443, 848
Lake George T, 131, 500 I, 009 48, 508 2o222 7
Thousand Islands . I, 243, 500 TeyESS 63, 604 350, 156
Total . $17, 670, 820 27,602 |*$1, 193, 741 | $9,075, 370

* Does not include board.

These figures show that our forests occupy a valuable place in the political

economy of the State, aside from their product and the industries dependent

on them.

In addition to the sanitary benefits, the esthetic advantages, and the

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 123

maintenance of fish and game, they offer this peculiar source of wealth and
further diversification of business. But it must be remembered that this desir-
able condition is solely dependent for its continuance on the preservation of the
forests, which constitute the sole attraction to the thousands who throng these
summer resorts. If the mountain slopes and upland plateaus of the Adirondack
and Catskill regions are denuded of their forest cover—if in place of these
sylvan attractions there is to be only a dreary waste of stump fields and fire-
blackened areas—the thousands of summer visitors will seek other places, the
hotels and boarding-houses will then be tenantless, and the people of the State
will lose this source of revenue. The permanence of our forests will depend
largely on the permanence of tenure; and there is no permanence of tenure aside
from that of the State.

I append to this report some extracts from the firewardens’ reports which
you will find readable and interesting. They throw a sidelight on the situation
and furnish certain items of information that are necessary to the obtaining of
a full and correct idea as to events in the Adirondacks during the fires of 1903.

Trusting that the discussions in this report will meet with your approval, and
that the suggestions may receive your favorable consideration, I am,

Yours very respectfully,
Witiiam F. Fox,

Superintendent State Forests.
Aweany, N. Y., December 31, 1903.

What the Firewardens Had to Say.

I append here some extracts from the reports of the town firewardens which
furnish additional information of a special character and serve to give a better
idea of the conditions under which their work was carried on. They are from
practical, experienced men whose opinions are entitled to careful consideration.
While I do not always agree with the firewardens in their views and suggestions,
it seems proper to call the attention of the Commission to what they have to say
about these matters. In these extracts from the ‘‘ Remarks” in their reports,
it is highly satisfactory to note the keen interest and zeal which they evidently
take in the discharge of their duties. Nowhere have I found anything indicating

apathy or indifference. I also include some extracts from letters and telegrams

I124 NINTH REPORT OF THE

received from them, which were sent in order to get instructions or advice as
to doubtful questions that came up in the course of their work; also some from

letters sent by citizens in relation to the fires in their towns or on their property:

Mr. Georce W. Meaper, Dannemora, Clinton County.— We had a drought
lasting sixty days. The land had been cut over and left with brush and some
standing timber in small spots. I worked two days in putting out fire at the edge
of a 6o00-acre tract of State land near Dannemora Prison, and stopped it before it
did any damage. I have arrested five persons for building fallow fires without
permission, and so have stopped any more setting of such fires.

Mr. Wittiam Hopxins, Ausable Forks, Clinton County.—I do not think the
fires this season were of incendiary origin. Never in my experience have
conditions been so favorable for fire. For seven weeks not one drop of rain fell,
and the drought began so early that vegetation did not get a chance to start.
If it had, it would have retarded the fire materially. -

Mr. B. R. Brewster, Newman, Essex County.— This fire was the worst of all.
A terrible wind arose on the third of June about twelve o'clock. The wind carried
the sparks through the woods at a rapid rate. In the territory around the South
Meadows and Adirondack Lodge about 6,000 acres had been lumbered. The Spruce
and Balsam brush made good fuel, and the fire swept over an area of 10,000 acres.
in one afternoon. The timber burned was of little value, as it was all hardwood
and too far from market.

Mr. Rosert H. Wixrson, Olmstedville, Essex County.— This tract was lumbered
last season, and all the large timber was cut off. There was quite a lot of small
Spruce and Balsam left, which in time would have been valuable; but now every-
thing is killed. There was so much brush to feed the flames that the fire burned
very fast.

Mr. WasHInGTon Cuase, Newcomb, Essex County.— This fire would have been
very disastrous had it not been for the prompt action of a large force of men who
stopped it and held it under control until rain came.

Mr. Wittiam H. BroucutTon, Moriah, Essex County.— We could: not put the
fires out, but we kept them from running by leaving men to watch the ground after
they were once under control.

Mr. CuarLes Grppines, Ausable Chasm, Essex County.— This fire was on Pine
land that had been lumbered. ‘The tops and brush left in the woods made a very
hot fire; the young timber was mostly killed. This fire (May fourth) was on Trem-
bleau Mountain. It did very little damage, for we kept it out of the valuable timber
and held it at the top of the mountain where there was very little to burn. We
fought it for three days against a strong south wind, then the wind shifted to the
west and the fire was soon extinguished.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. EZ A5

Mr. C. W. Rowe, Chesterfield, Essex County.— The Delaware and Hudson Rail-
road has about ten miles of track in this town—nearly all of it along a mountain
side, and with very few buildings in sight of the road. This mountain side was
covered with forest when the railroad was built, but it has been burned over so many
times since that nearly all the timber has been killed and is falling down, making
excellent fuel for a forest fire. The law requiring railroad companies to pay all losses
from fires caused by their engines has been utterly ignored. Nota dollar has ever
been paid for damages, the company claiming that we must prove that their engines
set the fires, and to prove this we must see the fire leave the engine and strike the
ground. If the railroads cannot prevent these fires by putting proper appliances
on their locomotives, then it is a serious problem. If they can do so and do not
attend to it they should be prosecuted. The fires in this town are now under
control, but the engines on the Delaware and Hudson Railroad set fires on the
mountain south of Port Kent nearly every day. If.the trainmen on this road
make any effort to prevent them, such efforts are of no avail. Their fire screens
are not worth a straw, and if the officials of the road don’t know it, it is time
they did. I venture to say that too fires have been set by engines on this road
within sight of my residence, a distance of four or five miles.

Mr. C. A. Jorpan, Elizabethtown, Essex County.—In regard to my estimate
on the value of buildings destroyed, I would say that it was made up as follows:
Euba Mills, $2,000; house, barn and blacksmith shop, $1,000; three tenant houses
($500 each), $1,500; one farmhouse, barn and outbuildings, $1,500; total, $6,000.
No fences or bridges of any value were destroyed.

Mr. James Woop, Schroon, Essex County,—I have been putting up posters.
I find that I have a good many fallows to burn, if they don’t burn them before
they have a right to. The people claim that they can burn on their own land
when they have a mind to, for the law is no good. If that is the case, I don’t see
any need of firewardens. But I gave them to understand that I should do my
duty, and that I would report them. They said that I could not prove that they
set the fire. I told them if the fire was there it was evidence that they started it
or knew who did. I further told them that if they did not have a printed permit
from me they were liable to a fine. I told them you had written me cranky
letters and said for me to report them, and that you would put the law in force.
They say you cannot unless the fire goes off their land. I told them it made no
difference whether the fire got off their land or not; that they were lable to a
fine just the same. I mean to do my duty as long as I am firewarden.

Mr. Cuartes Hooper, Westport, Essex County.—I spoke to the station agent
at Westport about these railroad fires and he got quite mad about it. He said the
railroad was blamed for everything. The agent admitted that he did not think
there was anything to prevent the sparks from escaping. Most of the damage is
done by freight trains.

126 NINTH REPORT OF THE

Mr. Georce H. McKinney, Ellenburg, Franklin County.— The fire did not run
much until a high wind drove it over a large area. On April thirtieth the wind
blew again very hard, and it was then that nearly the whole tract of 500 acres was
burned over. The Spruce had been mostly cut off, leaving only hardwoods.
The fire ran in the Spruce tops left in the woods. I could not get men enough
to stop it, as the wind was blowing so hard and the timber was so dry. The fire
was checked the next day (May first) by the weather becoming cold.

Mr. B. L. Reynorps, Reynoldston, Franklin County.— The district burned over
was mostly brush and wild lands. It was not very valuable, but it was quite
near to buildings, and work was principally directed to protecting these. It is
almost impossible to extinguish fires completely now. The best one can do is to
be sure it is out all around the edge far enough so that it will not throw sparks.
But to put out absolutely all old logs, stumps, etc., all over the tract, would take
a whole pond of water. This fire (June ninth) came from the adjoining town of
Dickinson, and could be controlled only on the virgin forest land. It was held
there by continual work until rain came.

Mr. Benjamin A. Muncit, Paul Smith’s, Franklin County.—I had miles of
ditches dug.

Mr. Fremont F. Suitu, Loon Lake, Franklin County.— The timber on some
of these burned lots is falling down. I think something should be done in
regard to the donkey engines they are using on the new road which they are
building. They have burned the whole country up now, and they are going
to run up to the outlet of Loon Lake with them in a few days. We cannot
keep men enough over there to keep the fire out, as they start flames wherever
they go. I don’t think they are using any screens at all.

Mr. PERKINS SMITH, St. Regis Falls, Franklin County.—I went over the burned
area (300 acres) and found that it was entirely virgin forest, heavily timbered
with White Pine. But I think this Pine will not die for two or three years yet.
The hardwood had been cut before this fire occurred, but a large amount of pulp
timber was standing which was badly damaged. Shall I allow men pay for fighting
fire on their own lands? ‘The point in question is this: The agent for O. P. Dexter
has worked his men in connection with other men warned out to fight fire on
Dexter’s land.

Mr. A. N. Sxirr, Onchiota, Franklin County.— There were times when the men
were away in other places fighting fire, and so I got the women out to help. If
I hadn’t done so nothing could have stopped the fire from burning every building
for miles around here. The women fought two nights, all night long, and waded
brooks clear to their knees. I say they fought fire better than the men, they
were that scared, and were more thorough in putting it out than the men were.
I kept their time the same as the men and made out their account and swore to
it, and then the town firewarden would not allow them anything for it. The

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 27)

board said they ought to have it as well as the men, but he wouldn’t allow it.
When Henry Paye was firewarden he had to get the women out in some places,
and he allowed them the same as the men, for he said they fought better. Up
in the town of Brighton they had women fighting fire and they got their pay the
same asthe men. There are lots of times when the fires are raging so bad that every
one has to turn out. I am going to send this account to you and see if you
don’t think they ought to have their pay. I say it is a shame if they don’t, and
I think you will pay the same.*

Mr. Epwarp M. Situ, Saranac Lake, Franklin County.—I think the railroad
company should put more men on the track in a dry time.

Mr. Wituram J. Betiin, Fulton County.— The fire is still burning in the ground
at places. It cannot be extinguished now, as there is no water. I am watching it
all the time so that it will not spread.

Mr. Netus Lancaster, Stratford, Fulton County.—The fire is burning into
the muck very deep.

Mr. F. W. Aprams, Piseco, Hamilton County.—I can see how a camp might
have prevented this fire. There is no camp on this lake (Sand Lake), and this is
the second time that a fire has occurred here. A fire for cooking is built in the
woods, and a high wind arising, sparks are blown into the forest, starting a fire that
soon gets beyond control. I have had no fires where there were camps for people
to use.

Mr. R. B. Nicuors, Indian Lake, Hamilton County.— We kept the fire from
running except on the day when the wind blew so hard. Then it got the advantage
of us, but as soon as the wind went down we surrounded it again. I have the
fires under control and nearly all out at this time (May second). No great
damage has been done, as the fires ran mostly in the leaves and did not burn
very deep; but over in Minerva, Essex County, on Township 15, it burned pretty
hard. I think perhaps it would be well for you to come here after the fires
are over, as we will have to do some business with some of those fellows for burning
fallows; also with some that would not go to the fires when ordered out to do so
by the district wardens.

Mr. WELLINGTON KENWE:L, Inlet, Hamilton County.— All of the men turned
in and carried water. At night three of them carried water and had the fire all out
by morning. Then three men connected a pipe line, turning a one and one half inch
stream of water on the burning ground. We kept this pipe line running for
three weeks. One fire started opposite the mouth of Indian River, just about
the Beecher Camp. I think it was started by a smoker, as there were parties
fishing there. The fire on Lime Kiln Lake was started by parties camping
there. I employed a man to get the names of the sportsmen who were seen there

= The women were paid.—W. F. F.

128 NINE REPORT Oo ELE

the day before the fire was discovered. ‘This case seems easy of proof. Smokers
start most of the fires in this locality. A match thrown down, or a pipe knocked
out, will start a fire in a few minutes.

Mr. Byron Ames, Nehasane, Hamilton County.— The origin of this fire will
always be a mystery. There appears to be no reason to suspect nialicious intent;
and there is small probability that it was due to carelessness. It started near an
old stump where some bottles and tin cans had been thrown from camp buildings
unoccupied for many months. Some claim that the rays of the sun acting on the
bottoms of the old bottles were brought to a focus, the same as when passed
through a sunglass. Another theory is that the fire caught from flying embers
blown from other fires. This is a very plausible theory, because for days the air
had been full of sparks, and of the millions falling sorme few must have carried fire.
Only the day before (May nineteenth) the men at work there found a small
fire spreading on the surface of a path or road in some old sawdust and they
extinguished it. They could not account for its origin. Mr. Conklin, a log jobber,
within four or five miles of this point, about this time found two fires in the woods,
the origin of which he could not account for. It is very probable that they
caught from wind-dropped embers. The Chief Firewarden of the State and the
warden of the town of Long Lake were at this fire. They approved of the course
pursued in handling it, and no unfavorable criticism was made to me either during
or after the fire. The situation was a trying and desperate one, and the wonder is
that the destruction was not greater.

Mr. W. D. Jennines, Long Lake, Hamilton County.—I sent District Fire-
warden Michael McManus to the fire. He claims that it was the same one which
had been burning in the muck, and that the wind blew it up. We supposed it was
entirely extinguished. I sent to Newcomb for help, and by June first we had 125
men on the line back-firing and trenching.

Mr. Martin Bou, Morehouseville, Hamilton County.— This would have been
a very serious fire but for the promptness of Theodore C. Remonda, district
firewarden, to whom great credit is due for reaching the place with men and
teams as soon as it was possible to do so. By sundown we had it under control,
so that on the next day we wholly extinguished it.

Mr. Frank StTanyon, Wells, Hamilton County.—I am sorry to say we have
got three fires in this town, but they have not done much damage yet, as they are
burning on land that has been burned over before. It is covered mostly with
briers, brakes and dead timber. Perhaps you are aware that it is hard to put
out fire in such a place as that when it is so dry as it is now, and we have
quite a wind every day, which makes it bad. I am doing my best to stop it with
as few men as possible. It is not yet near any valuable timber. It is the opinion
of some of our citizens that these fires are started to make feed for Deer.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 129

Mr. J. H. Hiesy, Big Moose, Herkimer County.— We have a bad fire at Sisters
Ponds, in Township 41. I put on about sixty men yesterday and some thirty more
last night. The belt is about half a mile wide by one mile long, but it is burning
like a furnace. The smoke and heat are intense, but we have held it on the west and
south. I have got another tough proposition. The men say that I have no right
to order them to go into Hamilton County to fight fire. If you will do so, please
send me a written order that I may show them. That is not all: there is a lot
of men that refuse to go, not knowing where the pay is to come from. You know
there is no provision for the pay before next winter. You see, I am handicapped
all around. I am sending in seven men that I will pay myself, and the other
hotels are sending in some men also. These floating chaps demand their pay at
once, but 1 am unable to advance the money. Mr. Parsons, the town firewarden,
cannot send in men because he has a bad fire down at Old Forge.* I have no
idea how the fire started, nor can I find out anything about it. I have now sixty
men on the ground night and day. We are doing all we can and will save every rod
of timber possible. I go around the fire line myself and direct the men where the
work is needed most. I was not on the ground this morning, but I put my son in
charge in my absence. He was up day before yesterday, night before last, and
all day yesterday, without sleep or rest. The men have worked in heat and smoke.
I think I can handle affairs now. I have taken up blankets and put in boats,
tools and provisions. I haven’t weighed out anything as yet because my time has
been so much taken up. But I will make an offer to board the men at four dollars
per week to save the bother of weighing out provisions. Now, another thing: how
many hours is a day’s work? The men say eight hours. I don’t know what you
think about it, but I am keeping the time by the hour.

Mr. J. E. Roperts, Old Forge, Herkimer County.— The fire at Fulton Chain is
not the same as when you were here. Another one caught near the railroad and
is burning on the east side of the track below Fulton Chain, but I have it under
contrel. I have sixty men at the Big Moose fire, and have notified the warden in
Long Lake, as it is outside of this town by three miles. The fire at Beaver River
is burning slowly, but Bullock is doing good work and keeping it from spreading.
It is so far through the woods to the fire on Watson’s East Triangle that I have
asked Miller to take care of it from the town of Croghan. A new fire started on
the land of the Adirondack League Club, caused by a camp fire. It burned
fiercely, but to-night I have it down in good shape. Mr. De Camp is very anxious to

*This letter was received the same day that the Governor placed funds at the disposal of the
Commission. The Superintendent notified Mr. Higby to hire all the men necessary to extinguish
this fire, which was on State land and was running in the direction of the Raquette Lake Township.
The State has 100,000 acres of virgin forest land in a solid block where this fire occurred, but
it was completely extinguished before it burned a very large area. The fire was in Hamilton
County and there were no residents within several miles, except a few who were in a lumber camp
near Big Moose Lake. It could be fought only by sending men in from Herkimer County, as the
firewarden at Long Lake, the town in which it occurred, lived thirty-six miles away.— W. F. F.

9

130 NINTH REPORT OF THE ‘

know what can be done in regard to raising money, but I tell him I don’t see as
anything can be done at present. He has paid his men, upon my orders on bills,
about $1,000, and he does not want to wait until the town audits the bills for his
pay. I wish you would see him in regard to the matter. Many of the fires are
greatly exaggerated by people who tell what they hear but who do not go near
the fires at all. They say the fires burn over more land than they actually do.
A report was made to-day of 1,000 acres when it did not exceed 250 acres that
were burned.

Mr. Rivey Parsons, Old Forge, Herkimer County.— The way I have done so
far is to give the men a regular voucher okayed by me and have them paid by the
individuals upon whose land the fire occurred. The latter can turn these vouchers
oyer with the duplicate to the town board when they audit accounts, and I will
see that they correspond to the abstract sheet which I keep of them.

Mr. Duane Norton, Brantingham, Lewis County.— We take our tents with
us and stay right at the fire line. I tell you we don’t lose much ground where we
drive our stakes. I have been at work along the Lewis County line and have
not been driven back more than half a mile at any time. Mr. Marvin admitted
that he set his fallow* on fire Thursday, the seventh. The district firewarden
discovered it, and calling out all the available men stopped it in the face of a heavy
wind. An hour’s delay and it would have been beyond control. He did excellent
work and at the right time. We paid our men two dollars per day and board, as we
had to keep them in camps and tents along our fire line. Our town board, at my
request, came together and borrowed $500, and I got two other parties to advance
as much more. So, you see, our men knew they would get their pay as soon as
they were through. I tell you I could do as much with that class of men as could
be done with a trainload of city men. We took none but thorough woodsmen.

Mr. D. D. Granam, Harrisville, Lewis County.— The air was so full of smoke
that we could not see a fresh fire when it started. The whole country seemed to
be on fire at once.

Mr. CHARLES CorBETT, Osceola, Lewis County.—I went to the fire as soon as I
could, on the fourteenth, and got help from the sawmills and three men—a clerk
in a store, a minister and a farmer. These three men do not want any pay.
This fire (May fourth) was on the farm of Adelbert Kinney. He lost thirty cords
of stovewood and all of his pasture. The pasture was an old slash that had
been burned over and sown to grass seed.

Mr. Evcene Haruaway, Diana, Lewis County.— The situation here is bad.
We have been on the fire line since April twenty-eighth with no signs of a let up.
It is hard for me to get help enough to take care of the fires; we have to employ

* This man was arrested and fined for burning a fallow in the close season.— W. F. F.

- A. KNECHTEL, PHOTO,

FIRE UNDER CONTROL. :

MEN DIGGING TRENCHES TO PREVENT IT FROM SPREADING.

K, GOLDTHWAITE, PHOTO.

PLOWING FURROWS TO STOP PROGRESS OF A GROUND FIRE.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. Ieee

all the men we can get, and the most of them are poor men, with families, who
must have their pay as fast as they can earn it. I have to find some man that
will buy their account so they can have their money to live on. Any help you can
give me at this time will be greatly appreciated.

Mr. STEPHEN Watpron, Chase’s Lake, Lewis County.—In reply to your tele-
gram I beg to say that I am at work, with about eighty men, and am doing all
that can be done. The supervisor and members of the town board are also
at work with me.

Mr. Joun A. LEYNDECKER, Croghan, Lewis County.— Mr. Hecker has shown me
the telegram you sent him in regard to the fire. Miller and Parsons have not sent
me any help as yet, but I have sent some men across the Herkimer County
line to fight the fire in Watson’s East Triangle. The fire here burns through the
mucky land from twelve to fifteen inches deep, and therefore we have to dig
trenches for miles on both sides of it. We are digging them three feet wide,
and have thus far done fine work since your telegram to Mr. Hecker.

Mr. G. V. Norton, Chase’s Lake, Lewis County.— Fires will sweep the forests
if the towns will not pay men honest wages in the future. Men will not work
without pay. All they paid men for labor in our towns was one dollar and fifty
cents per day, and a man must board himself at that price. Kindly write me what
to do about the board bill, as I have waited all summer now.

Mr. WARNER YEOMANS, Forestport, Oneida County.— This was a hard fire to
extinguish because it was burning in the muck. When it was apparently all out,
and no smoke could be seen, a high wind would fan it into life and cause it to
break out again. Please send me two dozen blank reports as soon as possible.
I have been very busy driving from one fire to another organizing squads of men.
The fires have been in different parts of the town at once; when I would go to
one fire I could see another one in a different direction. I would organize squads
to fight one fire and then start for another. All of my district wardens were
just as busy. I cannot report exactly the number of days each warden and his
men served at each separate fire, as they were on from two to four different ones
the same day, and back and forth. Will get it as near as I can and will give
you the accurate amount. This has been a very lively time in this town. Each
warden and myself have done our best to quench and prevent fires.

Mr. R. R. PricHarp, Remsen, Oneida County.—In answer to your telegram
and the complaint that was made to you that I neglected to do my duty as fire-
warden in this town, I will say that I have done everything that could be done
to stop the fire, and it was done in good shape. I had men out working at all

points where there was danger. I went myself with five men to work at
place and got the fire under control. But Mr. had seven or eight men
working on his barn and he, by spells, put them to work in the woods to put out

132 NINTH REPORT OF THE

fire, and sometimes doing other work. He called out lots of men to come to
help him. He wanted me to say that I called them out so that they would get
paid from the town and State. I refused to do that. I told him that I would
not lie for him or for any other man, and that is the reason why he makes the
complaint. I wish you would write to any officer in this town and ask him about
my work as firewarden. I will do what is right with all persons, but I will not
lie for any man, and I know that you don’t ask me to do it. Please let me know if
there is anything wrong and I will correct it.

Mr. A. C. Hickox, Corinth, Saratoga County.— The fire started about eight
miles west of South Corinth. It was reported to me at a time when the air
was very smoky; ashes and burned leaves were falling thickly. Everybody was
frightened and supposed the woods all around us were burning up. I telephoned
District Warden Eggleston to start at three o’clock the next morning, with all the
men he could get, and look for fire. He was busy nearly all night ordering out
his men. The next day he traveled over a largé territory, but finding only
this one fire, which was soon extinguished, he concluded that the smoky condition
was due to fires outside of the town.

Mr. Horace Wess, Edwards, St. Lawrence County.— There were springs
and small streams in the woods from which the men carried water. They also
dug ditches, where practicable, and used dirt to cover and smother the fire. Men
were kept constantly on the watch, and yet it would spread to some extent,
usually during the afternoon.

Mr. Epcar Reep, Degrasse, St. Lawrence County.— The men fought fire until
midnight, some of them without any supper.

Mr. J. F. Evans, Fine, St. Lawrence County.— The past week has been the
worst time for fires that I have seen in years. The entire woods in the west half
of this town, and, in fact, clear to Cranberry Lake, are on fire. The New York
Central Railroad started seven fires on one run last week from Carthage to
Oswegatchie. This fire is burning from the line of the railroad and Bear Lake
clear through the woods. I have had out nearly seventy men at times.

Mr. Emery P. Gate, Piercefield, St. Lawrence County.— Have you any funds
on hand to pay these men? There should be some way provided to pay men for
fighting fire. These poor men have to live by day labor, and it is hard to make
them wait until the following winter for their money.

Mr. ARTHUR FLANDERS, Hopkinton, St. Lawrence County.—I came out of the
woods on Friday night (May thirtieth) for the first time to get a day off since
May eighth. I wish you would come here if you can, as there are about 4,000 acres
burned over, mostly lumbered land. There is very little timber land burned.
When you telephoned me from South Colton to meet you on Sunday I did not get
the word until afternoon. I was seven miles away in the woods fighting fire, and

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 133

was short of help. Must I get the number of acres and the timber land burned
over? If so, it will take me a month to do it. Will report again as soon as I
feel it is safe to call all the men off.

Mr. Wittiam W. CuHeney, Caldwell, Warren County.— The grade from Lake
George south to near the point of this fire is very heavy. There is also quite a
heavy grade from the south to near this same point, and when trains pass
up these grades a large number of live coals are thrown out from the smokestacks
of the engines.

Mr. Mites Frost, Thurman, Warren County.—I would have written you before
now, but since the death of our firewarden, Mr. W. J. Fuller, I have been trying to
ascertain whom we could appoint in his place. I think we had better appoint one
Henry Combs. He is a young man and has always lived here. I think it is
best for me to see the deputy wardens in Districts Nos. 2 and 3 this spring and have
a talk with them, as they are young men and I would like to consult with them.
The firebugs you speak of are now in jail. A boy caught them setting a fire, and
there was a bill found against both of them, the leader on two indictments —
one for shooting at the boy who caught him, and the other for setting a fire.
These fellows have set a great many fires in our town.

Mr. E. H. Sturtevant, Fort Ann, Washington County.— Mr. Charles De Golver,
a justice of the peace, was called on by the owner of Lot 24 at one o'clock
Wednesday night. He got the men out early the next morning and did a good job,
for the people were frightened almost out of their wits on account of the drought,
heat, smoke and desperate fires. These men say that they had rather lose their pay
than have to lose a day and travel thirty miles to get their bills sworn to. They
are the best lot of men I ever saw to climb mountains and fight fires. But some of
them say they will answer no more calls to fight fire. They are all poor men and
cannot afford to lose their time and have so much trouble to get their pay. The
deputy wardens claim they cannot get help for the price, which is one dollar per
day, as fixed by the town board.

Mr. Rosert Steves, Whitehall, Washington County.— At the commencement
of the fire we had hard work to get men to fight it, as the town board had
voted to pay only one dollar per day. Later, when the supervisors instructed
me to pay a fair price for the work, the fire had gained such headway that the
district warden had difficulty to manage it even with a large gang of men. When
the fire reached the village limits the hose company was called upon by those
endangered, and I would like to have you instruct me who will settle the claim.

Mr. Joun D. Granam, Putnam Station, Washington County.—I wish you would
cali the attention of the officials of the Delaware and Hudson Railroad Company
to the danger of fires which are being set by their locomotives nearly every day in
this town, and to the fact of the insufficient work being done by their trackmen
in putting fires out when they do occur.

134 NINTH REPORT OF THE

Mr. C. W. Rowe, Chesterfield, Essex County.— These fires were set by engines
on the Delaware and Hudson Railroad. Fires are started every day, and I have to
keep men watching all the time. Engines Nos. 55, 71, 113, 139 and 388 have been
known to set fires, and we are willing to swear to it.

CATSKILL COUNTIES.

Mr. Grorce A. ELer, Callicoon, Delaware County.— We worked until mid-
night, and could stand it no longer on the mountain without food and water,
so we retired for the night and started again at daybreak, when we succeeded in
putting the fire out.

Mr. THomas 8. MILLER, Andes, Delaware County.— The fire is supposed to have
been started by William Van Kuren. He told different stories about it; one was
that he was smoking out a hedgehog; another, that he lit a cigarette and dropped
a match.

Mr. Tuomas Forp, Shavertown, Delaware County.— A back-fire was set, though
forbidden by the district fhrewarden. In my opinion the fire from this cause burned
Over Ioo acres more than it would have done otherwise.

Mr. M. W. Kwnieut, Hancock, Delaware County.— This fire occurred on the line of
the Ontario and Western Railroad, and the work-train coming along with its gang
extinguished it, so I had no men to pay. The other fire started in a fallow and
spread to State land. There is quite a lot of Hemlock timber burned on the State
land, and it ought to be cut and peeled this year in order to save it. In another
year it will all be spoiled.

Mr. E. A. Howes, Trout Creek, Delaware County.— This fire had to be watched.
It was extinguished several times, but as it was a very dry time it would start up
after we thought it was entirely out.

Mr. JEREMIAH E. Haines, Haines Falls, Greene County.— The fire was so far
from where men could be obtained to fight it that it was necessary to employ
teams to carry the men back and forth. The dead Spruce branches made a fierce
blaze, and one that was hard to fight and control.

Mr. W. B. Hatt, Cairo, Greene County.—I shall either appoint a new warden in
his place or a deputy, as you suggest. He is a good, practical man, but on account
of rheumatism he is unable to climb mountains. I have given plenty of warning to
certain careless people, and they had better look out this summer. I think it
about time that they realize that the State is not doing this for fun.

Mr. PrymoutH Davis, Livingston Manor, Sullivan County.—I have had the
following notice inserted in the newspaper: ‘‘On account of the great number of
forest fires, I wish to inform farmers and taxpayers in general that it is to their

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 135

interest to see that the law relating to setting forest fires is fully observed.
After June tenth fallows may be burned, and farmers may burn same by applying
to the firewarden of their town and obtaining permit. From September first to
November tenth no person will be allowed to burn any fallow or brush heap, and
they should arrange accordingly. I earnestly request all taxpayers to inform me
of any person who starts.a fire, and to see that no fires are started on their
own property. By so doing they will greatly lessen their taxes and at the same
time contribute to the safety of our forests.”

Mr. J. W. Darpee, Roscoe, Sullivan County.— Thunder and lightning began,
and looking over on the mountain I saw a fire about the size of a barrel. It
burned rapidly, but the rain stopped it from running. Three men, about a mile
distant from one another, claim to have seen the lightning strike a stub where
I noticed this fire.

Mr. M. O. Serceant, Eldred, Sullivan County.— The town board has fixed the
price for fighting fire at one dollar per day. There is a number of men here
who say they will not fight fire if ordered out, claiming it is unconstitutional to
force a man to work for so small a sum. What will be my duty in case they
refuse to go when ordered out? I do not anticipate any trouble unless fire should
break out on lands of some individuals who are very strict in regard to trespasses.
Is this town obliged to pay those men for putting out fires inside Mr. Chapin’s
enclosure, men who also get their pay from Mr. Chapin? The park consists of
several thousand acres, only a small portion of which is in this town. It is fenced
with barbed wire to the height of ten feet, and any man found on his grounds,
inside or outside, is prosecuted. His men shoot every dog that comes within
gunshot, so you can see why there are so many fires near his park. Of course,
the sympathy of all honest men is with Mr. Chapin.

Me. Pointe GERHARDT, Fremont, Sullivan County.—On examination I found
that a party of hunters had passed through the woods and immediately thereafter
the fire was discovered. The fire was undoubtedly started by them. I wish to
further state that I warned out one Charles Stosser, who refused to go. This
has a bad effect on others, and I would recommend that something be done in
his case.

Mr. Jay H. Simpson, Pheenicia, Ulster County.— Fire started, in Broadstreet
Hollow, May first. The wind was blowing fifty miles an hour, and the fire swept
towards Pheenicia. I warned out men. Fought the fire all night Friday, Satur-
day and Saturday night and Sunday, and held it from coming into Shandaken.
Walter Evans (firewarden) held it on the other side. We ditched and back-fired.
In places the wind would carry the fire 300 feet over our lines.

136 . NINTH REPORT OF THE

What the People Had to Say.

Mr. Harvey J. De Sirva, a citizen of Grant Mills, Delaware County.— I have
a brier patch which I want to burn over. It is contiguous to my woodlands,
with a front of only ten rods. I apply for permission to do so, providing you
will permit me to inform our district firewarden, Mr. Everett Butler, to be present
at my expense. The forest is in full leaf now, and I am sure that’ by diligent
effort this proposed fire can be controlled. I do not wish to disobey our laws,
and therefore make this request of you.*

Mr. Reusen LAWRENCE, custodian of the John Brown Farm, North Elba,
Essex County.— Please come here at once. ‘The firewarden, Mr. Byron Brewster,
was here this morning and said he would like to have a private talk with you
right away. He wants you to see the condition the fires are in near the
John Brown Farm and other State lands. ‘The men are doing all they can to keep
it from the house. The fire is under control now, but I cannot tell how long it
will stay so if the wind comes up. We are living in hopes that God will send rain
in a short time to help the poor men that are trying to keep the fire down. All
the men in this town are tired out and sick and exhausted. Still they will have
to work. The firewarden is doing all he can.

Mr. FreD CLEMENS, Lassellsville, Fulton County.— The origin of that fire was
a peculiar one, and I would be pleased to have the board pass upon it. It was
set by school children whom the teacher sent into the woods to gather flowers.
A teacher whom the State helps to pay I should consider the first cause; therefore
I believe the State is responsible to a certain extent for the damage done. This
person whom the State has sent out as a proper one to manage children has caused
me this great damage, and I think the State ought to help me bear the loss.

Mr. Witrtiam S. Dre Camp, Fulton Chain, Herkimer County.—I telegraphed
Mr. Emmons and you yesterday under the spur of a raging fire. I addressed
myself also to Firewarden Parsons, who replied that he ‘‘thought he had done
pretty well for me.” He gave me the following authority in writing: ‘‘In my
capacity as firewarden I hereby deputize you to hire and pay men to extinguish
the fires.” I proceeded to engage men upon the strength of the above. I have
good evidence that the railroad, up to last Saturday, continued to use defective
engines through this district, thereby continuing to set fires. Roberts, the dis-
trict firewarden, has just now telephoned me in reply to a request for help
that he. “cannot be everywhere.” 1 address) this’ note to) Colonel oxmin
particular, as I am personally acquainted with him and am in communication
with him on this matter by telegraph; also knowing that he will connect up with
the proper authorities.

* Permission was refused.— W. F. F.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 27

Mr. Eucene M. House, Big Moose, Herkimer County.— There is due me twenty-
three dollars for fighting fire on State land in Township 41. I was left there on
duty after all the other men had gone out of the woods. I agreed to pay twenty
dollars to any man who would find fire there after I left. This was not a political
job like tending a bridge or canal lock, where a man would not do enough for healthy
exercise, but good, solid, hard: work with axe and shovel. I think I have waited
long enough. Please send check by return mail.

Mrs. Eryta Friacee, Saranac Lake, Franklin County.—I would like to call your
attention to Messrs. Stratton & Lundstrom, contractors, engaged on construction
work along the Saranac and Lake Placid Railroad, in regard to their engines setting
fires. This morning the engine named ‘‘ Grace” set a fire and ruined our private park.
It would have burned our cottage only for myself and daughter fighting fire until
the fire department arrived. The fire department of this place said that not one
engine had a screen. One of the engineers told me that he had put on the screens
to-day. They are setting forest fires from this place to Lake Placid.*

Mr. CuEester W. Cuaprin, President New England Railroad Company, 511 Bullitt
Building, Philadelphia, Pa.—They are making it very hot for me up in Sullivan
County. As soon as the wind blows towards my woods in goes the fire. The scamps
have made the boast that they would burn me, and they are doing their best. The
elements are in their favor, for we cannot get a drop of rain. I wish some of the
rascals could be caught, for they must have injured 6,000 or more acres of mine
already, and they have injured others even more. I am keeping a sharp watch,
having plenty of men, horses and wagons, with water barrels and pails. These same
fellows that fire the woods violate other laws. I would like to work with the Com-
mission to help catch them.

Mr. W. K. Benepict, New York.City.—I was a passenger on the New York
Central train from Saranac Lake to New York last Saturday night, and happening
to stand in the rear vestibule of the last car of the train saw what I consider
a good demonstration of how most of the fires that have been devastating the
Adirondack forests recently are started. At very frequent intervals the tracks
in the rear of the train were strewn with live coals, dumped from the locomotive,
and in many instances these coals, dropping on the wooden ties, burned into
bright flames, which only required a slight breeze to spread to the side of the tracks
and to the forest. After seeing the miles upon miles of blackened ruin, caused
by the recent fires, this struck me as a piece of wanton carelessness on the
part of the railroad company that calls for investigation by the authorities, and
it should be stopped at once if we care to save what remains of our fast disappearing
Adirondack forests.

* These are the small locomotives employed by the contractors on the construction of the new line:
the contractors are in the employ of the Delaware and Hudson Railroad. The engines are the ones
referred to in my report.—W. F. F.

138 NINTH REPORT OF THE

‘“ PLATTSBURG SENTINEL,” May 29, 1903.— On Wednesday, while a man named
Sancombe was driving along the road between Hunter’s Home and Goldsmith’s,
his horse was struck by a falling tree, which had burned off near the bottom, and
was instantly killed.

“TICONDEROGA SENTINEL,” May 7, 1903.— A farmer’s boy near Everton went to
the pasture after a horse, and both boy and horse were burned to death.

‘EVENING JOURNAL,” Glens Falls, June 9, 1903.— Yesterday, at Indian Lake,
some cattle were turned out in a swamp which had been burned over, but which was
apparently free from fire by reason of the recent rains. However, the cattle sank
into the soft earth and fire burst forth in several places, seriously burning the
animals.

““Troy RECORD,” June 4, 1903.—A dispatch from Plattsburg says that at
Cadyville the woods were ail afire near the village. The Catholic Cemetery
was burned over, and a large force of men finally succeeded in saving the
Catholic Church. At Twin Pond, on the Chateaugay Railroad, a wooden trestle
took fire from the forest fires, and a freight engine broke through, carrying
Engineer Kelly down with it. He escaped, however, with slight bruises.

‘Essex County REPUBLICAN,” May 29, 1903.— George McDonald’s camps near
Tupper Lake were destroyed. Mrs. Joseph Prevost had given birth to a child
only a few hours before. She was carried on a mattress to the railway, where she
was placed on a hand-car and removed from danger. Members of her rescuing
party were severely burned. A woman was left in one of the camps through
some mistake, and when this was discovered George McDonald and Chester Carr
ran through the flames and rescued her. They found her on her knees praying,
and, strange to say, this camp did not burn, although another, a short distance
away and seemingly in much less danger, was destroyed.

The loss of life in all of these fires, if any, was small. There were reports
from time to time of persons who were burned to death, but thus far I have
been unable to verify these rumors.

While I was at the Fulton Chain fire there was a story afloat that two of the
Italians belonging to a large gang sent in by the New York Central had lost
their way, or been cut off by the flames, and were burned to death. I cannot
learn, however, that their bodies were found, as would probably have been the
case if this accident had happened. The Utica Herald of June fifth states that
William Howe, of Lake Placid, was shut in by the flames, while fighting fire
near the foot of Mt. Marcy, and smothered to death by smoke. I have been
told since that this was a mistake. In view of the thousands of men who were
at work under extremely dangerous conditions it is a matter of congratulation

that there was no greater loss of life.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 139

The Wild Animats.

NumBer oF DEER TAKEN DuRING THE SEASON— CONDITION OF THE ELK AND

Moosrt — BuackK BEAR AND BEAVER.

It will be a matter of satisfaction to all sportsmen to know that the statistics
show a steady increase in the number of Deer in the State forests. No better
argument can be advanced in favor of the present system of protection, and it is
believed that local interests are steadily becoming convinced that the laws as they
exist are for the good of all concerned. The eagerness with which information is
sought as to the success of the hunters annually is an evidence of the widespread
interest that is taken in these returns, affecting, as they do, a very large number
of those who derive a considerable portion of their income from the sportsmen
who seek a few weeks recreation in the forest, as well as from the transportation

lines whose business is materially increased by the hunting season.

Adirondack Deer.

From the statistics furnished by the American and the National Express Com-

panies the following figures, showing the shipments of Deer, have been compiled:

Year, Carcasses. Saddles. Heads.
1g00 Tis POnMowr ed | youl! bla cu se: Ape E Na eset ats Oe 89 95
1901 SAAS ope ati meer qu tee. Sere SS Sah lh, STOOD 103 121i
1902 ay eae ene Manat, Miche dees cyt Lee aye Ima ibiAl eT 193
1903 SMe ia yccr nase ity cys a2), /es7 Pyo ee BROOM 145 188

The percentage of increase in the shipments, which last season was about
thirty per cent, is seen this season to be more than forty-four per cent over that
of the previous year. Following the apparently reasonable rule that for each
Deer shipped out at least four others are killed in the woods, it can be readily
seen how greatly they have increased under our present laws.

According to the carefully compiled figures of the shipments furnished by
Mr. John L. Van Valkenburgh, Superintendent of the American Express Com-
pany, and Mr. T. N. Smith, Superintendent of the National Express Company,
the number of Deer sent out of the Adirondacks by hunters during the season

just closed was shown to be as follows:

140

NINTH REPORT OF THE

SHIPMENTS OF DEER FROM POINTS IN THE ADIRONDACK REGION.

SEASON OF 1903.

Mouawk AND MALONE RAILROAD.

RAILROAD STATION, Carcasses. Saddles. Heads.

Beaver River . 234 Wi II
Big Moose 58 7
Bog Lake . 5
Brandreths I 3
Childwold 10
Clear Water 106 I 2
Eagle Bay . 6 I
Floodwood 4 I
Forestport . 44 6 4
Fulton Chain . 82 6
Horseshoe . I
Lake Clear 10 2
Lake Kushaqua 4
Lake Placid ry
Little Rapids . I
Long Lake 81 I 2
Loon Lake 10 2
McKeever . 24 3
Mountain View 4 I
Onekio .
Onchiota
Otter Lake 14
Owls Head 8
Paul Smith’s . 17 9
Piercefield . 55 ry
Pleasant Lake 4
Poland . 35 I
Rainbow Lake 6
Raquette Lake 30
Saranac Inn 2 2
Saranac Lake . 6
Tupper Lake Junction . ' 82 I I
White Lake Corners 12
Woods Lake . 25 2 2

Total 985 58 51

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. IAI
New YORK AND OTTAWA RAILROAD.
| |
RAILROAD STATION. | Carcasses. | Saddles. Heads,
|
Brandon 6 |
Derrick . : 65 | 4
Kildare . | 7
Madawaska | 2 |
Minnehaha a 10 | .
Santa Clara | Bathe 2
Spring Cove | 10 | : 2
St. Regis Falls | Tile 12
Tupper Lake . 7 13
Total 148 | 33
|
Utica AND Brack RIVER RAILROAD.
Alder Creek I Ona
Aldrich . 9 |
Benson Mines | 36 4
Boonville al 7 |
Carthage | But I
Castorland | 16
Glenfield 44 2 4
Harrisville 37 | 6 |
Jayville . | 18 I
Lowville | 24 2
Lyon Falls 12 | I
Natural Bridge I | I
Newton Falls 4o | I
North Croghan > Td
Oswegatchie 25 I I
Port Leyden 13 |
Prospect 54 | 4 |
Total 349 | 20 | 9
FonpA, JOHNSTOWN AND GLOVERSVILLE RAILROAD.
Cranberry Creek | Tf
Gloversville i 13 I
Johnstown | 2 | I I
Northville . 118 19 24
Total 134 21 | 25

142

NING REPORT IOR) wre

RomME, WATERTOWN AND OGDENSBURG RAILROAD.

RAILROAD STATION,

Antwerp

Canton :
De Kalb Junction
Edwards

Massena
Philadelphia
Potsdam
Watertown

Total

Dolgeville

Fonda
Little’ Falls

Total

Bangor
Knapps
Malone
Winthrop

Total

Wanakena

Bloomingdale .
Caldwell
Crown Point .
Hadley 5
Keeseville .
Loon Lake

Carcasses,

HNT OH WM W&

al

24

Saddles.

Heads.

45

LirtLeE FaLits AND DOLGEVILLE RAILROAD.

New York CENTRAL AND Hupson RIveR RAILROAD.

17

5

RUTLAND RAILROAD.

15

IO

16

CRANBERRY Lake RAILROAD.

|

61

a

12

DELAWARE AND Hupson RaAILRoap.

oS

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 143
DELAWARE AND Hupson RAILROAD — (Concluded ).
RAILROAD STATION. Carcasses. Saddles, Heads.
IevonwWountaine eer: aeevata a ey ste ee em ee A ee) ey I I
North Creek . 127 27 5
OnE LCM Ty. ic cs Nani cee hae en MRC Maroney aera eR RS a areas cceen, on 14 2
PRET S TLE Ns) )ca8 05 carla erie ast Oh ue ney auntie ue TaLeneLl eeN esate 10 I 8
SARaMACNIL AGEs: eae vate erwin Oe es cntreve ita aul Ma Cgdugin gals set 4
Stony Creek 37 I
MI CONGERO ga ira ni tet aah ORIN eMart a 4 5
WZESED ORC ayn ha) vitor tia weary tee Ite Mines ese ee eee ocean 2 II
Total 203 29 41
|
RECAPITULATION.
Mohawk and Malone Railroad 985 58 5I
New York and Ontario Railroad 148 33
Utica and Black River Railroad spake rahe 349 20 9
Rome, Watertown and Ogdensburg Railroad ANU acs Rca 45 Oo I
Fonda, Johnstown and Gloversville Railroad eases 134 21 25
Little Falls and Dolgeville Railroad . . . SRC ie 17 I
New York Central and Pudson River Roe Sp Pease tapas 9 I Sta
Retielain cea roads a rember MN oe oS hee gy ten yy oe 10 ‘ 160
Crambenny ILalke INeiihtonGl cog 25 0 5 oo @ 0 a 6 Give 61 6 12
Delaware and Hudson Railroad . 203 20 41
Total shipments 1, 961 145 188
Some of the larger Deer mentioned in the shipping receipts indicate a growth
that is highly gratifying. Among the shipments were these:
SOME NOTABLE SHIPMENTS.
Dressed
RAILROAD STATION. Consigned to — weight
(pounds).
Clear Water F.S. Smith, Auburn 200
Fulton Chain . J. McGuire, Utica 200
Long Lake West H. Walters, New York 200
Loon Lake M. Keefer, Utica > 200
Loon Lake Charles Keaton, Rosendale 250
Owls Head Kate Butrick, Malone 200
Owls Head E. W. Savage, Moira . 250
Piercefield . W. McKim, Saranac Lake 210

144 NINTH REPORT OF THE
Some NoTaBLE SHIPMENTS — (Concluded ).
RAILROAD STATION. Consigned to — eee
(pounds).
Potsdam J. F. Kelley, New York 203
Benson Mines W. Richardson, Canton 200
Harrisville . R. Harding, Syracuse . 207
Newton Falls . W. Heims, Oakfield 200
Newton Falls. H. Mathews, Syracuse 200
Oswegatchie E. W. Eissig, New York . 200
Port Leyden F. Price, Great Bend . 200
Prospect J. W. Seator, Utica 200
Prospect Arthur Martell, Utica . 200
Derrick John Kimball, Utica cae 200
Derrick W.M. Bell, Long Lake West . 200
Derrick C. Naylake, Tupper Lake Junction 210
Derrick W. Jarvis, Big Moose. 210
Santa Clara E. Walsh, New York . 220
Northville . J. Bartholomew, Amsterdam 210
Northville . John Kreed, New York 237
Northville . J. Kinnear, Albany 200
_ Northville . R. M. Evans, Johnstown . 210
Northville . .| B. D. Smith, Johnstown . 200
Northville . | J. H. Kaston, Fonda 200
Northville . F. S. Dunn, Albany 200
Northville . E. Shannon, Amsterdam . 200
Northville . H. Brownell, Amsterdam 205
Onekio . F. M. Jackson, McKeever 250

In addition to these interesting figures, a correspondent of Forest and Stream,

on November twenty-first, mentions several large Deer, within his knowledge, as
having been shot. His list included a 230-pound ten-pronged buck, shot near
Minnehaha, by George Benton, of Utica; a 250-pound buck, shot at Horn Lake,
by Seth W. Pride, of Holland Patent; a 250-pound seven-pronged buck, shot near
Star Lake, by Schuyler S. Bardlong

5)

of Chicago; a 250-pound buck, shot near Boon-
ville, by Captain William Connor, of New York; a 250-pound buck, shot by
J. F. Dorrance, of Camden, and a 247-pound buck, having fifteen prongs, shot.
near Alpine, by Edward Floyd. The last weight given is specifically mentioned
as being dressed weight. A number of other Deer shipped out by the express
companies weighed over 200 pounds, but unfortunately the names and addresses

of the successful hunters were not given.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. T45

Mr. Wesley D. Jordan, of Saranac Lake, shot the only Albino, or White, Deer
reported during the season. It was killed near Raquette Falls, and will be mounted
for exhibition.

It is a matter of satisfaction to be able to note that very few casualties were
reported this year in connection with the Deer season. The number of minor
accidents was inconsiderable, and the number of fatalities so small as to warrant

the belief that the warnings of previous years have had a salutary effect.

The Etk and the Moose.

The effort to restore Elk and Moose to the Adirondack forest, which was begun
by the State two years ago, with the cooperation of a number of public-spirited
citizens, continues to be a subject of much interest to the people. The restoration
of the Elk, thanks to the continued generosity of Hon. W. C. Whitney and others,
has progressed so rapidly since the first consignment of twenty-two was liberated
at Raquette Lake, in June, rgo1, as to have passed almost beyond the experimental
stage. During the year just closed seventy-three Elk were liberated at various
points in the woods, the work being superintended by Mr. Paul Smith, the veteran
hotel proprietor; Dr. F. E. Kendall, of Saranac Lake, and Mr. Ernest H. Johnson,
the superintendent: of Mr. Whitney’s Adirondack estate. These Elk were all
contributed by Mr. Whitney.

The total number of Elk which have thus far been liberated in the Adirondacks
is one hundred and forty. The number of young which have been born in this
region during the past two years has been approximated at fifty. Of this total of
one hundred and ninety Elk, four have been accidentally killed by trains and
eight are known to have been shot. Allowance should also be made for perhaps
ten deaths, through natural causes, since June, 1901. There would thus remain at
large in the Adirondacks one hundred and sixty-eight Elk, which estimate probably
represents very closely the actual number in the Adirondacks to-day. When first
liberated the Elk seemed disinclined to roam far from the immediate locality in
which they had been set free, and for months they could be seen grouped together
within a few miles of the spot where they had first been liberated at almost any
time. But as the young were born and the animals became more accustomed to
their surroundings, the herds began to split up into families of three or four and
to move off into the deeper forest in every direction until, within the past few
months, their presence has been reported in seven out of the ten Adirondack
counties. Wherever they have been seen they have caused much admiring com-

To

146 NINTH REPORT OF THE

ment on the part of summer tourists, many of whom have found great pleasure
in photographing the animals. It is probable that, as the young Elk gradually
take the place of the older ones, these animals will again become as truly a wild
denizen of the Adirondacks as naturalists tell us they were in the past.

Without a continuation of the appropriation which lapsed last year nothing
further can be done toward restocking the Adirondack region with Moose. Thus
far the animals liberated have done well and have scattered widely through the
forest. Three have been shot by unknown persons, and no natural increase has
thus far been reported. If the experiment is to be continued, it will be necessary,
in the opinion of those who have given attention to the problem, to procure
and liberate at least fifty, or preferably one hundred, more of these animals in the
Adirondacks. The Commission stands ready to carry out the instructions of
the Legislature in the matter, and undoubtedly that body will respond to the

public sentiment which makes itself apparent.

The Black Bear.

The Commission has previously recommended and again suggests the passage
of an act giving to the Black Bear of the State some measure of protection.
The trend of modern sportsmanship is toward the pursuit of large game, as is
shown by the great number of hunters who annually visit Canada, the Rocky
Mountains and the Southwest, and who even cross the ocean to hunt still larger
and more savage game. Could the Black Bear of this State, an animal absolutely
harmless to human life, yet affording the keenest sport to its pursuers, enjoy for
a few years the protection of a close season it would be possible to introduce
Bear hunting as a feature of Adirondack life, even as it is now carried on as
a profitable sport in many parts of the West and South. The Commission
recommends that, as the Bear is commercially valueless during the summer
months, his pursuit be prohibited at this season of the year, and that suitable

regulations be provided as to trapping.

The Beaver.

This most interesting of North American fur-bearing animals, which formerly
existed so abundantly in this State, is on the brink of extinction within our
borders. ‘‘ No animal,” says Dr. C. Hart Merriam, ‘‘has figured more prominently

in the affairs of any nation than has the Beaver in the early history of the new

ea
Z
O
qa
S
a0)
<

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 147

world. Its influence on the exploration, colonization and settlement of this
country was very great. The trade in its peltries proved a source of competition
and strife not only among the local merchants but also between the several
colonies, disputes over the boundaries having frequently arisen from this cause
alone. Indeed, on more than one occasion jealousy of the Beaver trade led to
serious difficulties in the struggles for supremacy between the three rival powers,
the Dutch, English and French.”

How great the number of wild Beavers in this State once was may be
inferred from the statement of the Dutch author quoted by Dr. Merriam, who,
writing in 1671, states that at that time the colony of New Netherlands furnished
**80,000 Beavers a year.”’ As late as the year 1815 we learn from De Kay that
the Beaver still existed in such plentiful numbers in the Adirondack region that
it was possible for a party of St. Regis Indians, who that year ascended the
Oswegatchie River, in St. Lawrence County, for the purpose of pursuing these
valuable animals, to return after an absence of a few weeks with three hun-
Gredibeaver skins. In) 1895 Mr Wilbur ©: Watherstine, of Herkimer, shot a
Beaver in the outlet of Madawaska Pond. About the same time two Beavers
were caught by trappers from Saranac Lake. These are, as far as known, the
last wild Beavers to have been taken in this State. The following winter
the Legislature passed a law absolutely prohibiting their pursuit under a severe
penalty.

While the Beaver to-day is practically extinct in the State, there are known to
exist one or two small families in the Adirondacks. Mr. Harry V. Radford, the
New York sportsman, to whose energy and persistency is chiefly due the inaugu-
ration by the State of the experiment of restoring Moose and Elk to its forests,
and. who also has been one of the most interested in the plan to secure protection
for the Black Bear, is in possession of a number of interesting specimens of
Beaver work. These consist of fresh wood cuttings—sections of small Aspen
trees which have been peeled of their bark by the Beavers, and in which their
tooth-marks can be plainly seen. The specimens were collected recently in the
Adirondacks. The Commission is of the opinion that, as the Adirondack region
is a natural Beaver country, and as the Beaver multiplies rapidly, a small appro-
priation is desirable to procure several colonies of these interesting and valuable

animals for the purpose of eventually restoring them to the woods.

148 NINTH REPORT OF THE

The Fish Hatcheries.

WoRK OF THE YEAR—SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVING THE PLANT AND INCREASING

THE OUTPUT.

In reporting the work of the State’s hatchery system for the year, the Com-
mission calls particular attention to the fact that the returns from this branch of
the business intrusted to its care are far above any outlay. During the year
which ended on September 30, 1903, there were distributed among the waters of
the State 140,982,805 fish of various varieties. (In 1902 the total distribution was
128,672,516.) With the exception of 1,750 fish which were saved from the wide-
waters of the canal when it was emptied for the winter, these fish were all reared
in the State hatcheries.

Owing to the interest taken in the work by the railroads of the State, the
entire output of the hatcheries was distributed to the people without expense
for transportation, messenger service or other cost of delivery, which, in the case
of commercial hatcheries, is figured at about fifty per cent of the value of each
shipment. The market value of the total output of fish, at the lowest prices
charged by hatcheries which sell their product, exclusive of the cost of delivery,
was $108,069.02.

The number of applications received for fish during the year was 1,908 (in
1902 it was 1,459), and there were carried over from the previous year 395,
making a total of 2,303 applications to be filled. ‘The number actually filled was
1,551, and 240 were rejected for various reasons, making a total of 1,791 applica-
tions which were acted on. Owing to the fact that the State fish car ‘‘ Adirondack”
was badly damaged in a railroad accident while the season was at its height, the
work of distributing the fish from the hatcheries was considerably retarded,
although the railroad officials kindly provided every facility possible to push the
work. Notwithstanding this interruption, however, but 512 applications were
carried over, as compared with 527 carried over in 1902.

Of the total number of fish distributed 136,518,850 were of the various varieties
of food-fish, and 4,463,955 were of the varieties known as game-fish. Of the game-

”

fish over thirty-three per cent were of the size called ‘‘fingerlings,” and over ten
per cent were yearling fish. The Commission has made it a rule not to distribute
yearling fish unless the waters stocked are closed for a period of at least two
years. The demand for fingerlings 1s steadily increasing, and in order to keep

up with it some few improvements will be necessary at several of the hatcheries.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 149

The demand for Black Bass also continues, for which reason the suggestion made
a year ago, as to the desirability of providing suitable rearing ponds, is repeated.
Other improvements necessary at the several hatcheries are indicated in the
abstracts of the reports of the hatchery foremen, which are appended.

Advices received from various parts of the State show that the work of the
Commission in stocking inland waters is thoroughly appreciated by commercial
fishermen and the sportsmen. In fact, it would not be a difficult matter to
demonstrate to the average citizen that the fish planted in the waters of the
State form a valuable asset in every community. Game fishermen annually spend
many thousands of dollars in the localities in which they seek their favorite
sport, and a fair livelihood is earned by thousands of men who pursue the business
of fishing for the markets. Without the continual replenishing of the State
waters with fish from the hatcheries to meet the demands of our steadily increas-
ing population there would be but little sport and much less income in a very
short time.

Approximately, whac the work of the Commission means in this connection
may best be, judged from the figures which show the commercial value of the
fisheries of the State in an average year. These figures, which are authenticated

by the United States Commission, are as follows:

Walue of the Hudson River fisheries 2. 2° 3: $150,000 00
Fisheries of inland lakes and streams Seep cen pte 80,000 00
Lake Erie, Lake Ontario and the Niagara and

Seay LE AWTS 11 Cees aIiv (OT Sian Senne Tn ney tem 250,000 00

‘AMOS COKIN SNSSTIES = 5 ok 5) 5 6 bo 6 8 6 GBs OCOOS OS

These figures are given in round numbers and the totals do not vary to any
great extent from one year to another, the tendency being toward an increase
rather than a decrease, as will be apparent from the fact that the actual com-
mercial value of the fisheries of the inland waters during the year 1902 was
$87,897 instead of $80,000, as given, which sum represented 1,530,918 pounds of
fish of all kinds. Further argument would not seem necessary to show how
highly importan. is this portion of the Commission’s work, which, statistics show,
has been one of steady progress along the lines indicated ever since the Legis-
lature created the first Fisheries Commission, thirty-five years ago.

A very attractive and satisfactory exhibit was made at the State Fair at

Syracuse, where permanent aquaria have been constructed for this purpose. The

150 NINTH REPORT OF THE

great interest taken in this inexpensive display of the work done at the hatcheries
was apparent to every visitor, and the exhibit received many favorable comments.
The fish, with the exception of the Albino Trout, were turned over as usual to
the Anglers’ Association of Onondaga County for distribution in near-by waters.

Acknowledgment is made of the receipt of 1,830,896 Lake Trout eggs from
the United States Fisheries Commission, which were forwarded to the Caledonia
Hatchery on November g, 1902.

The Commission has abandoned the Sacandaga Hatchery for the reasons given
in last year’s report. This hatchery was located twenty-two miles from the rail-
road station and could only be reached over a rough mountain road. Experience
showed that it could not be successfully operated, and improvements made at the
Adirondack Hatchery, which is easily accessible, will make it possible for this
hatchery to do all the work.

Following are tables showing in detail the distribution for the year and the

work done by each hatchery:

FISH DISTRIBUTION.

SUMMARY FOR YEAR ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 1903.

Brook Trout Mery ie ey Paavo thy NN MN Meee Re ts 1,395,000
Brooks rO ue pit Oe rae S eee at) cee at a oer eer gn vee 761,300
Brook Asrout ny canlings aye. 1) euime UN ark ce ienae iam cai: 130,840
BrowinsLrouthiry an. tee 5 eke eres ots epee Ree err. 670,000
Browniacbro uy oer lit o:Sie eee nis rar ete en evans 179,000
Browne Drout: yearling sien | iy. av sete oe cannes 55,500
Graiydinion (rout tiny aie ene el or 0 ee all) ier re eape men ates 180,000
Take CA boul tists (2p aun ape trams MRT eo et fog cca Otte VERE 184,000
ake TP rowte Hinge nliners aire ipaty 66 ip ct ee eet 443,400
Rakes Trout yearlings vampiric) os so Ler anit nm etre ys. 250,275
Rainbowceb route try are mares are oats hoon nl ieee ena: 32,000
Rainbow VEroutwineen inmost eater mieyer. alt lin: iy ne 130,000
Ieuan Aino AKoeCIAKS — 5 5 5 SR Me a 48,100
Redthroat Trout fingerlings a ema ge oc ier NN clearer Po eet 1,000.
WandlockedeSalmromi 2.5 Goss sca eee ea eee es cron eal eas 2,040
PROSE S Ey. ake eye ial glad corn aie sek Tale boat are erage 3,055,000
Maskallom oe: inate tig, (ts, uuptecs cid tar ieee eae eatin rs RRa SWNT Mg Leet 4,107,600
Pike= Perch oe yes Ae. Giese ea es ee Uae ocels, ole OO, OS ONOCO
Shad Bae Toy Pe YPN Mee oe an ls RO eas oR ere a Rae 1,250,000
Smelt eat ERIM ee eh AE kei Aca ena TIES eRe Rec acnree aN A RM 5,160,000

SHLAA pes hs le ic keine sme ne) roe ron ae ee eae ones LTE To jodi oj 50,000

SUMMARY FOR YEAR

FOREST, FISIT AND GAME COMMISSION.

ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 1903 — (Concluded).

Tomceods . 34,700,000
Whitefish 19,116,000

Total 140,981,055
Saved iironmecamalliny, (ete Meer ttt ee wel Lluis eho ay 1 WO)

Grand total 140,982,805

RECORD OF EacH HaTcHERY DuRING YEAR 1903.

ADIRONDACK HATCHERY.

Brook: Mrott: frye seve se ag ier en ttre eee SNE AA Sr yee css 7 190,000
Brook. rout himeeniiMoserue ee eseer marr ter twee wei cerery ei 373,000
Brook: Wroutiyear lin c:s mien ae nem ecesen ar gue. 0c vee iain on. 15,000
le ea Rn Out BI iene cattle Meee a minein ieee ites suet Atte 85,000
Eales rout hia eer lines apieu ye wNenar wee tolerant gaelic a. 71,000
RECs [Osa Lots © el ta fT SE | OS 61,000
He Glitala © altel rs tam fos 7 tl ta See I,000
Frostfish SETS le talc ER RR Lea Lane ARE tee he eves. te Ue UE Rne nu Sate 260,000
RVAGES TS Tad tne. pean acrty 1 gato Nien Ret aaa sae ogra Ea tere ugg 1 leant 2,500,000

ARO teal oP haan Slr au a0 ec nem era st ace oak eat (eT ne tte ue 3,550,000

CALEDONIA HATCHERY.

HS ROO gO Wits Lt yr aes et eee aera rae he pee el am nce IE 305,000
IBHROONS ARO WNE MONARO 8. a a a Be be ee 47,500
Brook, rout .vearlingsyy memes wl ebeace litem. Galea teem mee nee, Gye 35,340
IBno winch rout: iy nt. nop scene re gto) acta Our ae kein airmen 395,000
IBYPO MO, “ARO UNE MnuaNeReTNNES (ge gs Gh Be eo a 6 26,000
BROW Ms AW FO ay Carlini O Shree wen patie, celal Rie ait gee ar ane! 25,000
Wales Prout bh yi ten oe ete pet ey citys OD eo emit ae: 50,000
alkemRrowtr in enin Gs queen ance. <r ten oe meena Mere meursyates 324,400
WWalcemel route yea Hl OSh is Myeuentsn Ghai ssa ToRt sick (ety remem te et 201,775
Varia Owgaer.o Ut serio er lr OS tee eee ata fearon tM ie oe uae vn 37,000
INainbowprl rout ayearlinigsiy wk arte ui cutie me moumareia tee uietuiies 33,600
ILaiaclloclkecl Srulianoim tions 5 5 6 5 “o 0 6 5 2 2,040
PUKE Seria cru lrticen (tna ad), ot rol Sun tency te Suni eater, We 8,500,000
Whitefish Eaiestily nh gan ate MIS cy, seco ee eS okt ag Nee cee PL 6,000,000
SS Miers eM css, «Paitin Yann neise~ Vane pane eana ame eee Den = NG tra de 50,000

sRotaliie cama yess ck wel tis) ele cok Motes etem ram ent tae) Pen LONOR2. O55

151

152

NINTH REPORT OF THE

CHAUTAUQUA HATCHERY.

Maskalonge

COLD SPRING HATCHERY.
Brook Trout fry
Brook Trout fingerlings
Brook Trout yearlings
Brown Trout fry
Lake Trout fry
Lake Trout fingerlings
Rainbow Trout fry
Pike-Perch
Shad
Smelt
Tomecods .
Whitefish

Total

DELAWARE HATCHERY.
Brook Trout fry
Brook Trout fingerlings
Brook Trout yearlings
Brown Trout fry

Brown Trout fingerlings 2

Total

FULTON CHAIN HATCHERY.

Brook Trout fry
Grayling Trout fry
Rainbow Trout fry
Frostfish .

‘Woycall
ONEIDA HATCHERY.

Pike-Perch
Whitefish

Total

4,107,600

400,000
TOO
See
10,000

19 OOO
1,000
12,000
300,000
1,250,000
5,160,000
34,700,000

250,000

2,301,800

95,000
Oe
39,000
100,000

72,000

Sa HIS

260,000
180,000
20,000

3,255,000

60,280,000

10, 366,000

70,646,000

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 153

PLEASANT VALLEY HATCHERY.

Broo km hrOuUtwriny ene ie mer en nee av mest eM el ns ek ON ss 145,000
Broo ke inoutstin ce pliner meme wae Me yory |e a 98,000
Brookg Mrouteycar litte sayeammem neem eee pen) caer pens 9,000
Brow nt Erouts ayer emia amermetn Cec m al fice) i: tea ee 165,000
IEATO Mold AONE ATANSCorelUIMNERS, oe GG eG a nen Ale 81,000
BROWN ee rOMEmyEa Telit menaee iam peer ere nea om Ewer Jn. 30,500
Wake: romty fine er] in00s ame mers three tee Ter) | pray.) 47,000
Lake Trout yearlings GRRE MR scare ogee eed ome ergo se fail henna 48,500
IRGHUMDOWy AONE tars SG ee Le 32,000
Igual oxones ABaeybNE Ashlie 4 5 Gg 8 ee ee 14,500

Total Pea IER aan eon Lary) ee eae LG aha) (Ae Thaty ay he Ser eg ve 670,500

(Gre vaKel GO MLMOMOUG ONE ig a of ek ge MORON OINS

Report of the Chief Game Protector
1)0}

To the Forest, Fish and Game Commission:

ENTLEMEN.—In accordance with your instructions I hereby submit, a
(5 report of the business of my Department for the year ending on Septem-
ber 30, 1903. It shows the work performed by the force of protectors in
the bringing of actions, the amount of recoveries in fines and penalties, and the
time served in jail by several persons; the number and value of nets and other
devices for the taking of fish which, while being used in violation of law, were
seized and destroyed; the amount received for the sale of the timber confiscated
from trespassers who had been lumbering on State land, and the sale. of old
abandoned buildings, together with a summary of the licensed nets operated by
commercial fishermen, with the fees received; the amount and value of the fish
caught during the year, and other matters of interest.

Much credit is due the Legislature for the valuable amendments, passed at the
last session, which secured more uniform laws; the abolition of spring Duck
shooting; the prohibition of the sale of Woodcock and Grouse taken in this State,
and the sale of Trout in certain counties, which last should, in the opinion of
many, apply to the entire State.

In speaking of the excellent legislation secured, I believe I am expressing the
sentiment of the Commission in saying that the Department is under great
obligation to the New York State Fish, Game and Forest League for the valu-
able. assistance rendered in educating the general public up to the necessity for

the enactment of better laws.

The Valae of Protection.

From answers to letters sent to nearly every county in the State, my personal
observation, and conversations had with well-informed persons, I feel warranted
in reporting that there is more interest being manifested each year in the protec-

154

NINTH REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 155

tion of the forests, fish and game, and the artificial propagation of fish and game.
All admit that but for the work of the hatcheries the inland waters would have
been depleted of fish and the St. Lawrence River of the Maskalonge, which is
also true to a great extent of the Shad of the Hudson River and the Whitefish
of Lakes Erie and Ontario.

Too much cannot be said by the residents along the St. Lawrence River in
praise of the work done in stocking that river in past years with Maskalonge
from the Chautauqua Hatchery. The fish are becoming quite plentiful, and large
catches have been made in the past two years as against a very few prior to
artificial stocking. The fish are a great attraction to tourists who visit the
Thousand Islands, and are also profitable to the residents along the river.

The reports from the Catskills and Adirondacks show that the Deer inhabiting
those localities have increased one hundred per cent since the anti-hounding law
went into effect. Deer can now be found also in a number of the counties that
are not classed in the Adirondacks or Catskills—as, for instance, in Columbia,
Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady, Montgomery, Oswego and the western portions
of Lewis and Oneida Counties, where but a few years ago none were to be found.
This proves beyond any doubt that the law which prohibited the use of dogs in the
hunting of Deer is the cause of the increase, and it is to be hoped that this law

will not be repealed to please a very few who are agitating for it.

Condition of Birds.

The reports from various localities where Pheasants have been liberated are
very gratifying. As a rule, the residents are using every means to assist in pro-
tecting them, and are looking forward every spring to securing an additional
supply from the State.

Quail are becoming quite scarce, except in Suffolk County, where a fresh
supply is liberated every spring by private clubs, and I believe that a small appro-
priation should be made for the purchasing of live Quail. They are a hardy bird,
and there is no reason why they should not be propagated by the State and again
become plentiful.

Grouse suffered severely, in the spring of t902, from the continuous cold
and heavy rainstorms, which drowned many broods of young birds. They also
suffered to some extent in localities that were swept by forest fires in the early
summer of 1903, but as the fires were confined largely to the Adirondacks, and

as Grouse are not as plentiful in the deep forests as in the second-growth timber,

156 NINTH REPORT OF THE

the loss was not as great as it otherwise would have been. But in view of the
law passed in the winter of 1902-03, which prohibits the sale of Grouse that are
taken in this State, which law was very generally observed during the past open
season, there is every reason to believe that Grouse will again become plentiful
in the Adirondack region.

No little dissatisfaction is being manifested in regard to the private parks and
preserves that have been created in localities where the State has planted millions
of fish for the benefit of the public. The park owners are waging war on the
natives as well as on the tourists, who both feel that their rights are being
trampled upon, and that the park owner has no more property interests in
fish that migrate from one water to another than has the general public who

contribute towards maintaining the State hatcheries.

The Wild Animats.

With reference to the Elk that have been liberated in the Adirondacks since
the summer of 1901, I can say that they have done extremely well, and, in fact,
much better than was expected by those who expressed an opinion relative to
the matter. The first shipment, comprising twenty-two Elk, donated the State by
Hon. William C. Whitney in 1901, that were liberated in the vicinity of Raquette
Lake, went through the first winter without any loss and came out in fine con-
dition the next spring, much to the surprise of every one, and several calves were
found with them in the early summer, showing that they were breeding fully as
well as the Adirondack Deer.

The three carloads of Elk that were donated by Mr. Whitney in the fall of
1902, forty of which were liberated in the vicinity of Little Tupper Lake and
‘twenty at Raquette Lake, wintered equally as well as those the previous winter,
and the seventy-three liberated during the past summer near Paul Smith’s,
Saranac Inn and Saranac Lake, except a few that have been killed by cars, have
done well and are now reported as having gone back into the deep forest, where
they should have been liberated instead of turning them loose near the settlement
and railroad.

It is safe to say that there are now 180 Elk in the Adirondacks, not including
many that escaped from Mr. Webb’s park by reason of a fire having destroyed
the fences, or those that have escaped from time to time from Mr. Litchfield’s

preserves near Big Tupper Lake.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. Ta W/,

Condition of the Baw.

I would not recommend any extensive revision of the game laws, now that
they appear to be in very good shape. Some minor changes as to phraseology
and to make plainer a few sections are, however, needed. One relating to
Jamaica Bay and adjacent waters, where the use of nets is prohibited, is especially
necessary for the benefit of the numerous anglers who visit that locality and who
cannot fish with safety outside in the ocean. The law relative to the licensing of
nets, especially in the Great Lakes, should be changed, as the license fee is now
practically nothing. This is not the case in other States bordering on Lake Erie,
particularly in Pennsylvania, where the State derives a large revenue from these
licenses, and where they charge according to the tonnage of the boat. The license
law was first advocated for the protection of residents of New York State, but
fishermen from Ohio and Pennsylvania evade the law by coming into this State,
registering their boats and giving a bill of sale (in some instances) to residents
of this State, who apply for a license, which may cover a gang of gill nets one
mile long, at a cost of only one dollar.

The size of the mesh of nets, especially in Lake Erie, should be increased to
at least a one and one half inch bar as against the present mesh of one and
one eighth incnes. This is advocated by the fishermen themselves, who claim
that myriads of small fish that are of no value are caught and killed in the
gill-nets, which must tend to lessen the fish supply.

If possible, something should be done to induce the Legislature of Vermont
to pass uniform laws with this State governing the fishing on Lake Champlain,
which is interstate water, and in which the residents of this State are much
interested. Our own laws absolutely prohibit the use of nets, but their last
Legislature, instead of repealing a law which allows the use of nets in the lake,
as had been promised, not only failed to do so, but passed a law which allows
the taking of Black Bass in the lake during the entire year as against a close
season in this State from January first to June fifteenth. As there is but an
imaginary line between the two States, it is difficult to enforce the laws of this
State on the lake. It might be possible for the Legislature to appoint a commis-
sion to act with a commission from Vermont to agree upon some uniform law
and give each State concurrent jurisdiction over the lake, as was done in the
eighties by this State and Pennsylvania over the Delaware River where it divides
the two States.

158 NINTH REPORT OF THE

I would also recommend a law that would prohibit the killing of Deer between
one half hour after sundown and one half hour before sunrise, as the law relative
to the use of artificial lights cannot well be enforced with the improved methods
now in use in the operation of an electric jacklight, with a storage battery, which
it is difficult to detect.

The figures obtained from the express companies show that the number of
Deer transported during the fall of 1903 is a trifle in excess of that of 1902,
which might be expected from the large increase in Deer and the increase yearly
in the number of hunters. But as Deer seemed plentiful at the close of the
hunting season, and as reports show that there are plenty of Deer signs now in
the woods, there does not seem to be any necessity of a change in the law in the
way of shortening the season, although three months and a half, as the law now
provides, seems a long time in which Deer can be taken. Possibly, if the season
did not open until September fifteenth instead of the first, it would be better, as
Deer are not at their best and fawns are not sufficiently grown to be deprived
of their mothers.

The usual facts about the Deer and other Adirondack animals will be found

elsewhere in this report.

Salaries of Protectors.

I must continue to advocate an increase in the salaries and expense accounts
of the protectors. A salary of $500 is not a fair recognition for the services of
a competent official, and an expense account of $350 is inadequate. An increase -
of $100 per year, making a salary of $600, and $50 added to the expense account,
making $400, would only require an additional appropriation of $6,750, and would
be something of an encouragement, besides giving the protectors to understand
that their services were being recognized, and, in the course of time, will be
more fully appreciated and an effort made to compensate them adequately for
the hazardous work they have to perform.

The twelve protectors: added to the force by the laws of 1902, who were
appointed at the beginning of the present fiscal year, have added materially to
the efficiency of the Department. These protectors have been able to cover much
more territory than could have been properly guarded by a lesser number, and
have secured results which clearly demonstrate the wisdom of the Legislature in

making the increase.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. - 159

Actions and Recoveries.

The following statement will show the number of actions brought and the
amount of recoveries in fines and penalties, which does not include numerous
actions now pending against persons for trespassing on State land and for the
recovery of lands where adverse title is claimed, and does not also include several
actions now pending in the Supreme Court, the Appellate Division and the Court
of Appeals for the taking and possession of game in close season, some of which

have obtained no little notoriety:

SUMMARY OF RECOVERIES.

Fines and Trespass
penalties. fines.

Regular protectors $10,971 47 $4,640 98

Special&protectonspiis > Cte m smiths | Aidars oly dc Onan ne nite SaaiersitDrn emesis tC 1,691 75 II0 50

inewandensie ceric sc lhe ic) > he Vy ely ee een wren eres Neale In nT 2 3c OG

$14, 049 12 $4,751 48
Motal@tinesuand= penalties cn cy aye ae eer ieee CE Oe cal cek, Remmi ae 14,049 12

Grandstotali eos wees Gt oy CeCe eles eee RPA eT a Meub aie ees (et ee oe Slt ST COOLIO

As a result of the actions brought three hundred and seventy-seven persons were
fined, twenty-seven were acquitted, twenty-two were sent to jail for nine hundred
and twenty-one days, one was held for the grand jury, eleven had suspended
sentences, six cases are pending, one was a nonsuit, in one the jury disagreed,

and in one the suit was withdrawn; total, four hundred and forty-seven.

SUMMARY OF ACTIONS.

Fines and Trespass

penalty actions. actions.
IRGeanlleye PROWCHIOS 5 5 4 6 6 JEL Rake ete Cohn ae ni aaa 203 AI
Special protectors . . Napanee: Si SHUT Geobage eryeeie ese 71 8

EMRE wand Crisps aie eso tent eaeiat SECIS ieee Aen : : 34

398 49
Total fines and penalty actions , S04 ood ed cane aN ea ee PMB cae 308
Grand total. . : saan 1s SE eR TD eed fat Clans apts 8 hs 447

160 NINDH REPO OK THE RORESE, | Piste AND) “GAM EH sCONMMVASSION:

STATEMENT OF TIMBER SOLD.

|

©) CLODETL ROMA a Cae) Se aes | Re SBEMPRO Ol eras tee nreemcts Uh oot nema tins $106 00
INovemben2s - a eeueiyl sa 29 hoe Werth sos imme cavnit 20 00
May 27. Eh iui . COWeee ratte A, 335 00
AVI OUIS canbe tet Nahe c= Vs beets acaAl alse : E. Burhans 75 00
September 2 pee .| BS E. MicCollom 32 50
y Old building sold | 15 00

Total | $4,487 50

I wish to assure the numerous fish and game protective associations throughout
the State that the assistance they render the local protectors, which directly
benefits the work of the Department, is ever appreciated.

In conclusion permit me to extend my most sincere thanks for the cordial
support received at your hands in sustaining every effort put forth by me and
by the protectors in the enforcement of the laws.

Respectfully submitted.

J. WarREN Ponp,
Chief Game Protector.

Report of the Saperintendent of
Shetlfisheries

LJ}

To the Forest, Fish and Game Commission:

ENTLEMEN.—I have the honor to present the following report of the
business of the Shellfish Department, which, under the supervision of
the Commission, has been assigned to my management as Superintendent

of Shellfisheries. There are now held by the shellfish planters, under lease and
franchise from the State, 27,871 acres for cultivation.

The lands leased during the past year are located under the waters of Long
Island Sound, Raritan Bay, Jamaica Bay, Princes Bay, Great Kills and Lower
New York Bay.

For the purpose of insuring accurate surveys of these lands coast signals, or
monuments, are established and maintained along the shores of the bodies of water
mentioned. Each tract leased and surveyed is carefully platted upon the maps
and described upon the records of the Shellfish Office. These maps and records
are of great and permanent value to the shellfish industry, as upon them depend
the titles to all the lands held for shellfish cultivation in State waters.

Twenty-nine applications for grounds in Pelham Bay, East Chester Bay and
adjacent waters have been received. As these waters constitute new territory for
leases, it will be necessary to make a triangular survey for the purpose of

erecting signals by which the tracts may be located.

Cold Spring Harbor.

No finer oysters are to be had than those which are taken from the waters
of Cold Spring Harbor. Planters in those waters have for many years received
their leases from the town of Huntington upon the assumption that the title
to the harbor was, under an ancient grant, vested in the town. During the
year the title of the town has been questioned and several applications for such

EE 161

162 NUON Sl IITIAOMR A OM Aishy,

shellfish lands have been presented at this office. These applications have not
been filed and advertised (the usual course), but are held in abeyance until an
authoritative opinion, determining the matter of jurisdiction, may be had. The
question is now under consideration by the Attorney-General, as will appear by

his letter of November 9, 1903, as follows:

STATE OF NEw YorK,
ATTORNEY-GENERAL’S OFFICE.
ALBANY, Movember 9, 1903.
Mr. B. Frank Woop, Superintendent of Shellfisheries i

Dear Sir.—I beg that you will pardon my delay in acknowledging receipt of
your letter of September eleventh, requesting my opinion as to whether your
department has jurisdiction to lease lands under water of Cold Spring Harbor for
shellfish cultivation.

The question you ask my opinion on is one intimately connected with the
applications of Walter Jennings and others for grants of land under water of
Cold Spring Harbor, in which the first hearing before the Standing Committee
of Remonstrances of the Commissioners of the Land Office (of which I am a
member) was held on the fifth instant. The several parties to these applications
were given a reasonable time to submit briefs. Upon consideration of the various
questions involved in these proceedings the question you ask will also be looked
into, when I.will be pleased to answer your question.

Respectfully yours,
JouHn CUNNEEN,
Attorney-General.

Should it be decided that the jurisdiction for the purpose of shellfish cultiva-
tion in those waters is in the State, it will be necessary, as in the cases already
mentioned, to erect monuments for the purpose of a triangulation survey.

In the year 1884 a United States Coast Survey signal, known as ‘‘ Ludlum 2,”
stood upon the northerly bluff of Center Island. This bank or bluff was gradu-
ally being worn away, and as the signal was of importance to our State oyster
survey the Commission, in 1888, placed a new signal point exactly ten meters in a

’

southerly direction from ‘‘Ludlum 2” and in a line with ‘‘ Roosevelt’s Windmill,”

known as ‘‘Ludlum 3.” The bank has since caved away, carrying with it the

,

United States signal. The monument over ‘“Ludlum 3” had also disappeared
when, this past fall, the Surveyor of Oyster Lands, under the direction of your
Superintendent, undertook the relocation of this necessary signal. After many
measurements he succeeded in finding the ‘‘point,” which consisted of a bottle

with a brass nail through the center of the cork, buried two and a half feet

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 163

under the ground. As this point was upon the lawn of property now owned by
Mrs. Le Roy Dresser, this Department utilized, for the purpose of marking the
spot, a flagpole which has long been in possession of the Commission.

This pole constitutes an admirable monument (‘‘Ludlum 3”) which can be
seen in different directions and for a considerable distance over the water. The
pole was firmly and permanently set in a stone and cement foundation. Then
Mr. Wyeth, Surveyor of Oyster Lands, by means of mensuration and plumb, located
down the bank the proper position of the United States signal (‘‘Ludlum 2’’) and
there drove down a piece of iron pipe six feet in length, so preserving this United

States Government point.

State Control.

The better conditions of the shellfish industry and the increased production
under State control was shown by your Superintendent in his report for the year

1g01, published in the Seventh Report, from which I quote as follows:

From comparatively small beginnings the urgent necessities of the rapidly
expanding industry of shellfish cultivation led, a few years ago, to the adoption
by the State of a system of control of lands under the public waters suitable for
the business; a system which includes a unification of laws; an elaborate plan of
surveys, based upon the triangulations of the United States Coast Survey; the
establishment of numerous intermediate coast signals and the preparation of neces-
sary and carefully prepared maps and charts, together with grants of leases and
franchises under well-defined boundaries. Thus has the older plan of control by
localities, so palpably inadequate, been outgrown.

The obsolete local plan contemplated a right to the farmer or citizen, whose
lands happened to be adjacent to or near a bay or sound, to take possession of
a small piece of land under’ water, in size ranging from the fractional part
of an acre to three acres, upon which he might dredge or rake a few bushels of
shellfish for domestic consumption, or upon which the bayman owning a small
boat could dredge the natural-growth oysters for the market. The laws of a
given locality were sure to differ with those of every other locality, the point of
greatest resemblance being that these rights were confined to residents of the
particular town or community.

In one large bay the land granted to an individual was limited to three acres,
at an annual rental of five dollars per acre, while in another bay the limit was
five acres at three dollars per acre, an effort always being made to increase the
revenues of the town or community by the income from these grants, while noth-
ing was done by the town to protect its lessees in their rights. No hydrographic
surveys were made. Lessees fixed their own stakes or buoys marking the bound-
aries of the lots. These marks being constantly removed by tides, ice and storms,
led. to contentions between adjacent owners. Larceny of planted shellfish was a

164 NINTH REPORT OF THE

crime almost impossible of punishment, property lines being very uncertain and
the visible marks unreliable. Under that expensive system doubtful or experimental
ground was not taken. Extensive growers, requiring grounds in different localities
suitable for different stages of shellfish growth, were obliged to use subterfuge
and employ men resident in each locality to rent grounds as though for their
individual use, when, in fact, they were to be used by the larger planters.

Under the local system efficient means of destroying the enemies of the shell-
fish, involving the use of steamers, was out of the question. Under the present
system of State control the planters may obtain sufficient lands, employ capital
to advantage, combat the natural enemies of the shellfish and have the benefit of
proper surveys and boundaries, the lines being accurately fixed and easily relocated
when necessary

While the shellfish business under State care has made great progress toward
escaping from the bondage under which it so recently labored by reason of being
held within town and county lines, it finds, in its now rapid development, that it
-is also hampered by being held back at State lines.

This situation is particularly apparent upon the boundary line, in Long Island

Sound, between this State and the State of Connecticut.

Interstate Conferences.

After several conferences between the authorities in Connecticut and your
Superintendent of Shellfisheries, the matter was taken up by the Legislature of

Connecticut at its recent session and the following resolution adopted:

Section 1. That the Governor is directed to appoint a Commission consisting
of six persons, three of whom shall be the Shellfish Commissioners of this State.

SEC. 2. Said Commission is authorized, empowered, and directed to confer
with the Forest, Fish and Game Commission of the State of New York, in relation
to proposed reciprocal legislation concerning lobster and shellfisheries in the waters
of the State of New York and the State of Connecticut. Said Commissioners
shall be paid their actual expenses when approved by the Comptroller.

Sec. 3. Said Commissioners shall report to the Governor on or before Septem-
ber 1, 1904, the result of their conferences, together with recommendations of such
legislation as may seem to them practical and desirable. The Attorney-General
shall thereupon prepare appropriate bills, embodying such proposed legislation, to
be submitted to the next General Assembly.

During the summer of 1903 the following named gentlemen were appointed as
members of this Special Commission, to wit: The members of the Connecticut
Shellfish Commission (Mr. Waldo, Mr. Schwartz and Mr. Atwater); Senator

Hamilton, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Fish and Game; Assemblyman

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 165

Arnot, Chairman of the Committee on Fish and Game of the House of Repre-
sentatives; Mr. Pike, and General William A. King, Attorney-General.

On November g, 1903, your Superintendent received a notice from General King
of a meeting of the Special Commission, to be held at the office of the Shellfish
Commission, at New Haven, on Monday, November sixteenth, requesting his
presence.

The New Haven meeting was organized with Senator Hamilton in the chair.
Your Superintendent being called upon for a statement of his views upon the issues
under discussion, read a report covering the matter which he had, in the spring
of 1903, submitted to the Forest, Fish and Game Commission of New York State,

as follows:

OFFICE SUPERINTENDENT OF SHELLFISHERIES,
No. 1 Mapison AVENUE.
New York, March 9, 1903.
To The Forest, Fish and Game Commission, Albany:

GENTLEMEN.— Following a correspondence, which has covered a period of over
two years, conferences have recently been held, in Hartford and in New York,
with the Connecticut State authorities for the purpose of giving effect to recom-
mendations made by your Superintendent of Shellfisheries in November, 1900,
and published in the Sixth Report of the Commission. It was then suggested
that, in view of the fact that upon the statute books of both States were laws
limiting the right to take shellfish in public waters to citizens of each State
respectively, some legislation of a reciprocal character should be enacted in the
two States, which, in its operation, might be beneficial to the residents of both
States. Between Long Island, in the State of New York, and the coast of the State
of Connecticut, lies Long Island Sound, an immense arm of the sea. The inter-
state boundary being a line about one hundred miles in length, established
along what is practically the center of the Sound, the shellfish cultivators being
restricted in their operations to one or the other side of this line, accordingly as
their place of residence is in one State or the other, naturally questions have
arisen affording problems of greater or less difficulty.

In the month of July, 1900, one John Green, a resident of Connecticut, was
arrested while taking lobsters in the Sound near Port Jefferson. He paid a small
fine after pleading guilty. At the hearing, in the presence of the justice, he said
that it was scarcely fair to take him alone—that more than one hundred men from
Connecticut were regularly taking lobsters in ‘‘The Race,” southwest of Fisher’s
Island. Green, upon saying that he knew these persons, was requested to notify
them that they must not continue to violate the law. One month later some
arrests of non-resident lobster fishermen were made near Fisher’s Island. One of
these defendants made a contest, but was unsuccessful in the courts. The Forest,
Fish and Game Commission, recognizing the hardships likely to fall upon the

166 NINTH REPORT OF THE

citizens of either State under the non-resident law, and adopting the solution
proposed, recommended in their Sixth Report ‘‘ That there should be no discrimi-
nation by this State, in the matter of hunting or fishing, against any citizen of the
United States, except in cases of citizens of States which discriminate against the
Stare onvNewe Monk”

Counsel for the Connecticut lobster fishermen undertook to prepare a measure
for enactment in both States and was promised the endorsement of this Commis-
sion, but later reported that his chents were not prepared for this full measure of
reciprocity. At this time the Legislatures of 1901 were in session in the respec-
tive States. In rg02z the question was taken up with Hon. Charles Phelps, then
Attorney-General of Connecticut, and with the Shellfish Commissioners of that
State, without result.

Hon. William A. King, the present Attorney-General of Connecticut, has become
interested in the subject, and at his invitation your Superintendent visited Hart-
ford on February sixth and conferred with the Attorney-General, the Shellfish
Commissioners, the Fish and Game Commissioners, the respective Chairmen of the
Senate and House Committees on Fish and Game, and others.

This conference resulted in an agreement to recommend in the two States
legislation of a reciprocal character, under which citizens of both States might
enjoy mutual rights in the shellfisheries so far as these fisheries are within the
jurisdiction of the State governments, with the exception of the use of the natural
growth seed-oyster beds, which our neighbors thought should be reserved for the
people of each State respectively. It was believed that such an arrangement
would greatly benefit the shellfish industry and give effect almost fully (for it
stopped a little short of full reciprocity) to the ideas for settlement expressed by
this Commission for more than two years past.

The conclusions of the meeting at Hartford on February ee however, did
not seem to be pleasing to some of the Connecticut planters, and a hearing was
announced for February twenty-fifth before the joint committees, and your Super-
intendent was notified that his presence would be desirable. At this hearing a
number of Connecticut oyster planters was present, and it was urged by them that
they should be allowed, under any new plan, to take lands in Peconic and Gardner s
Bays in New York. It was explained to them that these lands were not under
State jurisdiction, having been ceded by the State to the County of Suffolk
in 1884, and that if shellfish lands under local New York jurisdiction could be
opened up to them, it would involve a similar privilege to New York planters
in Connecticut local jurisdictions. The lands under the waters of Peconic and
Gardner’s Bays are, by law, excluded from State jurisdiction so far as making
grants for shellfish cultivation are concerned, and as they are not located upon
the coast of the Sound and are not in their position opposite to the coast of
Connecticut, they cannot be considered in this arrangement.

Some of the Connecticut towns hold, under ancient grants, shellfish lands over
which jurisdiction and control is held by said towns, and it was not supposed that
such control would be affected by the reciprocal legislation proposed.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 167

By reason of the overanxiety of the Connecticut lobster fishermen to fish in
““The Race,” in this State, and of the Connecticut oyster planters to be permitted
to take shellfish lands in Gardner’s and Peconic Bays, some measures have been
proposed and bills introduced in the Legislature of Connecticut (apparently for the
purpose of securing action of the New York authorities in the matter) which
are, in their provisions, detrimental to the shellfish interests of citizens of New
York, to wit: House Bill No. 446 declares forfeited all grants and franchises held
by non-residents of this State in shellfish lands; House Bill No. 233 provides
that oysters from the natural oyster beds of Connecticut shall not be conveyed
out of the State within two years from the time said oysters are taken from
the bed.

In explanation of what is intended to be secured by Bill No. 446, it should be
stated that in former years, by reason of a lax enforcement of the shellfish laws,
non-residents in both States have taken assignments from original grantees of
oyster lands. It will therefore be understood that many planters residing in New
York are cultivating lands in Connecticut and vice versa, and that the enactment
of this measure would involve an ejectment of New York planters from grounds
thus held in Connecticut.

House Bill No. 233 affects the right, as it at present exists, of residents of
-New York to purchase seed oysters from the natural seed beds of Connecticut,
and if enacted would deleteriously affect the interests of our planters.

It is but just to say that neither of these measures meet the approval of the
Shellfish Commissioners of Connecticut, nor of the Attorney-General of that State,
nor of any Connecticut official, so far as your Superintendent is informed; in
fact, a bili amending Section 3215 of the General Statutes of Connecticut has
been drafted by the Attorney-General of that State, under the provisions of
which reciprocal rights, as proposed by the New York Commission, will be secured
so far as that State is concerned. It also confirms to citizens of New York
State title to such shellfish lands as they may have taken by assignment from
residents of Connecticut.

It has also been proposed by the Connecticut authorities that, if necessary,
a Commission shall be appointed by the Governor to confer with the Forest, Fish
and Game Commission of New York State for the purpose of considering and
reporting upon the questions at issue.

Respectfully submitted. B. Frank Woop,

Superintendent of Shellfishertes.

It was agreed by the gentlemen present, all of whom, except Mr. Atwater,
had attended the Hartford and New York conferences, that in his report your
Superintendent had stated the matter fairly and correctly.

After a short discussion of the matters involved an adjournment, subject to the

eall of the chair, was taken.

168 NINTH REPORT OF THE

The Boston Convention.

A convention of the Commissioners of the lobster-producing States and British
maritime provinces was held at the State House at Boston, Mass., on Wednesday,
September 23, 1903, upon the call of Hon. Joseph W. Collins, Chairman of the
Department of Fisheries and Game of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, for
the purpose of considering what can be done to secure a better protection of
the lobster; and, if possible, to obtain laws upon this subject as nearly uniform
as possible in the various States and provinces. It was fully appreciated that
some immediate and concerted plan must be adopted to prevent the ultimate
commercial extermination of the lobster.

The Dominion of Canada, and Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut
and New York States were represented. The convention continued for two days
and developed much of interest and importance.

Upon the organization of the convention Captain Collins was called to preside,
and Dr. George W. Field, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who for
several years has made a specialty of investigating the habits and natural history
of the lobster from a scientific standpoint, was elected secretary.

In his address Captain Collins called attention to the fact that the statute
laws existing in the several States have proved entirely inadequate to prevent
the considerable and continuing diminution in the supply of lobsters. He stated
that the question before the convention was, ‘‘Shall present conditions continue,
or shall we endeavor to bring about the adoption of uniform rules in the different
municipalities which may insure the conservation and proper protection of these
crustaceans? ”

The following recommendations were reported by a committee consisting of
Captain J. W. Collins, of Massachusetts; A. R. Nickerson, of Maine; E. H. Greer,
of Connecticut; B. Frank Wood, of New York; W. H. Boardman, of Rhode Island,
and Dr. George W. Field:

First.— We recommend that a law be enacted to limit lobster catching to men
having permits from the State; that the penalty for catching lobsters without a
permit shall not be less than $100, and that a person convicted of violating the
laws for the protection of lobsters shall have his permit revoked, and that no other
shall be issued to him for a year thereafter.

Second.—The committee recommends that it is our desire, if possible, to have
uniform, or nearly uniform, laws for the protection of the lobster in the New
England States and New York, more especially so far as the legalized length of
the lobster is concerned.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 169

Third.— Your committee further recommends the general adoption of the law
relating to lobster meat now enacted in the statutes of Maine. [The Maine
law allows the sale of lobster meat in the shell only, so that lobsters shorter
than the legal limit, known in the trade as ‘‘chicken’”’ lobster, may be more
readily detected. |

Dr. George W. Field advanced a theory regarding the protection of lobsters
which deserves careful consideration upon the part of those who are making a study
of this interesting subject. He maintains that it is the egg-bearing, or ‘‘berry,”’
lobster, rather than the immature lobster, that needs protection, on the same
principle upon which the laying, or mother, fowl is preserved while the broilers
are sent to market. He proposes to create a perpetual close season for the adult
breeding lobster by putting it out of the power of fishermen to capture them.
To secure this condition he suggests legislation limiting the size of the orifice or
ring at the entrance to the lobster trap, so that it will be impossible for a lobster
more than eleven inches in length to enter. As all lobsters above this size will
be excluded, they will consequently never come into the hands of the fisherman,
and therefore there will be no temptation for him to surreptitiously market them.
He thinks that lobsters betweer eight and eleven inches are of suitable size for
market, and are superior to the ‘arger ones for the table.

It was suggested by your Superintendent that lobsters too small for the market
might be allowed to escape from the traps by making the space between the side-
bars or slats sufficiently wide to enable them to pass out. Under such a plan fewer
small lobsters would be brought to the surface when the traps are raised, while
absolutely none above eleven inches in length would be taken.

The minutes of the convention, it is expected, will soon be in print and ready
for distribution, when copies will be forwarded to the New York Commission.

During the season multitudes of young lobsters have made their appearance
upon out coast, notably in the New York Lower Bay and in Jamaica Bay. This

gives encouragement for an increased market supply in the near future.

Statistics of the Indastry.

Though without an appropriation for this purpose, an effort has been made by
your Superintendent to gather statistics of the shellfish industry. The results
presented in this report are of very great interest, and, while not as complete as
they may be in the future, bear out the estimate made two years ago by this
Department —that New York annually transacts a business in shellfish amounting

to about $7,000,000

170 NINDE REPORT OR) PEE

The preparation of statistical returns being a new thing, it was impossible
to get reports from every planter and dealer. However, with the assistance of
the common carriers, freely given, and with the cooperation of a majority of the
planters and market men, we are enabled to show the great development of
the shellfish business under State control, covering the cultivation, marketing
and export trade.

On or about October 1, 1903, the following letter, with question blank enclosed,

was sent out to shellfish cultivators, to wit:

OFFICE SUPERINTENDENT OF SHELLFISHERIES,
No. 1 Mapison AVENUE.
New York, October 1, 1903.

Dear Sir.—For the purpose of obtaining reliable statistics of the extensive
and growing shellfish industry of the State of New York (pursuant to the require-
ments of Chapter 433, Laws of 1903) you are requested to kindly answer the
questions upon the enclosed blank and send the same by return mail to this
office.

The information obtained in this manner from individual planters, firms and
corporations will be held as being of a strictly confidential nature. This is a
matter of necessity and importance and is required by law (as above cited).

Please give it your immediate attention, and oblige,

Yours respectfully,
B Frank Woop,
Superintendent of Shellfishertes.

This letter brought returns from about one half of the acreage held under
State leases and franchises, as shown by the following summary compiled from

the statistics furnished:

SUMMARY.
AWeresiheldsunderilease serait aye ame en race meme O24 20
XCresmheldmumdenmrizamehises ta suas naan eee eM ane 7,694.2
Total acres cultivated Sols RGA csog Ta tiie eg eo ee eee 9,274-7

(Location of tracts—Jamaica Bay, Princes Bay, Long
Island Sound and tributary bays and harbors, Great
South Bay, Raritan Bay.)

INumbeniotssteam) vessels employed paige ei nein 71
AD OIMINA CRS “OE “Steen Wesel = be 6 oe og : 1,223.08
Nalulenon steam vessels jsiquy) al neings Oat inn nt nen aa 20. ONOGO) 100

Value of outfit netic ails, WA eer, ae ORES ie epee MANE SHE tte Ui co GRAIL 2SE NS OG POO

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

Summary — (Concluded).

Number of sail vessels employed 104
Tonnage of sail vessels WB age
Value of sail vessels $84,100 00
Value of outfit 44,375 00
Number of other boats employed 392
Value of other boats $35,944 00
Value of outfit 28,206 oo
Number of tongs used 722
Number of dredges used 446
Number of hands employed . 870
Amount paid in wages $258,015 41
Value of shore property $88,950 00
Bushels of market oysters produced 879,861
Bushels of seed oysters produced 138,559
Bushels of seed oysters planted 755,419
Bushels of seed oysters sold 90,803
Value of seed oysters sold $37,152 50
Value of market oysters sold 5 WpeOR2, 801 OF
Bushels of clams produced 26,813
Value of clams sold $58,742 09

Principal market — New York and Europe.

fa

This does not imply that the production is double the amount specified, for
one grower with ten acres may produce more marketable oysters than another
with 1too acres. The same applies to all the statistics here given as to number,
tonnage, values of vessels employed, number of men employed, quantity and
value of equipment, value of shore property, amounts paid in wages, etc.

Careful efforts were made to secure from various transportation lines the quan-
tity of oysters brought to market in the course of a year. In very few instances
_ were the figures immediately available, as no separate records of oyster shipments
were kept. Officials and employees very courteously estimated the quantities and
offered all the aid possible in determining the volume of business. In nearly every
case, however, the figures were given, not as officially’ exact, ‘ut rather as

underestimates. Hence it may be assumed that the oyster trade of New York

72 NINTH REPORT OF THE

State in a year, as reckoned from the business of the carriers, is rather more
than less than the figures given. Reckoning the quantities of oysters sent to
market in the shell and ‘‘shucked,” or opened, the total number of bushels
represented in the transportation companies’ reports amounted to 6,275,000. As
the average wholesale price of oysters amounts to one dollar or more per bushel,
this represents, in round figures, a valuation of $7,000,000 annually.

As indicative of the variation of the sale of oysters during the twelve months
of the year the following report of one year’s shipment by freight on one trans-
portation line will prove instructive, remembering, of course, that these figures
are estimated and are intended to understate rather than exaggerate the volume

of business:

Net tons.

Ua Ua By a ye Ge. Sacha elon, ay a nt a See ey ct ee Veg ea 2,500
Pebritaryd eee a Aueat lee wore mati) aleve eee ie gcehn eat iar an ome ae 2,500
IEEY ol aire mele LRAT CRI Memon Apes en ent Aa rasta ti 2,000
Nop ttt a ha eNO el: Soa Frag ote aN ay, lca ie foi 1,000
Wheat yee ae eee nent URE SER pei Pn ro oer ae aeanaee arc uci ieee Neen mA 290
iT ie Sy hs ENO Ze Ae ESM emcee Tee ry era Or ns ae en 267
July SAR REDCAR Un Sie BRM ry) cRDe er, lig Stale MUS irene RM Cee ee A 200
August Da inc fy Cones yA igs hee ead Saas cca ecco TiAl fee Ea a ee Tir 162
September de dae wcea ee irraaeh BUS _ Rite SYN LN es tM NR at Ce PL SR AOR oe Toa fee 9D
October aN ace ema Der a) eck COR Se skies tt weet etic ee EY oe ar 2,584
November ST AU NERS, ceaseless ety a aera cl a Wl aed 3,500
December 5 Shh eRe! |. ching a ms, we ce ees a cee ea aa eg Be a 3,500
PotaluPon's items Punta A> le hil eho ie ra aioe aan yada ee ane sR OS (7G
Onezton equals barrels) iti eae oi. o = wee ia sane alii ale olan Salar ree 9
Nine barrels to ton equals, barrels a Saye a ye eme et tesa as ee ands Na sane TOMO gC
hee cbushelsi-tbomb ance licewsssie) sae eer a ec ne eae a vena tai 3
“otal [ousSh else trie, a Smeal yn open Neal er ane iene sade Man CES ON O)2IG

New Work City Oyster Markets.

In New York City there are two principal oyster markets: the West Washington
Oyster Market and the Fulton Market. The business of the oyster dealers is
principally done in large house-boats, or floats moored at the water fronts. These
unique craft are familiar and picturesqe objects to New Yorkers. The use of these
boats has grown from the necessities of the business. Proper houses upon the

wharfs or docks are scarce and would be hard to obtain. The use of the floats

>

FOREST, FISII AND GAME COMMISSION. aye

is a measure of economy, the cost of dockage being one dollar and ninety cents
per day; and it is then said that the oyster merchants are discriminated against,
as canal boats, occupying greater space, are docked for twenty-five cents per day.
Canal boats are transient customers at the docks, while the oyster boats are
permanently located.

These oyster houses rise and fall with the tides, and are therefore always upon
the level of the boats comprising the oyster-carrying fleet, and thus are favorably
Situated to have the cargoes, transferred. here are nineteen -of these floats at
West Washington Market and seven at Fulton Market.

The Oyster Fleet.

Subsidiary to the large market floats are perhaps 500 boats engaged in the
trade of carrying oysters from the oyster beds to the market. This fleet com-
prises boats of almost every description, including steamers, naphtha-power boats,
schooners and sloops, and they carry loads varying from 300 to 5,000 bushels
each. Five hundred bushels is probably a fair average cargo for a sailing vessel.
In addition to the boats, there are from fifty to sixty wagons regularly employed
in taking oysters to market from the Rockaway beds. These wagons are built
upon the lines of the Long Island market gardener’s wagon, and carry a load of
21,000 oysters, put up in bags, containing about 400 oysters to the bag.

Oysters in the shell are shipped to the retailers in barrels and bags, and the
opened (‘‘shucked”’) oysters in half barrels and tubs.

There are about 250 oysters, in the shell to the bushel; these, when opened,
give about one gallon of solid meat. A half barrel holds eighteen gallons, there
being twelve gallons of solid oysters. The tubs contain nine gallons, with six
gallons of meat.

Motor Boats.

A great saving in time and money in the handling of oyster stock is being
wrought by the employment of power boats in the business. Indeed, the trade is
being revolutionized by the rapid advancement in this respect, as many more
trips can be made and much larger burdens carried than with the old-time oyster
craft. This, with modern processes of refrigeration in transit, is doing wonders
for the business.

Shipments of oysters to European ports began on October twenty-second, and |
have now amounted (in less than two months) to 6,925 barrels. During the fall
shipments amounting to five carloads daily have been made to California. Oysters

now go everywhere, and can be delivered in good condition at remote points.

174 NINTH REPORT OF DHE

Great numbers of markets, groceries, etc., throughout the country are engaged
in handling the bivalves, and constitute an important factor in the ever increasing
demand.

Oyster Cattare.

The large increase in the quantity of oysters produced and marketed is
an evidence of the popularity and high dietetic value of this palatable and easily
digested sea food. It has been pointed out by the Lancet that the nutritive
material in a raw oyster comprises all classes of food substances, including proteid,
carbohydrate, fat and certain mineral salts which are present in a peculiarly
assimilable form.

That the oyster can be propagated by artificial means has long been known,
the difficulty having been to apply the methods economically upon a commercial
scale. Experiments for this purpose are constantly being carried on by the United
States Commission of Fish and Fisheries. The process in use by oyster planters,
usually spoken of as ‘‘cultivating” the oyster, consists in assisting nature to the
extent of preparing suitable beds upon which the spat or spawn can attach itself and
make its growth. Slime and mud are fatal to the young oyster. It is therefore
necessary for the planter to thoroughly clean his ground under water by use of the
dredge. He then covers the bottom with shells which have been cleansed by scour-
ing and drying, or with clean broken stone. This preparation, in the case of the
larger tracts of oyster land, may cost many thousands of dollars, which are literally
cast upon the waters in the hope that the oyster spat may attach.

The oyster exudes thousands of eggs, which are carried along by the tides
until a clean, hard surface is encountered, when, if the limit of existence in the
free-swimming stage has not been reached, it attaches, and there it remains
during its life history, unless removed by the planter to other grounds. The
uncertainties of the business to the planter are apparent. The spawn from the
oysters upon his own grounds may be carried miles away by the currents, while
the set upon his lands comes from an unknown quarter; or he may fail entirely
to get a set, with the result that the money spent by him in preparing the beds
has actually been thrown overboard. Thus, from an oyster farm, other lands may
be fertilized and enriched.

There is occasionally a season during which the oyster set is abundant and
general and when all goes well with the planter, but usually the set occurs over
small areas or spots, and often there is a season showing almost an entire absence
of oyster set. The oyster requires from three to five or more years to mature,
so that the business can endure for a few years a dearth of the spat. There has

been no general oyster set in New York waters since the year 1899. The abun-

Scena

romesrceommemmesscsense

ee

ALONG THE STREET FRONT.

WEST WASHINGTON MARKET, NEW YORK CITY.

FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. WAS

dance of that year has ever since furnished the trade with market stock and will
carry the dealers over another year, during which, however, higher prices may
be looked for. Should the next season not prove more bountiful in this particular
the planters will be in dire straits.

Minute oysters, known as ‘‘seed” oysters, are regularly dealt in and carried
from one locality to another and transplanted. Our growers usually purchase
large quantities of seed from the Connecticut natural beds, but our Connecticut
neighbors, as well as our own people, have lately failed to find a set. Seed
oysters from Southern waters will not thrive upon our colder coasts, though
Northern seed prospers well in the South. Our planters, consequently, cannot be
supplied from that source; we have, therefore, to face a condition of scarcity
of oysters during th: next two years. No doubt nature could always, under
normal conditions, be depended on to renew and perpetuate this species, but it
must be remembered that by the agency of man the natural beds have been
depleted and nature’s balance disturbed. Notwithstanding the deadly attacks of
the starfish, the borer, the periwinkle and other enemies of this bivalve, nature
has always provided for the survival of the oyster; but when the oystermen rake
up the shellfish of entire bays and arms of the sea it will be understood that
every advance in intelligent methods of cultivation is welcomed, and that experi-
ments such as the General Government is making along the line of artificial
propagation are watched with the greatest interest. ‘

- Our Néw York oyster is thé best and most sought shellfish that the market
affords. Blue Points, East Rivers, Rockaways and those from Princes Bay are
too well known and too highly esteemed to require further mention here. Our
domestic markets demand them, and thousands of barrels are exported to foreign
countries. Perhaps it may be of interest to note that we also import oysters,
though the quantities imported are infinitesimal in comparison with the exports;
still there are certain epicures who, to satisfy a taste which might properly be
called a fad, require that the bills of fare at their favorite restaurants shall afford
‘“Green Marennes,” a French oyster, which, to the extent of five or six barrels a
week during the season, are brought to this country. While the New York oyster
is unsurpassed in quality and may be had fresh from its salty medium, its foreign

relative commands a fourfold greater price.

A Hazardous Occapation.

Some of the difficulties which make the business of oyster culture hazardous
and laborious have been mentioned, but more might be related; in fact, more

exist than are actually known, such as storms, tides, temperature of water and

176 NINTH REPORT OF THE

the fate of being stifled by the smothering mud. One oyster planter relates the

difficulties he encounters in oyster cultivation as follows:

DEAR Srir.—I am in receipt of your request to fill out blank relating to oyster
cultivation. It is impossible for me to fill this out as you request, but am
perfectly willing to give you all the information possible.

In the first place, I do not know how much ground I have planted, as it is
all creek bottom. JI have permission and in some cases pay for the privilege
of planting to the owners of adjoining uplands. The town presumably owns the
bottom, but it was voted in town meeting not to lease any creek bottoms. This
is largely an experiment, last season being the first year that oysters in any
quantity were planted in this creek. The bottom planted does not lie in any con-
tinuous tract or tracts, but follows the shore largely and wherever bottom seems
to be hardest.

Last season I planted about 7oo bushels and did very well with them. This
spring, in partnership with another party, I planted about 3,000 bushels; have had
bad luck with them, so far losing, I should think, certainly one third by reason
of a growth of.moss or a mosslike substance growing from the bottom to a length of
about six inches, forming a solid mat and smothering whatever oysters it covered.
This growth occurred in the month of June. We also had another growth, which
grows from bottom to top of water; this we could seine off, but the first named
there did not seem to be any way of getting rid of. Have not as yet this season
handled any oysters to speak of, so cannot tell number of bushels or value.

ean

Yours truly,

*k *k * * Eo

Caltivation for Private Use.

There are some instances of citizens who have peculiar facilities for growing
shellfish, or who, having wealth at command, can indulge their taste for fresh
salt-sea oysters and clams by cultivating private shellfish beds. To mention
a notable case: Last year Mr. Howard Gould leased from the State two tracts
of land under the waters of Long Island Sound, upon which he immediately
caused to be planted 2,500 bushels of young oysters. He reports under date of
October 14, 1903, that he now has in cultivation about five acres located off
Sands Point, and adds:

The lands which I hold at Sands Point were planted with sufficient oysters
and clams for my own use only, and, as I have never sold any or kept any
account of the amount I have taken out, it is impossible for me to answer many
of the questions on the form you send me.

PORESDT, PIsH AND GAME COMMT!SSION. 177

Clams.

The delicious and appetizing clams produced in this State (among which are
the popular Little Necks and Rockaways) are far-famed. As the natural supplies
have continued to diminish, planters have, in many instances, given careful atten-
tion to cultivating this succulent bivalve. Notably, in Jamaica Bay they have
been successfully grown in considerable quantities. No difficulty has been experi-
enced in disposing of the stock right at the beds at good prices. Clams, although
a staple article of trade, are especially sought at times when the oyster is out of
the market. Our native stock finds ready sale, often bringing from ten dollars to

twelve dollars per barrel.

The Menhaden Catch.

The Menhaden fishermen have enjoyed two years of plenty following upon
several years of scarcity. The vicissitudes of this business are common to all
coast fisheries and tend to prove the theory that ocean fish have their periods
of being scarce and plentiful entirely irrespective of any agency of man. This
fluctuation of supply is well understood by fishermen. The Menhaden business

has, during the year, yielded results as follows:

Niu CMOLEStE ATIC RS emam enc: tsa) ac ea) Yee Reman oe 30
Caiccla OF isn (@loouie), loam Be 2 A 5 a 8 I, 500,000
Oilemader (about) sbannelsy: as ae. 2s) ey een eterna eee 70,000
SICKO (DOU) RLOMS nn aie te thc Seka so ais ena 40,000
AVfalles (QD Out) Sen ian erie sk sts ey ey On EER DL 5OO,O00

Food Fisheries.

Food-fish of all kinds have been fairly abundant upon our coast. Bluefish,
however, did not come North in as great abundance as during last season, but
were plentiful in Southern waters. The net fishermen in the vicinity of Montauk
Point and along our outer coast line have been favored with large catches which
have brought satisfactory prices in the market, making for this season prosperous
times for those engaged in this hazardous and often unprofitable occupation.

Respectfully submitted.
B. Frank Woop,

Superintendent of Shellfishertes.

New York, N. Y., December 30, 1903.

The Caltivated Forests of Earope

By A. KNECHTEL.

HE general interest in forestry affairs which now occupies largely the
| attention of the people in this country, has led to discussions in which
European forestry methods are frequently referred to as a desirable system
to be followed in the management and exploitation of American woodlands. In view
of this fact it may be well for the casual reader, who is interested in this subject, to
devote a little time to a study of the methods employed in the maintenance and
management of European forests in order to determine how far they are applicable
to the lumber business, and to forestry in general, in our own land.

It would be impossible, within the limited scope of this article, to discuss all
the questions involved, but a brief statement of the salient facts, together with
a short description of certain fundamental and controlling conditions, may assist
largely in understanding the differences which necessarily exist in the conduct of
the business as now carried on in the two countries.

Nor is it intended that this article shall be especially instructive to foresters.
It is written rather with the hope that it may interest the general reader,
permitting him to consider certain forest conditions without having his patience

taxed with mathematical calculations or technical phraseology.

Why the Forests Are Clean.

In the cultivated forests of Europe the absence of underbrush and fallen,
decaying logs and limbs, the density of the forest, and the even distribution of
trees, often planted in long, straight rows, arrest immediately the attention
of the American visitor. One can stroll with comfort among the trees, or drive
anywhere among them, except, of course, where the hills are too steep or stony,
or where the trees stand too closely together, the latter being always the case in
young woods.

In these forests trees are not permitted to reach the full limit of their life,
and then, as the result of decay, to fall and remain rotting on the ground.
They are considered as a wood capital which adds interest to itself as long as
the trees continue to grow, at first slowly when the trees are small, more rapidly
when they are of medium size, and more slowly again when they become large.
When the trees die the wood interest ceases entirely, and as they decay the

179

180 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

capital itself is reduced. The forester leaves this wood capital as long as interest
continues to add to it satisfactorily. Then when the: growth declines, whether
on account of insect attack, disease, or old age, until it no longer warrants
leaving the timber in the forest, it is removed, the forester taking the trunks
and limbs and the peasant gathering up the brush and often digging out the
stumps, although these also are not infrequently taken care of by the forester
and placed on the market, bringing always a price sufficient at least to pay the
cost of their removal.

Everywhere in the woods of southern Europe may be seen people gathering
brush and taking it home in carts, drawn frequently by cows or dogs. Often,
however, it is tied into a bundle and carried, sometimes a long distance, strapped
on the back or poised on the head. Permission to gather brushwood for fuel is
usually given free of charge. In some places a nominal sum is charged; in others
the workmen in the woods are granted the privilege as an extra compensation
for their labor. Sometimes with this permission goes also the privilege of
gathering leaves and nuts, the leaves being fed to goats, or used as bedding for
horses and cattle. The nuts are mostly used as food for domestic animals;
but many of the poor people dry the acorns and use them in place of coffee. In
the cities of Italy pine cones are peddled on the streets.

In the Spessart, in Bavaria, it has been so long the privilege of the peasants
to gather litter from the forest that it is now considered their right, and even so
recognized by law. The privilege has its restrictions, however, which have been
stated as follows by Sir Dietrich Brandis: ‘‘It must not be exercised in young
woods which have not yet attained half the age prescribed by the term of
rotation;* further, an area where litter has been collected must have at least
six years’ rest before it is again opened for that purpose; and lastly, the areas
opened for the collection of litter must be assigned annually by the responsible
forest officers, and this is done in accordance with a well-considered plan. Never-
theless, the quantity of leaves removed annually is enormous. In spring and
autumn long strings of wagons filled with huge mountains of litter leave the forest
in every direction, and the result is that the soil does not improve as much as it
might, and in places it is much impoverished.” ft

In some districts all products of the forest are put upon the market. In a
forest belonging to the city of Grabow in Mecklenburg a good layer of leaves

and moss sells for sixteen dollars per acre.

*The term of rotation prescribed for oak is 300, for beech 120, for Scotch pine 96, and for
spruce 72 years.

+Garden and Forest, May, 1894. ‘‘Mixed Oak and Beech Forests of the Spessart,’’ by
D. Brandis.

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A. KNECHTEL, SHOTS.
BUNDLING SPRUCE FAGOTS FOR MARKET.

NEAR TITISEE, IN THE BLACK FOREST.

me KNECHTEL, PHOTO.
GOING HOME FROM THEIR WORK IN THE FOREST.

NEAR OBERWIESENTHAL, IN THE ERZGEBIRGE, SAXONY.

THE CULTIVATED FORESTS OF EUROPE. 181

Methods of Cattare.

In European forests there is always a large quantity of small timber for sale
on account of the manner in which the forests are cultivated. Pine and spruce
trees are mostly started in nurseries, in which beds are made and seed is sown in
much the same way as in the vegetable garden. After growing in these seed
beds for two years* the little trees, then about six inches high, are transplanted
into other beds, wnere they are spaced about five or six inches apart, and where
they remain for two or three years more. They are then about a foot or fifteen
inches tall, and are taken to a field from which the forest has been removed and
are set in the ground spaced only four feet apart, or thereabouts, so that in a
short time they will crowd each other. This crowded condition compels the trees
to grow tall and slender and to shed their lower branches, thereby permitting a
growth of timber free of knots. It also hinders evaporation by shading the soil,
a matter of prime importance. After attaining a satisfactory height growth
the trees take on a diameter growth in due time. The trees are usually planted
in straight rows, in some cases by means of a rope stretched across the field as a
guide.

If the soil is of a good quality the ground receives no previous preparation,
except that the stumps may be taken out. In light, sandy soils it is a common
‘practice to run furrows about three feet apart. A surface plow with a double
moldboard is used, which goes about eight inches deep. This is followed, in the
same furrows, by a narrow subsoil plow which sinks to the depth of one foot,
and which is usually drawn by two teams.

Instead of being plowed, the ground is sometimes dug with a spade. The
diggers advance in straight lines across the field making square holes, twenty
inches on a side and twenty inches deep, the soil removed in digging each being
thrown into the preceding hole. The soil thus loosened retains the moisture
better. Pine is almost invariably the species planted in such poor, sandy ground.

In about twenty years a thinning is necessary, as the trees then crowd each
other so much that many are suppressed, in more or-less degree, by their stronger
neighbors, and these latter are also hindered materially in their growth. In spruce
forests sometimes more than half the trees are removed in this first thinning.
These are sold for firewood, poles and various other purposes. The fuel wood
brings, laid at the roadside, about two dollars and twenty-five cents a cord, the

*Scotch pine is, in many localities, taken from the seed bed directly to the field when it is one

year old. If left for a longer time in the nursery, it is much damaged by a fungal disease called
Soa Glncittenms

182 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

poles selling for various prices, according to their size and form. As the crowns
of the trees soon close again, subsequent thinnings are necessary about every ten
or fifteen years, the better sticks being taken for building purposes while the rest go
mostly for pulp-wood if spruce, for firewood if pine, all sorts increasing in price
with the quality. Building material laid at the roadside brings about nine cents
per cubic foot; good spruce fuel wood about three dollars a cord.

On the poor, sandy soil of Mecklenburg a thinning in Scotch pine, when the
trees are twenty years old, yields about two dollars per acre; when forty, five
dollars; when sixty, ten dollars; when eighty, twenty dollars; when one hundred,
thirty dollars. The total wood from thinnings gives about one hundred and thirty
dollars per acre. On good soil in the Erz mountains, Saxony, a thinning in
spruce, when the trees are twenty years old, yields four dollars per acre; when
forty, fifteen dollars; when sixty, eighty dollars. The total wood from thinnings
yields about two hundred dollars per acre. The thinnings largely offset the cost
and interest on the plantation up to the time of the final cutting.

The final cutting is not often made before the trees reach the age of eighty
years. Sometimes they remain until they are one hundred and twenty years old,
especially where the soil is poor or the climate severe. These are the finest trees
in the forest, the diseased, deformed or injured ones having been removed in the
successive thinnings. Then about one hundred and sixty to two hundred straight,
cylindrical trees, twelve to fifteen inches in diameter and about eighty feet high,
with shafts free of branches, stand on an acre, offering in al] about 40,000 to 50,000
feet of lumber and selling on the stump for from $500 to $600. These are felled
and taken from the woods in almost full tree lengths. It is common in Europe’
to see logs sixty feet long being hauled from the forest.

In Germany the forest is managed largely in compartments, each of which, when
the mature trees are considered ready for removal, is cut clean and planted
with the new crop. Sometimes the compartments are located so that the cutting
proceeds regularly in a certain direction, usually from east to west as a protection
against the prevailing winds, the cuttings being made at intervals of perhaps ten
years, in which case the forest shows distinctly ten or twelve age classes arranged
in a series of progressive heights. If a compartment is harvested and restocked
each year, the number of age classes will, of course, equal the age to which the
trees are allowed to grow. This method of cutting clean and planting is the one
most commonly in use in the pine and spruce forests of Germany.

Instead of planting the field with young trees, it is occasionally restocked by
sowing seed in spots hacked in the soil, the spots spaced about four feet apart.

Scotch pine seems to do quite well planted in this way, especially where the soil

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KNECHTEL, PHOTO.

STAR-SHAPED PLANTATION, WITH ROADS RADIATING FROM COMMON CENTRES.

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THURINGIA, GERMANY.

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A CLEAN CUTTING; PLANTED FOREST OF SPRUCE IN LEFT FOREGROUND.

NEAR DREIANNEN-HOHNE, HARTZ MOUNTAINS, HANOVER.

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A. FRANCHI, PHOTO.

PLANTED FOREST OF SILVER FIR, FIFTEEN YEARS OLD.

NEAR CAMALDOLI, IN THE APENNINES, ITALY.

AMEND, (CUILAMDWANIMEID) INONUSSACS, OIF IAGINOVLB,, 183

is fresh and the weeds few. European foresters place little dependence upon the
reproduction of pine and spruce from self-sown seed, though one occasionally
sees a forest fairly well stocked in this way, more frequently with pine than with
spruce. Results with spruce may be observed at Baden-Baden in the Black
Forest and at Winterthur in Switzerland.

Where the hills are steep and great danger of erosion exists a selective system
of cutting is followed. The method is practiced in Germany, but is more common
in the French Vosges and in Switzerland, in some places denudation being even
forbidden by law. In a forest managed in this way there is a mixture of all age
classes, the mature trees being removed and thinnings being made as the foresters
deem advisable. In this case the young growth comes usually from self-sown
seed.

A fir or beech forest is generally reproduced from seed that falls from mother
ERCeSmllett istandines oOVvermmthe area iton De mestockedy = (hese are left properly
distributed and in sufficient number, not only for the dispersion of seed, but also
to furnish the right degree of shade for the young crop to get started. Some-
times, when a full mast occurs on the beech trees, the ground beneath is hacked
up for the reception of the seed, as it germinates more readily in the mineral soil.
The distribution of the beechnuts is also aided by hand, and fail places are
planted with trees from the nursery. After the growth is well started the mother
trees are removed in the winter.

Fir and beech are very much alike in their growth requirements. Both species
endure much shade; both are much injured by late frosts, and are sensitive to
intense heat; hence, both need protection from mother trees. On account of this.
similarity of behavior the two species have in recent years been much cultivated
in mixture.

Oak and beech are also grown together. Oak cannot endure much shade ; the
crowns of the trees must be kept constantly free from one another by thinning.
Hence, beech, a good shade-enduring tree, is used as an undergrowth to shade the
soil which otherwise would be much exposed to the drying influences of the sun.

When an oak forest is to be restocked, mother trees of oak and beech are
left distributed over the ground. The soil is prepared by rooting up any little
beech trees that may have started, as their shade would hinder the growth of
the young oaks. This also brings some mineral soil to the surface. The ground
is then left until seed falls, sometimes four or five years, unless the work is done
during a seed year. If the beech seed falls before the oak, the growth from it
is destroyed by raking the ground in the following spring after the beech seed

has germinated, the object being to hold the ground ready for the oak. When

184 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

a seed year for oak occurs, after the acorns fall the ground is hacked up,
generally in lines about three feet apart, and the seed covered.

Where no seed trees exist, or where a new forest is to be started, acorns are
sown broadcast, twenty-two bushels per acre, and hacked into the soil in lines.
Occasionally the whole area is dug up, but this is seldom considered necessary.

The beech is not permitted to come in among the oak until the latter has a
start of _a few years. It is then encouraged. By the time the oak is sixty years
old the ground beneath is well covered with beech. Where it fails to come in
from seed, small trees are planted. After the young growth is well started the
mother trees are gradually removed, in several cuttings made in the winter,
and the young growth is thinned out as necessity requires.

The beech, though shaded, grows more rapidly than the oak, and when it
rises into the branches of the oak it is cut away and another generation started.
Thus under one crop of oak is grown two crops of beech.

Pine es EU Comma alee Ci and oak, one species of each, are the noble trees that
make up the great cultivated forests of Europe, and in those forests the trees are
raised from seed. But on many small areas coppice woods exist; that is, woods
in which the young growth comes as sprouts from stumps. Oak for tanbark and
firewood; chestnut for vine props; willow for basket twigs, and alder for turnery,
are the common coppice trees, although other broad-leaf trees—ash, elm, birch,
beech and maple—are somewhat so cultivated for firewood. The fuel wood of
southern Italy is mostly obtained from coppice.

The trees are usually cut in late winter or early spring. At Naples the season,
which is governed by law, is from September to March, but at higher elevations ©
in southern Italy it continues through April. In Germany, oak for tanbark is
cut in May, and June; willow in August or. December. The alder is usually
grown in marshes and is cut while the ground is frozen. Coppice trees are
cut down close to the ground and with an oblique section, so that the surface
of the stump is quite smooth and allows the water to run off freely. Usually,
scattered among the coppice. are treés grown from seed. In fact, these are
indispensable to the perpetuation of coppice woods, as trees are soon killed by
repeated cutting.

From the foregoing description of the manner in which forests are cultivated
it becomes apparent that, whether the trees are raised from seed or from coppice,
whether they are started in nurseries and afterwards set in the field, or are repro-
duced in the forest from self-sown seed, the forests all require thinning, and this
throws upon the market large quantities of small material. Mr. Gifford Pinchot,

in writing of the Sihlwald, a forest of 2,400 acres in Switzerland, states that

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THE CULTIVATED FORESTS OF EUROPE: 185

almost half the annual yield consists of thinnings. He says: ‘‘With an average
stand of 2,800 cubic feet per acre, the annual yield of wood, almost half of which
is from thinnings alone, reached last year 377,023 cubic feet, an amount which may
be taken as slightly above the average.” * None of this material from thinnings
goes to waste. In short, all the products of the forests of southern Europe find

ready utilization.

The Market.

This thorough utilization of the forest product is due to the good market, dis-
tribution of population, low wages and good roads. The effect of the market is
everywhere apparent in the great economy of wood. In the hotels heat is a luxury
for which guests are often required to pay an extra charge. In the wayside inn
a bucket of hot ashes placed in the center of the room is often the only fireplace
around which the smokers can hold their cheerful converse, while at night the bed
is made ready for its occupant by a pan of coals hung beneath a chair placed
under the blankets.

The houses in the villages, and even those of the workmen in the forest, are
seldom constructed of wood. Walls of plaster or cement, with only sufficient
wood to hold tne material in place, are the rule, though houses of brick and stone
are also quite common. ‘The floors are very frequently made of stone, while the
roof is rarely made of shingles, tile or iron being used instead. Wooden fences,
plank sidewalks and block pavements are very uncommon.

In Germany, where forestry has been practiced for centuries, and where the art
has had its highest development, the forests, which cover one fourth of the entire
land area, fall far short of furnishing the country its timber requirement. In 1902
Germany imported logs and lumber to the value of $21,991,200.+

Consul Henry W. Diederich, in his report dated Bremen, 1901, writes as follows
concerning the demand for lumber in Germany: ‘‘The demand for lumber is
steadily increasing, and it is utterly out of the question for Germany to ever
supply that demand. In spite of all the high import duties placed on all foreign
woods, which average 28 cents for every 210 pounds of rough timber or logs,
and $1.15 for every 210 pounds, or 1 cubic meter, of dressed timber, Germany
has been unable to materially increase her forestry supply. In the year 1899
there were imported into Germany not less than 353,160,000 cubic feet of timber.

During the same period Germany’s own production amounted to from 565,056,000 to

* Publication of the American Economic Association. Vol. VI, No. 3, May, 1891. ‘‘ Govern-
ment Forestry Abroad,’’ by Gifford Pinchot.

+ Commercial Relations of the United States with Foreign Countries, 1903. Vol. I, p. 413.
Report of U. S. Consul-General Frank H. Mason, Berlin.

186 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISII AND GAME COMMISSION.

600,372,000 cubic feet. If Germany were to supply this deficiency of 353,160,000
cubic feet of timber from her own soil she would need an additional acreage of
19,768,000 acres. In other words, the percentage of soil now devoted to forestry
would have to be increased from 26 per cent to 40 per cent. But it is claimed
that throughout all this empire not more than 2,471,000 acres fit for that purpose
might be found. Even if every available nook and corner were thus utilized, and
all of the waste lands that are not well adapted for agriculture were planted in
pine and other forest trees, it would require, on an average, fifty years for them
to be ready for market, and then the supply would not begin to equal the
demand. Of all sections of Germany only Bavaria and Wiirtemberg have a
surplusage of home lumber, all the other districts needing a great deal more than
they can ever produce.”*

In Germany timber is not purchased by mill owners as in America, by general
estimate. It is the custom to buy individual trees rather than forests. There is,
however, in common use a market unit of volume by which timber is generally
purchased called the ‘‘festmeter.” It is a cubic meter and is equivalent to 1.44
markets, or 19-inch standards, or about 288 feet, board. measure. But it is not
used in quite the same way as we use the standard. In America, large and small
logs are scaled and sold together, distinction seldom being made in the price per
standard. In Germany, when the trees are felled, each one is marked with a
number stamped in the butt. They are then sold by number in five or six classes,
according to size, the larger logs bringing more per festmeter than the smaller
ones. Logs are generally measured in the middle.

An idea of the activity of the German market for building material may be
gained by a study of the following prices offered for spruce by a sawmill
at Hasserode, in the Hartz, in 1904. Timber is purchased in the woods in
full-tree lengths, felled and trimmed of branches. For tree trunks containing
530 feet, board measure, $12 each; 450 feet, 10.25; 383° feet, $8:03; = 3enmumeer
$7.38; 2706 feet, $5.12: 233 feet, $4.25; rob feet, $3:63;) 16m feet ha, 132 feetymormnon
feet, $1.50; 81 feet, $1.25. In other words, $22.65 per 1,000 feet, board measure,
was offered for tree trunks containing more than 300 feet; $18.56 for trunks with

from 150 to 300 feet, and for smaller sizes about $15.

For poles suitable for rafters, if 23 feet long, $1 each; if 20 feet long, 75 cents;
if 17 feet long, 52 cents; if 13 feet long, 43 cents; if 10 feet long, 25 cents.

In the Spessart, oak was quoted in rg904 at the following prices for sound

timber per 1,000 feet, board measure: Trees with middle diameter 24 inches and

* United States Consular Reports, 1901. Vol. LXV, p. 490. ‘‘German Market for American
Lumber,’’ by Henry W. Diederich.

A. KNECHTEL, PHOTO.

OAK AND BEECH.

BAVARIA.

IN) DHE SPESSARD,

NEAR ROTHENBUCH,

A. KNECHTEL, PHOTO.

YEAR EOR NORWAY SPRUCE:

NEAR EISENACH, THURINGCER WALD.

A GOOD SEED

DEE GUL RINGA DE Di HORE Siss OH sh ROPE. 187

over, $118; 21 to 24 inches, $86.80; 18 to 21 inches, $69.44; 14 to 18 inches,
$2.08: ro to 14 inches, $34.72; 8 to ro inches, $21.70.

Beech was quoted as follows: Logs with middle diameter 24 inches and over,
$35.60 per 1,000 feet, board measure; 21 to 24 inches, $30.38; 18 to 21 inches,
$21.70; 14 to 18 inches, $13.90; 10 to 14 inches, $10.42; 8 to 10 inches, $9.55.*

The live market for wood appears. also in the number of metal ties one sees
in the railroads of Europe. In Germany they are used in one fifth of the entire
mileage. The use of wooden ties has, however, in recent years been greatly
encouraged by the discovery of methods of impregnating wood with one of the
following substances: creosote, chloride of zinc, sulphate of copper, corrosive
sublimate, or a mixture of the salts of iron and copper, by which the durability
of the wood is greatly increased. A beech tie, which ordinarly lasts about five
yeas may thus be made to last twenty ‘years. (he life of an oak tie. is
increased from fifteen to thirty years, a pine from six to twenty-four. A beech
tie 8 feet 10 inches long, 6.4 inches high, 1o.4 inches wide, with 6.4 inches top
measure, costs, laid at the works, about $1.06; an oak tie of the same dimen-
sions, $1.63; a pine tie, $1.12. Impregnating with creosote costs, respectively,

about 65 cents, 30 cents and 25 cents.

The Distribation of Popatation.

The distribution of the large population facilitates very much the removal of
the forest products. The woodland districts are quite thickly peopled. Even
in the Black Forest there are a great many villages and summer resorts, their
population in the aggregate exceeding 1,000,000 people. If the Adirondack lakes
were drained of water and their beds occupied by farms and villages the landscape
would be quite similar to that of the forested regions of middle Europe. Thus
the market is close at hand, at least for the small material, permitting its more

extensive use.

The bow Wages.

With a large population everywhere close by, not only is the market better,
but labor is more available, and at a lower price. Compared with the price of
wood, wages in Europe are very low. Men in the woods are paid about sixty
cents a day. Much of the work, however, is done by women and boys, the former

receiving forty cents, the latter twenty-five cents, for a day of twelve hours.

*In the Adirondacks spruce is worth on the stump about four dollars, and beech about two
dollars per 1,000 feet. In New York oak is worth about fourteen dollars per 1,000 feet.

188 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION,

The Good Roads.

The good roads are also a factor to be considered. Since the forests are to
be lumbered perpetually, the roads are made for permanency, consisting often
of stone, laid with much expense, and not infrequently macadamized. In the
Spessart, four dollars and fifty cents a cubic meter for stone laid at the roadside
and broken, is not considered an exorbitant price. In 1903 Saxony spent $175,000
on forest roads. The roads are properly graded, and some of them have along
their sides, at intervals of about fifty feet, large stones set on edge, which serve
as a guide in winter. On much traveled roads these stones are often painted
white to serve as a guide at night. At each important crossroad a guidepost
is placed so that the traveler can easily find his way. Occasionally, in an ever-

)

green forest, hardwood trees are planted along the ‘‘chaussée,” the foliage in
autumn contrasting charmingly with the dark green of the conifers. With roads
thus carefully made and kept constantly in good condition the hauling of timber
is an easy matter. In the dukedom of Brunswick, Germany, the building of a
system of good roads increased the income from the forest management by twenty

Per (Cent:

How Timber Is Transported.

Timber is not skidded. It is drawn to the roads from the woods, or the field
where it is felled, in about the same way as it is snaked to the skidway in
America. The small material is frequently brought out on sleds, even in summer.
Tramways have recently become quite common for this purpose. Occasionally
the tramway is constructed with only one rail, especially where ledges occur
along its course which are too narrow to permit a two-rail track. The car for
such a track has, besides the wheel that runs on the rail, a wheel at each side,
either of which is made to run on the ground by the weight of a man who stands
on the rear end of the car and moves from side to side as necessity requires.

Felled timber is peeled of bark, especially when cut in the summer. This is
generally done before it is hauled out of the woods. Pulp-wood is sometimes
taken to the railroad with the bark on, and then peeled close to where it is to
be loaded upon the cars. This method saves expense in transportation, prevents
damage by insects, and preserves the white color of the wood. Occasionally,
among the peeled logs, two or three are left with the bark on as a trap to catch
the insects. These are burned when they become much infested.

Logs are usually hauled on trucks drawn by oxen or horses, in France the

horses being hitched tandem. In Italy, high-wheeled carts are used, with the long

G. W. MANCHOT, PHOTO.

HAULING TIMBER IN THE SCHWARZWALD.

AT GEROLDSAU, NEAR BADEN-BADEN.

A. RECT Onos
FOREST RAILWAY, WITH ONE RAIL ONLY, FOR HAULING OUT FIREWOOD AND
MINOR PRODUCTS.

IN THE MARIEN-TAL, THURINGIA.

THE CULTIVATED FORESTS OF EUROPE. : 189

timbers suspended below the axles. For great distances the streams were formerly
much used, and many timber-rafts still float down the larger rivers, the Elbe
and the Rhine, for instance. The railroads are penetrating the forests, however, and
now transport large quantities of wood that was formerly put into the streams.
Along the Enz river, in the Black Forest, are located some of the largest
sawmills in Germany. The stock for these mills comes mostly on the railroad in
long, large logs, much of it being brought from Wiirtemberg and Swabia. For
each load of logs, two cars are necessary. Ina railroad train, every three of these
couples must be followed by a protective car laden either with freight or

passengers, and weighing, with its load, not less than 4,500 pounds.

The Sawmilts.

The sawmills are mostly small, occasionally with the dwelling-house of the
mill owner under the same roof. They are, for the most part, run by water, the
streams of the forests having a constant flow since the hills are kept wooded.
The old ‘‘up-and-down” saw is still in common use, though many of the better
mills are equipped with circular saws, band saws, or gangs with eight or ten saws
in a frame. However, things move slowly in a European mill. There is a
noticeable lack of the buzz and activity that characterizes the American mill, with

enc

its ‘‘ flippers, niggers,” ‘‘shot-gun feed,” and ‘‘hog.” A large mill in Europe
will cut about 25,000 feet, board measure, per day of ten hours; a fair-sized
American mill, 100,c0o feet. But the small mill of Europe is permanent, being
supported by perpetual crops of timber from the cultivated forests of the
neighborhood. The large American mill is only temporary, as it depends for its
existence upon a single crop that is being consumed with amazing rapidity,
and is not being restored.

In piling lumber in the mill yard it is a common custom to put together the
boards of each log in the same relation as they held before the log was sawed,
small strips being placed between the boards to allow the lumber to dry. Thus,
one part of the mill yard has the sawlogs, another part the sawed logs. Customers
can then see that they get all the lumber their logs will afford. The logs are
recognized, each by a number previously marked upon one end of the log, and
recorded in the notebook of the customer. Sometimes, in order that the number
may not be effaced, the log is not sawed entirely through, but remains intact at
one end for about half an inch. In the larger mills, however, it is assorted and

piled as in America, at least for the commercial trade.

190 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

Forest Fires.

Since dead timber is not left in the forests, there is but little loss from fires.
In Saxony, with 435,000 acres of forest, the loss from this cause is rarely more
than $300 per annum. Wiirtemberg, with 418,904 acres of forest. has an annual
loss of about $650. The Duchy of Baden, with 240,000 acres, had only 99 acres
burned in nine years.*

The fires are started mostly by careless smokers and workmen. Locomotives
do slight damage, causing, perhaps, not more than ten per cent of the fires. In
Wiirtemberg, from 1887 to 1897, there was a total of 120 fires, only eight caused
by sparks from locomotives, and among these only one causing considerable
damage ($3,570).t Along the railroads, however, precautionary measures receive
considerable attention. In many places along the forested side of the track
there is a ditch about eight feet wide, which is kept free of all vegetable growth.
Frequently a strip of forest about a rod wide, running parallel with the railroad
is specially prepared in the following manner: A path along the edge of the
woods is spaded about four feet wide. In the forest, about a rod from this,
and running parallel with it, a second path is made. Cross-paths joining these two
are made at intervals of a rod. These paths are at all times kept free of vegeta-
tion, and the ground in the strip is raked free of leaves and twigs. Sometimes a
double strip is made, two rods wide, with three paths parallel with the railroad,
and cross-paths as in the single strip. Frequently, the white birch is the tree
grown on these strips, but a general opinion prevails that the spruce gives
equally good protection with less trouble from the fallen leaves. Occasionally,
along a pine forest, can be seen a protecting strip of birch without the spaded
paths.

The forest may belong to a state, a city or other community, a charitable
institution, a corporation, or a private individual. The railroads are required to
pay in full all damages caused by them to the forest. But, since the railroads
are nearly all government property, claims against them are easily adjusted.
Locomotives are provided with spark arresters. The right-of-way is sixty-six feet
wide and is kept clean.

The forest itself is intersected more or less with fire lanes, each two or three

* For further figures in regard to forest fires, see the Tenth Annual Report of Gen. C. C. Andrews,
Chief Firewarden of Minnesota. The publication also contains much other useful information in
regard to European forestry.

+U. S. Consular Reports, 1897. Vol. LV, page 64. ‘‘ Forestry in Wirtemberg,’’ W. Hahn.

ili

KNECHTEL, PHOTO,

INTERIOR OF AN OLD SAWMILL.

HOLLENTHAL, BLACK FOREST.

A. KNECHTEL, PHOTO,

LOG SAWED ENTIRE.

GANG WITH SIXTEEN SAWS;

NEAR ANNABERG, ERZGEBIRGE, SAXONY.

HORIZONTAL BAND SAW.

CANTON OF ZURICH, SWITZERLAND.

A. KNECHTEL, PHOTO,

LOG YARD OF A GERMAN SAWMILL.

AT HASSERODE, IN THE HARTZ MOUNTAINS.

DHE CULEIVAE De HORESTS OL EUROPE. , IgI

rods wide. These are kept free of all inflammable material. In a coniferous forest
the trees stand close together, facilitating, in a dry time, the progress of a top fire.
These fire lanes make a break in the continuity of the crown-cover and give an
opportunity to check the flames.

The small loss from forest fires is due, in a large measure, to the fact that
villages are numerous in the forests, and hence fire fighters are easily obtainable.
The European forests are not much troubled with trespassers. The woods are, as
a usual thing, well patrolled and the property limits are plainly marked. Where
watercourses, rocks, or other natural boundaries are wanting, the lines are marked
by artificial signs, such as heaps of earth, stones, or iron stakes. This leaves no

chance for the American excuse of ignorance concerning the line.

Injaries and Diseases.

To describe all the injuries inflicted upon the woodlands by domestic and
game animals, rodents, insects and fungi, would cover many times more pages
than can be given to this article. Besides, one hears, in Europe, general complaint
concerning only the deer, snow-press or snow-break, a few insects, and a few fungi.

The deer are numerous and injure the trees by biting off the buds and young
shoots, often killing young plants, and crippling and stunting older ones. They
also injure saplings or poles by barking them in rubbing off upon them the velvet
from their antlers in early summer. They also tread down the seedling growth,
and devour acorns and beechnuts. The young trees are sometimes protected by
smearing the tips with a mixture of beef blood and manure, the deer refusing
then to eat them. Reducing the number of the deer by shooting them seems,
however, to be the only general remedy.

Conifers are much damaged by snow, which at times falls in wet, large flakes
and hangs together as a thick, white mantle upon the crowns of the trees.
When the snow freezes upon the trees the danger is much increased, as it cannot
then be shaken off by the wind and further accumulations are facilitated.
Conifers from twenty to sixty years of age, and growing at an altitude of from
1,600 to 2,500 feet, receive the most injury. As the broad-leaf trees are without
foliage in winter, they are damaged only by an unusually early or late fall
of snow. The Scotch pine is brittle and suffers chiefly by having its branches
broken off. The spruce and fir are similarly injured, but, being more pliable,
they are often bent to the ground and sometimes have their roots torn out of

the soil.

192 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND! GAME ‘COMMISSION.

The Scotch pine is often much injured by moths and beetles. Among the
former the large Pine Moth (Sombyx pint) does perhaps the most damage. The
caterpillars of this moth appear in August, eat upon the needles of the pine, go
into winter quarters under the surface of the soil, come forth again in March,
reascend the trees and feed upon the foliage till about the end of June. In bad
years the trees are defoliated, and even the buds are devoured, in which latter
case the crop is killed.

The Pine-shoot Tortrix (Zortrix buoliana) is also troublesome. The eggs of
this moth are laid in the terminal buds, which, in spring, are eaten and. hollowed
out by the caterpillars. The trees are not usually killed, but are made very
crooked, as some one of the lateral shoots then becomes the leader.

The Scotch pine is subject also to fungus diseases, which soon reduce the
wood to a quality fit only for firewood. One of the worst of these (7vametes
radiciperda) causes a red-rot, attacking the roots and extending upward into
the stems.

Another parasite (7rametes pint) is very abundant in the pine woods, causing
a so-called bark-shake, ring-shake or heart-shake. The injury begins at a wound
where, for instance, a branch has been broken off. It grows through the entire
tree, manifesting itself on the outside by a brown, bracket-like growth.

The fir is chiefly injured by a fungus disease called ‘“‘Krebs” (Aczdium
elatinum) which shows itself in a swelling that often entirely encircles the tree.
The ‘‘ Witches Broom,” a thick, distorted growth of the branches, is caused by
the same fungus.

The spruce is often injured during the first few years of its growth by a
beetle called Riisselkafer (/7ylobius abietis), the larvee of which eat the bark, often
removing it entirely around the tree. Various devices are in use for collecting
the beetles, the following. being perhaps the most practicable: Pieces of bark
about eight or ten inches square are taken from trees and laid fresh on the ground,
the cambium side down. The insects come at night, go beneath the bark to get
the cambium and are caught and destroyed by the workmen early in the morning.

The Nun Moth (Lzparis monacha), so called on account of its plain black
and white colors, does great damage to the spruce. It also attacks pine, beech,
oak, birch and nearly all other species of trees. The damage to the broad-leaf
trees is, however, seldom fatal. The eggs are laid in July or August, on the stem,
beneath the scales of the bark. The caterpillars hatch out in April or May of
the next year, ascend the tree and commence feeding on the foliage. They
devour entirely the needles of the spruce, but bite off the pine needles at about

the middle and eat only the lower portion.

INNIS, ILANINID,,

BISMARCK FOREST, FRIEDRICHSRUH, NORTH PRUSSIA.

A. KNECHTEL, PHOTO.

CUTTING FIREWOOD.

CITY FOREST OF GRABOW, MECKLENBURG, NORTH GERMANY.

THE CULTIVATED FORESTS OF EUROPE. 193

The destruction of insects and fungi is attended with great difficulties and is
not very- satisfactory. Preventive measures, however, receive great attention.
« Diseased trees and rotting wood are carefully removed from the forest, as these
favor the spread of fungi and offer breeding-places for the insects. Stumps are
often taken out of the ground on this account and sold by the forester, even

though they may bring no profit.

Extent and Location of the Forests.

The forests of Europe occupy land that is unfit for agriculture—mountains
where the climate is severe, hills where the ground is rocky, plains where the
soil is sterile. In some of them the wood supply is only a secondary consideration, |
the forest being kept principally as a game preserve, a tourist resort, or because
it exercises certain protective functions. In the Spessart there is a forest devoted
largely to raising wild boars. Another, visited by many tourists, has splendid
drives, with species of trees planted for their esthetic effect.

The following brief table gives an idea of the extent of area devoted to forests
in several countries of Europe. The figures are taken from ‘‘ Forstwissenschaft,”’

by Dr. Adam Schwappach:

TABLE OF FOREST AREAS IN EUROPE.

coustRr. a eg
: and Crown.
German yaar se eee ee Gk Nee ac lias ae pean 34, 981, 067 25.8 Bens
NGS ti a ee Eee Ek erie) oe ue 24,456,272 | BOY Woe
Riuanrevaiyy geen eee e eet ir een NS 5D oc R kaarig | 35.2 16.1
rac Cpe Stee ete cmla nk OS 2 i 20, 992, 827 SO 12.9
USStAw Iie UO Cheep Neen Oe yl he St eed 4 478,845,175 | 38.3 60.3
Finland re eM n iene Cet seg) Tint Mal 50, 971, 125 50.0 ital
INOLWA are ee eee RY ektiee tk Sr ako: | 19,405,250 | Biles 12.5
S Wied Creme Nea ar er URNUE UR mest Cir is Ga are) 43, 395,.430 | 34.1 19.9
tall ania Mera ar re take he ce! SEEN las iG 10, 231, 840 14.2 4.0
SiWaeZer lar Cent Pie se speiele D00 Oo Cee eye 2,053, 630 20.0 Hee
shotal@ionestaanedeemyes sa ia een .| 708, 291, 593 Bit. &
+ |

These countries are constantly increasing their forest areas. From 1872 to
1892, France acquired 300,000 acres; Prussia, 280,000 acres. Austria purchased

60,000 acres in 1886, 230,000 in 1888 and 210,000 1n 1891.

us

194 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

The mountain slopes are covered mostly with spruce and fir, the pines and
broad-leaf trees occupying the lower land. Germany has 23,000,000 acres covered
with conifers and 12,000,000 acres with broad-leaf trees. Of the conifers 8,000,000
acres are ‘spruce andy fim and = 15,000,coc) acres) pine.) |) Nhe sbnoad-leat streesmane
mostly beech and oak. Sandy soil, not strong enough for the growth of other
species, is planted with pine. The following table shows the distribution of species

according to the quality of the soil:

SOIL TABLE.
ConiFERs. Broap-LearF TREES.
COMMON
3 : OAK. vf
SPECIES. ‘ 2 Bly z C 3
SHE ieee g/4/,/2|2/5
sys ans eves eee ele 2 le eee
PIS(SIElElSlalela fe eles |e |2) 2/2 sale
LowLanpDs:
Iightisandi a0 fay coe teater Sint ame eet | = ~
I oa\tiiiy aS Vil Caer IVES stihl ierreet ert Ned pet ce tect etal Oe
Glayzloamimey ton owe eee [elie eat [Pea Soe estes rem cst eta a
Clay bottom land oly Roto [ee ats Sal (ol eter Stal eat eae ttl | cael at +r
Rachtmeadowslandiese: eee we | Se eet cal (Ret em el el ete | atl
BYoyegeay Gein) 5 6 go ec | Seal Nala + a — =
Mepium ALTITUDES:
Tei eihitsarr clear ate ers tel a | eae a |
Login; Ses 6 8 oo ce al I) Sear ise ae eae a Se Se Pe Wail Se i) Se yf ae
Okhy lonm 5 os oes 0 o alae i=] | ai | | sei | al i ta
IMIONSE, scien Clesy 64 6 ol yar If ere ent tet Pt (OA a
Byoeteay Gem 9 co lo ah | a ae =| Sy —|— al
HicH ALtitubEs:
IbstINe Goll 5.05 6 a el) oe ol = ae ae Te pea eV ct tia ea
GAT ya Tt ce aes y eee eae feet |
Sones, suse moe 5 5. 4 al | ar ae ey
Slopes, lime rock Salli St (al ct tee fe
High plains and meadows . . |
Sor Tasie.— Signs: + Indicates culture with success. | Indicates culture with partial success;
the species serves for the protection or improvement of the soil. — Indicates culture with little

success; the species suffers.

DHE CULTIVATED HRORESDTS! OF EUROPE: 195

Htstory of Forestry.

The art of forestry may be said to have had its origin among the Germanic
tribes about 1,000 years ago, although Plato, 400 years before the coming of
Christ, deplored the destruction of the forests of Greece.

The first comprehensive code of forest laws is attributed to Canute, a famous
King of England, Denmark and Norway, who reigned from torgq till 1035. These
laws defined the forest as a hunting-ground for the King. ‘The trees were con-
sidered as only a shelter and covert for the game. Later, under Norman rule,
the laws were much modified and became very objectionable to the people. It is
said that their severity was one of the causes which brought about the passing
of the Magna Charta, with which was associated the Charta Foresta.*

Until quite recent times the forest was considered as only a hunting-ground.
The following statement appears in Manwood’s ‘‘ Forest Laws,” published in 15098:
‘A forest is a certain territory of woody grounds and fruitful pastures, privileged
for wild beasts and foules of forest, chase and warren, to rest and abide
in, in the safe protection of the King for his princely delight and pleasure.”
Blackstone’s definition of a forest reads thus: ‘‘ Forests are waste grounds belong-
ing to the King, replenished with all manner of chase or venery, which are
under the King’s protection for the sake of his recreation and delight.” +

The artificial reforesting of waste lands was begun by the city of Nuremberg,
Bavaria, in 1368, by the planting of pine, a practice soon imitated by many
communities in southwestern Germany.

About the middle of the seventeenth century, forest exploitation was carried
on in Europe much in the same way as it has been carried on in America to
the present day, the forests there at that time having come to be valued. for
their wood more than for the shelter they afforded to the game. There was but
little regard for the conservation of the forest. The question as to whether trees
should be taken from the woods or left therein was simply a market question.
The trees that would bring in the market a price sufficient to leave a margin
after paying the cost of removal were taken, the rest were left. This method is
called, in French, jardimage, or gardening, as the procedure is similar to that
of a gardener gathering vegetables.

Under this system there was a reckless destruction of forests, and the disastrous

consequences began to be apparent. Colbert, the minister of Louis XIX, clearly

*See English Estate Forestry, page 8, by A. C. Forbes.
+See Forests in England, by J. C. Brown.

196 REPORT OF THET FOREST, HISH AND (GAME (COMMISSION:

saw the peril of such treatment of the woodlands and gave expression to his fears
in the oft-quoted words: France pertra faute des bots !/—‘‘¥France will perish
through lack of woods.” Agitation for an improvement upon the method of
forest exploitation became very active and resulted in the French ordinance
of 1669* which established a system called La Methode «a tire et aire. By this
method the forest was divided into lots, to each of which, in succession, ordinary
fellings were confined, trees being left properly distributed for the dispersion of
seed. Thus, for example, a timber forest was divided into one hundred and twenty
lots, and each year only one lot was lumbered and then left to restore itself from
the seed trees for one hundred and twenty years.

This system was adopted in Germany and was practiced in both countries until
about the middle of the eighteenth century. It was then observed that the forests
exploited under this method were not well restored. The conifers did not seed
sufficiently, and the beech failed to give a satisfactory growth, either of seedlings
or of shoots from the stumps left in the ground.

The French, though recognizing the evils, were slow to attempt a remedy;
but the Germans, toward the end of the reign of Frederick the Great, issued an
ordinance which confined the fellings upon the different lots to the removal of
mature trees upward of 70 or 80 years of age, and the bad wood. But even
this mode of exploitation failed of the desired result—a sustained yield.

The modern system of forestry was devised by Hartig, who, in 1791, published
a treatise entitled, ‘‘Instruction in Forest Economy for Foresters,’ which con-
tained his views on the exploitation and reproduction of the forest. Cotta, who,

’

in 1817, published a work entitled, ‘‘Instruction in the Culture of Woods,’ carried
forward the work of Hartig. It is to Cotta that the credit is due for modern

forest economy in its complete development.

Otatas of the Forester.

Forestry in Europe is now a well-established profession for which the candidate
must prepare himself thoroughly. He must learn the science in a forestry school,
where the course of study requires as much labor as that for any other learned
profession. After graduation he must practice the art for several years under a
forest master, an officer who has charge of a range. He takes, first, a position
called in Germany ‘‘Forstreferender,” at a salary of about 1,200 marks. In two

or three years he is advanced to that of ‘ Forstassessor,’’ at 3,000 marks. With

* See French Forest Ordinance of 1669, by J. C. Brown.

A. KNECHTEL, PHOTv.

HOUSE OF AN OBERFORSTER.

IN THE HARTZ, GERMANY.

1859-1898. ©

seeecechormanenstitmasinanatinn ancora

A. KNECHTEL, PHOTO.

MONUMENT IN THE WOODS TO THE MEMORY OF A FORESTER.

MECKLENBURG, GERMANY.

DEE CU MV AGH Da hORE SiS Ol Shiu ROPE. IQ7

successful service he may then be promoted to the position of ‘‘ Oberfodrster,”
with a salary of 4,500 marks.

The Oberforster is held in very high esteem in his community.
His dwelling is called the ‘‘ Ober-

It is a fine, commodious building, erected specially to suit his needs. A

He is usually
a man of fine physique and sterling qualities.
forsterei.”’
part of it is occupied by his family, and part is fitted up as offices for the
transaction of forestry business. The Germans have a beautiful and impressive
way of doing nonor to an OberfG6rster, after his life’s labors are over, in erecting

to his memory a monument in the heart of the forest which he has managed.

Revenues.

The

forest must be made to yield a profit on the investment, especially if it is

The business side of forestry is always kept very prominently in view.

cultivated for its wood supply. It rarely fails in this respect. The following

table was compiled by Ernest L. Harris, United States Consular Agent at

Eibenstock.

the kingdom of Saxony is divided.

Year Book,”

time, 434,896 acres:

It gives statistics for the twelve principal forest districts into which

The figures were taken from the ‘ Forest

published at Tharandt in 1808.

Was tiomestes Coweirecl iia alll, ate whee

PRINCIPAL DISTRICTS. Income, Expenses. Value of forests. ey

Dresden $112, 312 70 $57,758 95 $3, 234, 253 00 1.69
Moritzburg 89,929 85 48,044 42 3, 491, 388 00 ee
Schandau 3535335 30 Sel 10, 066, 185 00 2.24
Grillenburg 200, 421 70 74,296 10 5,057, 721 00 2.45
Tharandt N27 Se 7,133 81 306, 184 00 1.29
Barenfels 334, 701 I0 95, 362 12 7,274, 692 00 Bee
Marienberg 436, 286 03 121,016 12 II, 283, 580 00 2.79
Schwarzenberg 535, 287 OL 135,471 65 10, 257, 204 00 3.9
Eibenstock . 384,646 04 112,691 90 8,779, 320 00 Bian)
Auerbach 361, 884 86 141,871 72 7, 304, 981 00 2.99
Zschopau © 206, 383 03 85,725 15 5,541, 759 00 2.18
Grimma 218, 061 22 88, 219 80 6, 791, 132 00 1.94
Toray . .| $3, 246, 796 42 | $1,005, 364 85 | $70,538, 399 00 aan

* Average. The net profit was $2,241,611.57. The net profit per acre was $5.15.

198 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

A net revenue of three per cent may be considered a low rate of interest, but
one should bear in mind that the state must have wood; that the forest occupies
non-agricultural land; that the investment is continuous; and that the risk is not
great. Relative to this question is also the fact that in Germany the state is
considered under moral obligation to furnish employment to its citizens. ‘‘ About
$40,000,000 is paid every year in Germany for the creation and preservation of
forests; 200,o00 families are supported from them, while something like 3,000,000
persons find employment in the various wood industries of the empire. The total
revenue from the forests amounts to $14,500,000, and the current expenses,
$8,500,000.” *

Where the market conditions are very favorable, the net revenue may be con-
siderably greater than that indicated by the table. The canton of Zurich in
Switzerland gives a net receipt per annum of 91.06 francs per hectare of forest,
which is equivalent to $7.28 per acre. About half of this comes from the sale of

brush and small wood from thinnings.

Forestry Prospects in America.

That America will be compelled to practice forestry very extensively is self-
evident. It will be a long time, however, before the results will be as satisfactory
as they are in Europe. The factors upon which the growth of trees depend are
about the same here as there. Other conditions, however, are widely different.
There, the forests are comparatively small, broken, densely populated, and the
roads are fine. Our forests are very large, compact, without population, and
without roads, There, wages are very low and the market for wood is high; here,
wages are high and the market for wood is low. There, the limbs, tops and brush-
wood are all utilized; here, they are practically without market value. There, the
woods are clean and free from the danger of fire; here, the woods are a veritable
fire-trap. Not only are the tops and limbs left in the forest here, but they are
thrown into heaps as if the woods were made ready to be burned. There, since
the woods are clean, the conditions for the spread of insects and fungi are reduced;
here, the abundance of rotting wood in the forest offers to the insects good breeding-
places, and to the fungi favorable conditions for their growth.

In America there are also certain notions of government which will hinder
the achievement of results such as have crowned the efforts of European foresters.

In Europe it is held that the forests are all national property; not state forests

* Garden and Forest, November, 1802, p. 576.

A. KNECHTEL, PHOTO,

RAPD OE LONG DIMBER; ON DHE RINE.

AT BONN, GERMANY.

A. MOSER, PHOTO.

PLANT FOR IMPREGNATING WOOD WITH PRESERVATIVE SOLUTION. TREATMENT

OF TELEGRAPH POLES.

SITHLWALD, SWITZERLAND.

Pit CULRIVATE Dy HORE SiS Oy EURO RE: 199

alone, but all forests. Hence many private forests are brought under government
management. It is considered that each generation has a right to the forest
products, but the forest itself must be left to the succeeding generation in as
good condition as it was found. In France no clearing is permitted in private
forests without the sanction of the government authorities. In Wiirtemberg,
Germany, clearing on private property is under state control. In Russia a
law provides for the control and management of the forests of individuals where
_ the public welfare seems to demand it, and the cutting down of such forests is
prohibited when it might endanger the best interests of the whole community.

It will be a long time before this tenet will be accepted in America. In this
country, at least in New York State, it seems to be the policy of the State to
permit wholesale destruction of private forests and to deny to the people forever
the use of the products of the State forest. There is a clause in the Constitution
of the State of New York which forbids the removat of timber, dead or alive,
from State lands. It reads thus: ‘‘The lands of the State, now owned or
hereafter acquired, constituting the forest preserve as now fixed by law, shall
be forever kept as wild forest lands. They shall not be leased, sold, or exchanged,
or be taken by any corporation, public or private, zor shall the timber thereon be
sold, removed or destroyed.”

Since the people of New York are denied the use of the wood on State land,
it is of prime importance that the culture of forests on private land should be
encouraged. Since the State is to depend wholly upon the private forests for its
home timber product, private forestry should, under favorable conditions, become
as profitable here as anywhere else in America. But in this State private forestry
is confronted with unfavorable conditions. Our rate of taxation gives but little
chance for profit. Forest lands in New York, public and private, have an average
assessed valuation of two dollars, and bear a State tax of seven cents per acre.
Private forestry cannot be practiced under such a high rate of taxation. If a
forest is planted on denuded land, at the end of thirty years—about the time
when the first thinning will be made—the taxes, with accumulated interest, will
have amounted to more than the sale value of the timber.*

In France and Switzerland reforested land is released from taxes for thirty
years. In Italy, instead of this, the forest department contributes to associations
and private owners three fifths of the total expense of the work of reforestation

* See Economics of Forestry, p. 251, by B. Fernow, LL.D Also, Fifth Annual Report of the

New York State Forest, Fish and Game Commission, p. 397; Forest Taxation, by C. A. Schenck,
‘ehee De

200 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FPISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

upon the condition that the plans for the work, prepared by the department, be
followed, and the work be done in the specified time.

It is difficult for a forester to see good reason in the constitutional clause
which prohibits State land from being used to provide the people with wood. Its
advocates cry: ‘‘The forest must be preserved!” But this law compels conditions
under which the forest may be destroyed by fire, insects and fungi; and, by the
annual decay and loss of unharvested material, the forest product is allowed to
go to waste. ‘‘Ah, but the forest must be left to protect the headwaters of our
streams!” Aye, but the forest is not permitted to be managed so that it can best
subserve this purpose. A cultivated forest gives much better protection than a
wild, ragged woods, with many large areas along the streams entirely bare.
“But we are afraid of collusion between the lumbermen and the State officials,
and we think it better to endure the ills we have, than fly to others that we
know not of.” This is an unjust and unnecessary arraignment of the officials
who have been appointed to look after the forests. If the people of the State of
New York are so degenerate that they cannot find men of integrity to take care

of their public affairs, it is immaterial whether the forests are preserved or not.

A. FRANCHI, PHOTO,

ITALIAN FORESTERS.

OFFICERS OF THE FORESTRY DEPARTMENT, FLORENCE, ITALY.

Forest Narseries and Narsery Methods
in Earope |

SAAN A SIne eT AUV Tee lee ee @oxee

Introdactory.

N the management of American forests the time has come when it would
| seem evident to all interested in the work that the future timber supply
in many localities is dependent on reforestation. But natural reforestation is
unsatisfactory from the forester’s point of view. In results it falls short, by far,
of the maximum in quantity and -quality of merchantable timber which a given
area can be made to yield through proper methods of silvicultural work.

The highly satisfactory results attained from planted forests in Europe, where
this practice has been followed for two centuries or more, justifies clearly the
adoption of this system in America. The New Forest in England was ‘‘afforested”
by order of William the Conqueror, in 1079, and since then reforestation has been
practiced from time to time in European countries, until cultivated forests are
now the rule rather than the exception. Throughout Germany, France, Belgium
and Italy most of the wooded areas show high forests of a density and regularity
that indicate plainly their artificial growth. For these and other reasons the
planting of forests is engaging the attention of American foresters to-day. It is
no new idea.

A planted forest, like the primitive one, is grown from seed, but in the former
the dissemination is under intelligent control. This may be done by broadcast
sowing, by the seed-spot method, or by the intermediate process of raising small
seedlings in garden or nursery beds; and, large areas of trees are propagated
from wind-sown seeds, skilfully directed and managed.

where

Broadcast sowing may be a desirable method under certain conditions
economy is necessary, where a supply of seedling plants cannot be obtained con-
veniently, or where a rocky, uneven surface, covered with a scrubby growth,
compels its use. But it has the disadvantages of uncertainty. irregularity and
the subsequent expense of filling in the blanks where seeds failed to germinate.
As the planting of seedlings at regular intervals gives the forester better control

201

202 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

of his future work, this plan is in general use abroad. It necessitates, however,
the establishment of nurseries for the propagation of the young plants.

The management of tree nurseries, in connection with forest plantations, has
been carried on for so many years in Europe that the American forester who is
about to engage in this branch of silvicultural work will find there an ample field
in which to study and gain the information available for similar efforts. These
nurseries will be found in most of the forest regions abroad—the baumschule in
Germany, the pepznicre in France, and the fzantonaio in Italy. The object of
these pages is to describe briefly, but as plainly as possible, the technical methods
employed in the forest nurseries of various European countries.

For this purpose the descriptions are confined to certain ones in which the
construction and management are fairly typical of the others in that particular
country. To attempt more would involve needless repetition and unnecessarily

extend the scope and province of this article.

Italy.

We have heard so much of German forestry and its superior methods that
our American foresters, when they go abroad for study and information, are too
apt to devote their time exclusively to travel within Germany. It would be well
if, when not limited as to time or expense, they were to extend their observations to
some of the other continental forests and nurseries. But few of our foresters
seem to have paid any attention to Italy. This may be due to the small per-
centage of woodlands in that country. But the Italian Government is steadily
increasing its forest areas, and is conducting silvicultural operations of a high order.

The nurseries have an annual output of about 9,000,000 plants, and new
plantations of large areas are made each year. The surplus seedlings, or trans-
plants, not necessary for fieldwork are distributed free to persons who may need
them in reforesting private lands.

The location, area and product of the various nurseries maintained by the

Italian Government are as follows:

| Yearly Number of

PROVINCE. Name of the forest nursery. paice ine chpcneiture)ior aaeeere
| Francs.
Firenze Loa rien wall ombroSsam Ween ero ese ESASGO | 6, 538.25 I, 000, 000
Arezzo bo a 6 te 6 go ol) Ceronaulelosht SPER at Rae ase SERB O OA 6, 203.00 800, 000
Firenze ooh Selena BS OSCOLMEO! (ely ah ee mesures ee 2500S 2,978.40 600, 000
Belluno Eee eee Fo) ee Pines piniiir. - lean werenee eae ©8301 3,071.76 I, 200, 000
Bergamo se leravalowetl 4) ae ogo 0. or, oll Mala | 669.18 140, 000

FOREST NURSERIES AND NURSERY METHODS IN EUROPE. 203

Neoatin Yearly Number of

PROVINCE. Name of the forest nursery. neceaneete oP ALONG fey Rea

Francs,

Brescia Begotta . 2000 250.00 20, 000
Cagliari Aie, Maitoppi 1.8000 883.42 110, 000
Caserta Bandio 1.1936 276.16 100, 000
Chieti Martice 2.0479 1, 509.48 300, 000
Cosenza Migliano . 10.6900 3, 363.93 600, 000
Foggia Giacomelli 1.0000 680.40 100, 000
Genova Trincata 1.2000 960.31 125, 000
Grosseto Follonica . 4.0107 4, 235.00 2, 500, 000
Macerata San Giuseppe I. 5000 850.41 35, 000
Novara Aldec . 3.8000 2M 7730 500, 000
Palermo Lavatoio 4.2000 2, 504.49 400, 000
Potenza Vigna . .9416 I, 232.58 200, 000
Sassari Fraigada Pisanu 2.9904 743.40 130, 000
Teramo Buragna Paggiara . 2.1814 I, 298.00 118, 000
Total 58.1001 | +41,028.56 8, 978, 000

* A hectare is equal to 2.471

acres. + Or, $7,795.43.

The above statement will give some idea of the large extent to which nurseries

are used by European governments in their work of forest extension.

In Germany

and France the nurseries are much more numerous, owing to the larger area of

forest, greater amount of timber cutting, and more extensive replanting.

The different species of trees propagated in these Italian nurseries are shown

in the following list, which was kindly furnished by Inspector A Franchi, of the

Forestry Department of Tuscany.

The botanical designations, some of which are

not used in this country, are as given in his list, and include some species which

are rare in America:

Silver fir .
Norway spruce
Norway maple .
Sycamore maple
European alder
Speckled alder
Chestnut .
Beech
European ash
Flowering ash
Walnut

Abies alba Willd. (Pinus picea Linn.)
Abies picea Willd. (Pinus abies Linn.)

Acer platanotdes Linn

Acer pseudo-platanus Linn.
Alnus glutinosa Gaertn.

Alnus incana Willd.
Fagus castanea Linn.

Fagus sylvatica Linn.

Fraxinus excelstor Linn.

Fraxinus ornus Winn.

i ome Lalas coral imtie

204 REPORT OF THE FOREST FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

Larch

Austrian pine

Aleppo pine

Corsican pine

Maritime pine

Stone pine

Scotch pine

Turkey oak

Holly or evergreen oak
English oak

Larix europaea Dec.
Pinus Qustriaca Reich.
Pinus halepensis Mill.
Pinus laricio Poir.
Pinus pinaster Ait.
Pinus pinea Linn
Pinus sylvestris Linn.
Quercus cerris Linn.
Quercus ilex Linn.
Quercus robur Linn.

Siberian oak Quercus sessiliflora Smith.

Cork oak Eel ve tons ar eeoaarste en LEM CLSIMSILO G7 NANT
TO CUS tie) ate ho Ho ueneint Aa te are Robinia pseudo-acacia Linn.
Basswood Tilia grandifolia Smith.

English elm Ulmus campestris Linn

Orissa CASES SLUUGOUAEES. Wuibninl,

Besides these forest nurseries there are those belonging to the societies for the
replanting of forests, which receive subsidies from the government.

In the forest nurseries of the government additional native plants are cultivated
as well as many foreign species. This year at Vallombrosa and Camaldoli the
hard, or sugar, maple, Acer saccharum Marsh, will be cultivated from seeds
furnished by the Forestry Department of New York.

At Camaldolh are some of the finest forests in Europe and a large nursery
that, in size and cultural methods, will compare favorably with any. In most of
the forest managements abroad a preference is given to small nurseries, of two
acres or less, distributed so that each will be near the place where the seedlings
will be planted. But at Camaldoli and Migliano large areas have been set apart
for the propagation of seedling trees, and nearly all the public forests in Italy
are supplied with young plants from these nurseries.

Camaldoli is in the Apenines, Province of Tuscany, and should not be con-
founded with the well-known place of that name near Naples. The former is
easily reached by rail from Florence to Arezzo, thence by a branch railroad to
Bibbiena, and thence by a drive of fifteen miles up the mountain pass to the old
monastery, which has been converted by the government into a commodious,
fashionable hotel.

The nursery, or prantonazo, at this place covers about thirteen acres, and has
an altitude of 2,910 feet above the sea. The ground, which has a gentle slope
to the northeast, is laid out in terraces so as to afford a level situation for the

beds. The exposure is favorable, as it furnishes protection from late frosts and

A. FRANCHI, PHOTO.

NURSERY BEDS SHADED BY PLANTED TREES.

AT CAMALDOLI, PROVINCE OF TUSCANY, ITALY.

ee

A, FRANCHI, PHOTO

IDOMVG He WRITS, INWIRSIDIRG, IMVAILAY.

WEEDING THE TRANSPLANT BEDS.

FOREST NURSERIES AND NURSERY METHODS IN EUROPE. 205

the rapid evaporation caused by south winds. Although not closely surrounded
on all sides by high forests, there is a dense tree growth near by of various age
‘classes. Owing to the altitude the natural soil is thin and poor, but the entire
surface of the nursery is deeply covered with rich, friable earth composed largely
of humus mixed with fertilizers. It has the appearance of a fine loam, with no
black earth in it aside from that brought from the forest near by, and with
enough clay and sand to give it a light color.

The beds for conifers are four feet wide, and of various lengths to suit the
terraces, most of the beds being about thirty feet long. The greater part of
the area is occupied by transplants, the seed beds needing comparatively small space.

In preparing the seed beds the seeds are planted in rows running across the
beds. Formerly the seeds were sown broadcast in these beds, but this was
abandoned because, as claimed by the forester in charge, by sowing in rows a
much smaller amount of seed is used, the plants grow stronger and more even
in size, are more easily weeded, and can be taken up with less work and injury
to the roots.

The seedlings are taken from the seed beds when two years old and trans-
planted into the long beds, where they remain two or three years more. The
transplants are then four or five years old, from twelve to eighteen inches high,
and are ready for transfer to the grounds where the final planting for the future
forest is made. The Italian foresters seldom use two-year-old seedlings in their
fieldwork, preferring to wait for the four-year-old transplants on account of the
advantages which the latter have in size, hardiness and better root system.

The plants are allowed to remain in the seed beds and transplant beds

respectively as follows:

Removal to
Seed beds Transplant beds .
P : plantations at
years. years. years. 2
Spruce . 2 3 5
Pine 2 2 4
Larch 2 2 4
Beech 2 I 3
Oak He Baa 2 I B
Vial CMe eeen tea tment ear CMON ips ou yeti eee « 2 to 3 2 4to5
Ast
a “| 2 I 3
|

The locusts are not transplanted in the nursery, but are taken from the seed
beds when they are one year old and sent directly to the final plantation in the
field,

206 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

The principal species growing in the Camaldoli nursery are: Silver fir, Norway
spruce, longleaf pine, stone pine, Austrian pine, larch, beech, chestnut and sycamore
maple.

No lath frames are used for shade. Protection from heat and drought is
obtained when necessary by using pine brush, which is stuck into the ground
on the sunny side of the beds. Screens of thatched straw are also used for the
same purpose. Unlike other nurseries in Europe, small trees, twenty-five feet in
height, or thereabouts, are standing at intervals of twenty feet throughout the
greater part of the area, and their moving shade contributes to the refreshment
and protection of the tender plants. An ample supply of water for irrigation is
obtained from a small, artificial lake situated on the side of a hill just above the
nursery.

The beds containing the transplants are kept in fine condition, all the plants
being alive and green, and at even spaces in the rows. In some of the seed beds,
however, bare spots may be seen at times, due to the destructive work of birds
and squirrels. These blanks are also liable to occur after an unusually wet season,
when the excessive moisture prevents to some extent the germination of the seeds.

The management of this nursery is in charge of a forestry official who is
termed in Italy a ‘‘ brigadier,” a title somewhat puzzling to the foresters of other
countries who may have served in the army. The work of preparing, planting
and weeding the beds is done almost wholly by women at daily wages of about
thirty cents each. One woman will set out about 1,200 seedlings in the trans-
plant beds in a day, a day’s work being counted as ten hours. Hence the cost
of transplants is only one fourth of that in American nurseries.

Although somewhat of a digression, some mention seems pardonable here of
the high forest about Camaldoli, which consists mostly of silver fir, unmixed with
other woods. An hour’s walk to Sacre Eremo takes one over a good road through
the best of the timber, and affords an opportunity to see this famous species in a
very heavy stand per acre. The trees are tall, straight and of large diameter,
the dense growth indicating a possible yield of 70,000 feet, board measure, per
acre, exclusive of the minor product. It was planted by the monks of Camaldoli
over a century ago. Protection from fire 1s attained by patrols, and by watchmen
posted in little cabins placed on surrounding hilltops and mountain peaks, from
which they announce by signals the first appearance of smoke.

But on this tract, containing 3,600 acres, no cutting is seen. In rgor the
government enacted a law that no timber should be cut in a public forest within
a certain distance of any summer resort. Perhaps the Italian legislators had read

the restrictions in the forestry clause of the State Constitution of New York and

FOREST NURSERIES AND NURSERY METHODS IN EUROPE. 207

followed that. The proprietor of the hotel at Camaldoli seemed satisfied with
this embargo on lumbering in his immediate vicinity, and lamented the fact that
on an adjoining tract of 10,000 hectares (25,000 acres) a fine forest was being
cleared away by its non-resident owner, a member of the Austrian nobility.

At Vallombrosa there is also a well-managed nursery belonging to the Forestry
Institute at that place. It is in Tuscany, and the forester desirous of visiting
this famous resort can go by rail from Florence to San Ellero, thence by a cog-
wheel railway up the mountain, five miles, to Saltino. From the latter place it
is only a few minutes’ walk to the Hotel di Foresta and the ‘‘ Istituto Forestale”’
at Vallombrosa. The nursery at this place is on the college grounds, with an
altitude of 3,050 feet. The air is quite cool in summer, although the temperature
may be excessively warm in the Tuscan valleys. A high elevation is a desirable
condition for a forest nursery in this latitude.

The plot contains between one and two acres, and is situated on a level terrace
surrounded by groves of forest trees. It is further sheltered from wind by the
mountain which, densely covered with tall firs, slopes upward from the rear of
the college buildings. The beds, planted mostly with silver fir, are in fine con-
dition and divided by well-kept paths. Through years of repeated working
the earth has been converted into a composite of rich soil in which there is a
large admixture of forest humus. Some of the seedlings are taken up when two
years old and sent to the plantation direct, without any previous transplanting.
At times a free distribution of seedlings is made to farmers or landowners who
may wish to reforest their denuded lands.

The nursery at Vallombrosa has a capacity of about 800,000 plants. In 1903

the species growing there, and the number of each, were as follows:

Sul Crete nee etme Tay ie hee ea AOOkOOO
Nonwayasprucer aan. Fee fet aes aria yes eee eat: 30,000
European larch . ERENCE TRO Oag ice = ne ce eg age 10,000
SCOLCHMO IMC RMnpEn etm Lene Meni isa, “et Vays Se tnumedy ns 45,000
Cons CAM te pay Reus BRA aes sf a tee eee cent me 32,000
GENUS tole N OLIN meee ine met RISE SG Huy UMN haa 55,000
Bee clammy cae hee marae ICL 8 oe Ne Nene cor 50,000
CieStiiuitaeem pear Or: Mimi ering tana: Gas PS ce 2 co aig ae CN 30,000
Norway maple Bigeye i Mens Hi) Biase se nha ee odyn « Mumnan es 1,000
SV CAMOnemmla Pl wae 4), aca.) Ls ike G2) Ge RA MEN eed aah Aes 3,500
IOC US tinea seer tem iol tyrant es ialiy, x gun Lee GR TE Lom OOO
O GCS CCICS Hen aN set aku Mh ar tg at ir ae enim gan 15,000

AOC ale rium sy Sotrat Oris ty tore Me ee eee a Ts ng GOS)

208 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

Adjoining the nursery is an arboretum of several acres, mostly young trees.
It contains many of our common American species, and to the forester from
over the sea their familiar appearance is as welcome as the sight of old friends
in a strange country. With the nursery and arboretum so close at hand, the
students of the Forestry School have a fine opportunity for study and experience
in this branch of silvics.

The dense forests and leafy conditions about Vallombrosa recall readily the
literary quotation which has made this place so famous. The mountain slopes
are thickly covered with fir and spruce, while near the college there are mixed
woods of pine, locust, sycamore, mountain ash, white birch, chestnut, oak and

poplar.
France.

In a country where the forests are managed mostly under the selection system
and for the formation of coppice growth, as in France, the need of nurseries is
consequently not so great as in one where clean cuttings are the rule. But
whatever the method employed in reforesting, there is always a need for nursery-
grown plants to fill the fail places. Hence there are pepinitres in ail the forest
districts of France, some of which are absolutely perfect, not only in the
technical methods employed but, also, in their attractive appearance.

One of the best, perhaps, of these may be found at Xettes, in the mountains
of the French Vosges, near Gerardmer, Southeastern France. The plot is rect-
angular, 200 by 175 feet in size, and is inclosed by a rustic fence of neat design.
It is surrounded closely on all sides by a dense, high forest of Norway spruce.
The ground is nearly level, with a slight slope to the south, and has an altitude of
g06 meters. The neat fence, clean paths, long, well-kept beds and pretty summer-
house at one side well repay the long climb up the mountain from Gerardmer
to find this secluded spot. The polite and attentive forester in charge wears a
distinctive uniform, as is the case in all the government nurseries and forest
reviers in Europe.

The entire area is devoted to the propagation of conifers—spruce and fir.
To maintain the regular annual output nine seed beds are made, each about
sixteen feet long, and inclosed in frames of wide boards placed on edge. ‘These
seed beds are covered with wire screens to protect them from the depredation of
birds, and the screens are allowed to remain in place until August, or until the
germination has advanced far enough to permit their removal.

The seedlings, when two years old, are transplanted into the long beds, where

they remain two years more. The beds containing these transplants are four

A. KNECHT#®L, PHOTO.
OWE AE ORI Sih RAN Sala WM ee Aule 1c OMIBIN@ SAV ely Awe ye

THE LOCATION OF THE NURSERY APPEARS IN THE BACKGROUND.

H. G. STEVENS, PHOTO,

INOMRUGSIO ARVTIZ, INWINSIDRE, AIP RMN ZS.

IN THE FRENCH VOSGES.

FOREST NURSERIES AND NURSERY METHODS IN EUROPE. 209

feet wide and extend from the central walk to the side of the inclosure. The
seedlings are placed in longitudinal rows, the latter being eight inches apart.
The natural soil is a rich loam, mixed with humus, to which fertilizers have been
added each year after the removal of the plants. As a result the four-year-old
transplants when taken up are strong, thrifty, and from fourteen to eighteen
inches in height, with a well-developed root system. Owing to the moist climate
of the French Vosges, the great altitude and the close proximity of the forest, it is
but seldom that the beds require any watering.

In other districts of France many of the nurseries are used in part, and in
some instances entirely, for the propagation of broad-leaved species. In the Forest
of Roumare, near Rouen, there is a pepzniére which is stocked wholly with beech
and oak. The beech is raised in seed beds, and then transplanted the same as is
done with the conifers. The surrounding forests, however, are composed almost
entirely of Scotch pine in pure stands. But it will be noticed throughout
Northern France that, where a clean cutting occurs in a forest of the latter species,
the ground is often left to reforest itself by natural dissemination.

There are several nurseries in the Forest of Rouvray— Department of the
Seine —which are largely occupied by conifers, and in which the coniferous beds
are frequently failures, owing to the depredation of rabbits. The foresters seemed
to be unable to protect their inclosures from these pests. This is not surprising,
for our American nurseries suffer serious injury at times from rodents. In the
winter of 1904, after a-fall of snow, one of the large forest-tree nurseries in
Northern Illinois suffered a loss in white pine seedlings, caused by a swarm of
field mice that cut off the stems close to the ground and inflicted damages

estimated at $5,000 before their presence was discovered.

Belgiam.

Although Belgium has no place on the pages of our forestry textbooks,
seventeen per cent of its area is well wooded. Its forests are of a high class
that indicate an intelligent, intensive management, and the extensive formation
of artificial ones is provided for by numerous nurseries.

In the great Forest of Soignes, at Groenendael, there is a pepinicre of two
acres, in which some interesting experiments are carried on at the present time
in addition to the regular work. Some germinating beds are set apart for testing
the relative efficacy of various materials for covering and protecting the tender
yearlings. For this purpose trials are made of straw, dead leaves, moss, dried

manure, humus, plain earth pressed down around each plant and plain earth applied

14

210 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

loosely. The results thus far are indeterminate, but seem to favor the use of
dead leaves. Mention is made of this matter here, because each of these materials
is in use in one place or another.

Other beds are devoted to experiments in deep, medium and shallow planting.
Thus far the best results have been attained by a medium depth in which the
root-collar was slightly covered. Experiments are also being made with reference
to quick and delayed transplanting. As might be naturally expected, of the
plants which were set out immediately all lived, while most of those which were
delayed died sooner or later, according to the period of delay.

Interesting tests were made in trimming the roots of the two-year-old seedlings
before transplanting. The thriftiest plants were obtained from those with uncut
roots, a fact which seems to be at variance with the practice in some of the
German nurseries.

Experiments were also made to ascertain the relative ability of seedlings to
withstand the effects of sun and frost. While it was found that certain species
were much more susceptible to injury in this respect than others, it also appeared
that none were hardy enough to enable the forester to dispense entirely with some
kind of protection.

In one part of the inclosure mustard plants are used to furnish shade for
the tender species growing there, while some of the beds are covered with racks
on which straw and brush are placed for protection from the sun. Many of the
beds which had been planted with broad-leaved species contained young trees
from six to eight feet high. The coniferous transplants were not over twelve
inches in height, although four years old. In general, the minor details of the
technical work is the same as that described later on in connection with the
German nurseries.

This nursery, which is quite irregular in outline, is nearly level, with a slight
slope to the south. Labels, neatly and plainly lettered, which can be read at a
glance by one standing in the paths, are placed in each bed to show the species
planted there. About one half of the area is occupied by broad-leaved plants,
conspicuous among which are ash, beech, European chestnut and oak, the latter
including the red, scarlet, English and pedunculate. This place is well worth
visiting by any forester who may happen to be in its vicinity.

Adjoining the nursery, and separated by a fence, is an arboretum which was
commenced in 1897, and hence the trees are small. But it already contains three
hundred and twenty-one species, among which our native American trees are

largely represented.

as aan

es

FORES? TREE NURSERY, NEAR GERARDMER, FRANCE.

SEED BEDS COVERED WITH WIRE SCREENS TO PROTECT THE SEED FROM BIRDS.

e = Sa

H. G. STEVENS, PHOTO,
NORWAY SPRUCE, FOUR YEARS OLD, ONCE TRANSPLANTED.

BLACK FOREST.

FOREST NURSERIES AND NURSERY METHODS IN EUKOPE, 211

Baden.

The extensive areas of planted woods in the Black Forest require a large
number of nurseries for carrying on the work and for renewing the growth
on lands as fast as the timber is removed. The well-managed Jdaumschule at
Geioldsau, near Baden-Baden, is a fair type of the small but numerous nurseries
that may be found in the various districts of the Schwarzwald.

It has a square area of about half an acre, is located in a valley running east
and west, and is situated about one hundred feet above the bottom of this valley
on the southern slope. The forest approaches closely on three sides, while the
precipitous slope on the opposite side of the valley is also well covered with tree
growth. The nursery is surrounded by a paling fence, and a good road, used mostly
for hauling timber, skirts the lower side of the inclosure.

The area contains one hundred and sixty-eight beds, each fifteen feet long and
forty inches wide, separated by paths of convenient width. Two broad paths,
four feet wide, one running through the middle up the slope and one at right
angles to it, divide it into four equal.parts. The main paths which separate
the beds, and which run up the slope, are three feet wide, while the crosspaths
at the ends of the beds are twelve inches wide.

The earth in the beds is a rich, sandy loam, prepared by mixing one load of
ordinary forest soil with one of manure. This compost, until used, is piled just
outside the fence, where it is allowed to remain undisturbed for three years.
Three large heaps are necessarily kept on hand to furnish the proper annual
supply.

The seed beds, eight in number, occupy only five per cent of the total area.
These beds have a framework of boards around their edges, eight inches high,
and are covered with wire screens of a small mesh, which are kept there until the
seeds have germinated to protect them from the depredation of birds. The seeds
are sown thickly and broadcast instead of in rows.

If the supply of plants from the seed beds is insufficient to stock the area set
apart for transplants, the deficiency is made up by gathering two-year-old seedlings
from the adjacent forest.

In 1903 the species growing in this nursery were:

(1) Weisstanne, or silver fir, three and four years old.

(2) Rottanne, or Norway spruce, four years old.

(3) Sitka spruce (Adzes sztchensis), three years old.

(4) Forle, or Scotch pine, four years old.
)

(5

Douglas spruce, four years old.

2ae2 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

In addition there were, in a few beds which contained an assortment of species,
some larch, sycamore, maple, Colorado spruce, white fir (Adzes concolor) and Larix
leptolepis.

The seedlings, as customary in most nurseries, are allowed to remain in the
seed beds until they are two years old, when they are transplanted into other beds
in the same nursery. These transplants are set out lengthwise of the beds in
eight rows, fifty in each row, four inches apart in the row, and with a space
of about six inches between the rows. This is closer than usual, but the forester
claims that if the rows of transplants are set too far apart there is a tendency to
fork, “to! the formation “of. two leaders; whichiw! bye the: iwayssis) sone, Obemune
disadvantages urged by some against a plantation formed of nursery stock.

In transplanting a furrow is first made with a ‘‘hand-plough,” which is drawn
by one man and guided by another. Then a board with notches cut in the edge at
distances corresponding to the spaces between the plants is placed on the bed with
the notches over the furrow. The seedlings are then placed, one in each notch, the
roots covered with prepared soil, and pressed into place. In some nurseries a
planting board* is used which has half circles along the edge at the required
spaces instead of V-shaped notches.

The longer roots of each seedling in the Geroldsau Nursery are clipped
slightly to insure a greater amount of branching and a better root system in the
transplants. This is deemed desirable by the forester, as it saves the expense
of making a deeper hole when the final planting is made in the forest, and
because there is less liability to loss in transplanting.

The transplants of the Weisstanne remain from three to four years in the beds,
mostly four years, while the Rottanne are held in the transplant beds from two
to three years, the length of time in each case depending on the height-growth
attained. For the Rottanne a height of about twelve inches is deemed desirable
in the transplant before removing it from the bed and taking it to the forest for
final planting; but the Weisstanne, which is slower in growth, is removed from
the nursery when eight or ten inches high.

At the corners and sides of each bed there are posts, about three feet high,
which support long poles placed horizontally on top of the posts. If the post has
no natural crotch in which the poles can rest, a hole is bored near the top of

the stake and a round stick is inserted to furnish a bearing. From the first to the

*In New York we use this kind of board in our nursery work, but we set out our transplants
here in rows running across the bed, which enables us to use a shorter board and to make the
furrows by hand with a trowel pressed deeply into the soft earth. Furthermore, with rows placed
this way a man sitting in the path can do the weeding more easily. Still, each way has its
advantages, and, some disadvantages also.

G, W. MANCHOT, PHOTO,

SIFITID) 131T1D) Ow SCOMElal WNIT, WWO) WIVURS OLD).

IN NURSERY AT GEROLDSAU, BADEN.

H. G. STEVENS, PHOTO,

BEDS OF FOUR-YEAR-OLD TRANSPLANTS, NORWAY SPRUCE.

IN NURSERY BELONGING TO A PRIVATE FOREST, GERMANY.

Rosh nee
StS pata
19 Pd 1s

a
2

FOREST NURSERIES AND NURSERY METHODS IN EUROPE. Bit 2

twentieth of May these horizontal poles are covered with brush to protect the
transplants from the frost which is liable to occur in the valley.

The total number of transplants in this nursery, in 1903, was 65,000, of which
17,000 six-year-old Weisstanne were to be set out in plantations the following year.
The Weisstanne formed the principal species raised in this plot, comprising ninety
per cent of the plants. The Rottanne, or Norway spruce, occupied only five beds,
On about three) perm centvof the areas Dhere were also)a, bed of Sitka spruce,
one of Douglas fir and one of Scotch pine. But there is another nursery in this
revier, under the same fdrstmeister, in which the plants are nearly all Rottanne.

The cost of the plants, when placed in their final position in the forest, is
from 2 to 4 pfennig (one half to one cent) per plant, a laborer being able to set
out from 1,000 to 1,200 in a day. In setting out these plants in the field he uses
a kind of mattock for making the holes, the same as is used in our plantations in
New York. The daily wage of a laborer in this range is 1 mark 80 pfennigs, and
hence the cost of annual planting in the forest, at the rate of 1,100 plants per
day, is 1.6 pfennigs per plant, which leaves the apparent cost of the nursery work
from .4 to 2.4 pfennig per plant, not including certain incidental expenses, which
increase it somewhat.*

There are six nurseries in the Baden Revier, each about the size of the one
at Geroldsau; but they vary greatly in the species propagated, some of them
having ninety to ninety-five per cent of their area devoted to Norway spruce.
The broad-leaved species are cultivated only to a small extent in this part of the
Schwarzwald.

The nursery in the Wendlingen Revier, near Freiburg, is also devoted largely
LOMtNe propacationmorether silver fig. | litvis) a) permanent ones so vdenoted sto
distinguish it from the temporary ones often made to supply a local need. The
natural soil is from gneiss, and is a limy sand. Manure is used as a fertilizer,
that from cows being preferred. This is spread over the ground and spaded
under before the seed is sown. Thomasmehl and kainit also are used.

The seeds in the seed beds are sown in rows, the rows being three inches
apart, and are dropped so thickly in the row that they nearly touch each other.
The beds are then covered with branches of fir or beech, which are allowed to
remain all summer, at first close to the ground, after which they are raised
gradually until they are about twenty inches high. ‘These shades are also left on
through the winter to keep the ground from freezing and heaving with the frost.

Moss, or fine brush, laid between the rows might serve this purpose as well.

*These figures seem somewhat questionable, but they were noted down carefully from the
forester’s personal statement.

214 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISIZT AND GAME COMMISSION.

The seedlings are transplanted, when two years old, in rows six inches apart
and at spaces in the row of about three and one half inches. They are held in
the transplant beds until they are five years old before removing them to the
plantations.

_ Although the purchase of seeds for nursery purposes is a common practice in
some localities, the forester in charge of this revier gathers his own supply.
As to the silver fir, a full mast occurs about every five years, although this
species yields a small amount of seed each year. The cones are gathered about
the middle of October. A man climbs up among the branches and breaks off the
cones, which are carried immediately to the storehouse and spread out so that
the air can circulate through them freely. They are stirred every day and kept in
the drying-room until the scales have fully opened or fallen apart. They are then
put into baskets and shaken vigorously until the seeds have fallen to the bottom,
after which they are easily separated from the refuse material.

The seed beds are sown in autumn, sometimes in November or December, if
snow does not fall too early. If the weather is very moist the cones may
not open in time for fall planting. In that case the seed is, of course, sown
the next spring.

The absence of nurseries in some parts of the Black Forest, or elsewhere,
does not necessarily imply that young plants are not used there in reforesting
operations. In the Sulzburg reviers, for instance, the oberforster, as explained
by him, is doing very little in the way of seed plots, because he can buy seed-
lings from the commercial nurseries as cheaply as, if not cheaper than, he can
raise them himself. This is not remarkable, as it is evident that in a nursery
of one hundred acres or more, devoted solely to commercial purposes, the plants
can be raised more cheaply, and with a profit, than in one of two acres, espe-
cially as in the latter case the forester has other and more important duties
that engross his attention. Furthermore, under the excellent and intensive
management of the Sulzburg reviers a satisfactory reproduction is obtained

through natural dissemination.

Switzerland.

As most of the forests in this country occupy slopes, more or less steep,
they exercise protective functions which necessitate the selection system in their
exploitation, and hence there is not the same need for nurseries as in countries
where clean cutting is practiced. Reproduction by natural dissemination is largely
the rule, noticeably so in the forest of the Sihlwald, famous for its intensive

management and the highly profitable returns per acre which have been main-

A. RNEGHOET oral
FOREST TREE NURSERY, NEAR LUZERNE, SWITZERLAND.

ENCLOSED WITH A HEDGE INSTEAD OF A FENCE.

A. KNECHTEL, PHOTO,

TEMPORARY NURSERY.

PATHS PLANTED PERMANENTLY WITH NORWAY SPRUCE, WHICH WILL BE LEFT IN PLACE WHEN THE STOCK IN
THE BEDS IS FINALLY REMOVED. A PLANTATION THUS TAKES THE PLACE OF THE NUKSERY.

FOREST NURSERIES AND NURSERY METHODS IN EUROPE. 215

tained annually for a long term of years. Still there are several nurseries con-
nected with the management of the various cantonal forests, but the technique,
as observed does not vary materially from that already described.

Although nurseries are not as essential to the management of high forests in
Switzerland as elsewhere, a large number are used in the work of forest extension
and the formation of new forests on wild or cultivated land that had hitherto not
been used for the production of timber. From 1878 to 1885 the annual output
of the nurseries devoted to this purpose amounted, on an average, to 5,263,474
conifers and 351,430 broad-leaved plants.*

In the Winterthur range temporary nurseries are used to a considerable extent.
In some of these, when the stock is removed, a sufficient number of transplants
are left standing at proper intervals in the beds to form an artificial forest
in time on the site of the abandoned nursery plot. The permanent nurseries
wherever seen are in admirable condition and have an attractive appearance.
One of them, near Luzerne, is enciosed by a well-kept hedge instead of a fence,
as customary everywhere else, and is equipped with water pipes and several
hydrants for sprinkling the beds.

In the canton of Zurich there is a nursery connected with the Forest Research
Station, in which experiments are carried on with different species of forest-tree
seedlings and plants. It is situated at Adlisberg, four miles from the city of
Zurich, at an elevation of two thousand three hundred feet above the sea.

To determine the species suitable for planting in various parts of Switzerland,
soils from these places are brought to the nursery, seeds are planted, and the
little trees as they grow are studied and their development carefully recorded.

An important experiment is being carried on with the seed of Norway spruce.
Good seed collected in the mountains, some from trees growing at an altitude of
one thousand five hundred feet above sea level, and some from similar trees
at an altitude of six thousand feet, were planted in a bed in the nursery, half of
the bed being given to each kind of seed. The seedlings, now six years old,
show a remarkable difference in height, those from the seed taken at the lower
altitude being twenty-four inches tall, while those from the higher altitude have a
height of only twelve inches.

The natural laws under which the roots of trees are developed are being studied
as follows: Boxes thirty inches high, eighteen inches wide and six inches through,
with the sides made of glass, are filled with earth and sunk into the ground their
full length, the glass sides standing vertically in close contact with the earth out-

side the box. In each box is planted a tree, which, as it grows, sends some of

-*U. S. Consular Reports. 1887.

216 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

its roots against the glass sides. From time to time the boxes are pulled out of the
ground and the root growths observed and recorded.

Observations upon white pine, Scotch pine, silver fir, beech, oak, birch and
maple have been carried on for three years on plants aged from one to six years.
During the winter, from November till March or April, the roots of the needle
trees, as observed in the boxes, make no growth. Those of deciduous trees, on
the contrary, do not go through this period with complete rest, but grow wher-
ever the temperature becomes mild, even in midwinter. In February and the
beginning of March, however, the roots show very little growth.

It is noticed that in the spring the roots begin to develop before the buds, in
some cases several weeks. The larcn and alder are an exception to this rule.
The buds of these species have been observed to unfold even a month before the
roots started.

Since the soil has a temperature below that of the lower air it follows that the
roots begin their growth at temperatures lower than that necessary for the develop-
ment of the aérial parts. The minimum temperature necessary for the growth of
needle trees, as recorded by a thermometer placed in the boxes, is from five to six
degrees Centigrade; for the maple and beech, from two to three degrees.

The roots have also a summer rest, in August and September,.a time when
the water content of the soil in the nursery is at its minimum. This interruption
may last from three to eight weeks, according as the summer is wet or dry. Then
follows in October a period of more active growth and of longer duration in the
deciduous trees than in the conifers.

The most rapid development takes place at the beginning of summer. ‘The
oak has its maximum at the end of June or the beginning of July. The root
growth is then about 3.54 inches a day, that of the fir and Scotch pine about
2.36 inches. From these observations a judgment is formed as to the most favorable
time to plant trees in the forest. For the success of a plantation it is essential that,
as soon as the trees are placed, the roots should enter upon a period of active
growth to replace the water taken from the tree by evaporation. On the other
hand, the plantation should be made when transpiration is at its minimum. These
conditions are usually best secured-in the spring. In a country, however, where
the spring is usually dry and the fall mild and moist, the plantation should be
made in the autumn.

For deciduous trees to grow well when planted in autumn they must form
root hairs before the arrival of the great cold, and must lose very little water by
evaporation during the winter. Hence, in countries where the winter is very cold

and dry these, as well as the conifers, should be planted in the spring.

FOREST NURSERIES AND NURSERY METHODS IN EUROPE, 217

Alsace.

The Oberférsterei Miinster, in the German Vosges, has an area of 21,325 acres,
of which one half, or thereabouts, is occupied by silver fir;* the remainder by
Norway spruce, Scotch pine (1,500 acres), beech (mixed with maple), elm and
carpinus (5,000 acres), oak (1,150 acres), chestnut (180 acres) and locust.

The total nursery area for the tract is four acres, which furnish an average
annual output of 160,000 coniferous plants. This nursery area is in several small
plots distributed conveniently throughout the tract. One of these, located about
five miles from Metzeral, has an area of five ares (5,380 square feet). It is in the
forest and is closely surrounded by trees. <A wire fence of four strands, with a
round top-rail of poles, protects it from deer. The exposure is towards the west.
It has a slope of one foot in eight, terraced with retaining walls of stone three
feet high.

The soil is from gneiss, with some lime in its composition. Thomasmehl and

kainit are used as fertilizers;+ but as kainit is strong and liable to injure the plants

=The silver fir (Abies pectinata) of Southern Europe resembles the American balsam closely
in its foliage and in many other respects; but it is much larger and taller and has a better fiber.

t+ Thomasmehl, or Thomaschlacke (Thomas slag), is a slag or scoria produced in the ‘‘ Thomas—
Gilchrist’ process for manufacturing steel, and is obtained as a by-product from certain rich
phosphatic iron ore. In this process the phosphorus of the crude iron is converted into phosphoric
acid, which passes into the slag in combination with lime and iron. This slag is ground finely
and sold as fertilizer. It contains from thirty to forty per cent phosphate of lime, the greatest part
of which appears to be in an available condition, so that the slag, when ground or pulverized,
may be used on the soil as a source of phosphoric acid without further treatment.

It is a new form of phosphate to which attention has already been attracted throughout Europe,
and which has been tried experimentally to some extent in this country. From extensive trials of
it at experiment stations it seems that all such slags have not an equal value, some being much
more available to the plants than others. The better classes of slag have, however, given better
results than bone meal, and have been sold at so low a rate the foresters can use it profitably.
This slag meal is now manufactured at Pottstown, Pa., and is put on the market under the name
of ‘‘ odorless phosphate.”’

Kainit, or Kalidungung, is a product of some salt mines, notably the mines at Stassfurt,
Germany. It is a mixture of compounds containing about twenty-five per cent sulphate of potash,
equivalent to twelve per cent of actual potash, together with about thirty-five per cent of common
salt, some sulphate and chloride of magnesia, and a small amount of gypsum. Large amounts are
annually exported to America, one year as high as 87,635 tons.

Kainit, sprinkled on manure, tends to the checking of fermentation; also, to attract and hold
moisture. One precaution should be observed in the use of this fertilizer; animals should be
kept away from it, as their feet may be injured by treading in it. It is better, therefore, to apply
it mixed with fresh manure, and to cover the ground afterwards with some kind of litter. [See
bulletins on ‘‘Commercial Fertilizers,’’ issued by the Departments of Agriculture in various
States. For further definitions of Thomasmehl and Kainit, see Illustriertes Forst und Jagd
Lexikon, by Dr. Hermann von First. Berlin: Paul Parey. 1904.]

218 REPORT OF THE PORESD, Fish AND) GAME COMMISSION:

if applied when fresh, kali salts are used at times. This is a product of the
German mines, containing about fifty per cent sulphate of potash and thirty-five
per cent sulphate of magnesia.

silver fir and Norway spruce are the species cultivated for the most part.
These are transplanted when two years old, and allowed to remain until they are
four or five years old before they are taken to a plantation.

In winter, to prevent the plants from heaving out by frost, they are covered
with leaves from deciduous trees. Twigs of fir are stuck into the beds at close

intervals, so that the wind will not disturb the leaf covering.

Saxony.

In no European country have improved forestry methods attained a higher
development and degree of efficiency than in Saxony. In the United States con-
sular reports it is stated that there is probably no country in the world where higher
revenues from the forests are obtained, nor where greater or more intelligent care
is bestowed upon them, and the forestry publications, official or otherwise, issued
in that country indicate that this statement is well founded. Forests of wide
extent exist everywhere, not only on the Erzgebirge and on the mountains of
the Saxon Switzerland, but also in the vicinity of the principal cities.

The area devoted to the formation of coniferous forests is six times that
given to the growth of deciduous species. Gen. C. C. Andrews,* in his ‘‘ Notes
on European Forestry,’ says of the Saxon forests: ‘‘The entire area planted
annually varies according to circumstances. On the average it will reach 6,900
acres. Of this area 800 acres are planted up with seeds, and 6,100 acres are
planted up with plants.” This statement will give some idea of the large number
of nurseries in Saxony which are necessary in making such extensive plantations.

On the Olbernhau Revier, in the Erzgebirge, there are several nurseries. This
revier contains 4,694 acres, of which four fifths is covered with Norway spruce.
The nurseries are temporary ones (saatschule unstandige), small plots situated
convenient to the areas in which the plants are to be set out.

The soil is good, consisting of disintegrated gneiss with considerable lime.
For the temporary nurseries, small areas only are used. When a new place is
selected for a ‘‘saatkamp,” as the plot is called, the ground is not fertilized
at first; but if it is used for a second crop the ground receives an addition of
Thomas slag or kainit. Potash (kali) is sometimes applied instead of kainit, as

the latter is too strong, and if used when fresh it injures the plants at times.

* Ninth Annual Report, Minnesota Forest Commission. St. Paul. 1904.

ab)

CIs

he

: : hee
A. KNECHTEL, PHOTO.

NURSERY WITH SEED BEDS PROTECTED FROM BIRDS AND MICE BY WIRE SCREENS
AND STONE BORDERS.

AT OLBERNHAU, IN THE ERZGEBIRGE, SAXONY.

7 is NN Tees

A. KNECHTEL, PHOTO,

YOUNG PLANTATION OF NORWAY SPRUCE MADE BY THE SEED-SPOT METHOD.

THARANDT, SAXONY.

FOREST NURSERIES AND NURSERY METHODS IN EUROPE. 219

These fertilizers are applied immediately after the plants are removed from the
nursery, which is generally done in April. They are mixed with the soil, after
which the ground is left undisturbed for two weeks. The beds are then made
and the seed is sown in them. Where the nitrogen in the soil has been lost
through washing and leaching, lupine is sown in the spring and left to grow until
September, when it is spaded under.

The seeds in each row are placed thickly, nearly touching each other, in
a depression made by a square-edged slat two and one quarter inches wide. The
depression thus made is about three quarters of an inch in depth. The rows
are about four inches apart. The beds are forty inches (one meter) wide,
with intervening paths of one foot in width. For sowing an area of one are
(1,076 square feet) about seventeen and one half pounds of spruce seed is used.
The seeds are not soaked, but are coated with red lead to prevent the birds from
eating them. After sowing, the seeds are covered lightly with sand which has
been mixed with a compost made from leaves and grass.

The beds are covered with low screens of brush, preferably pine, which are
left on the frame until the latter part of July. Water is not used for sprinkling
unless there is a supply conveniently at hand.

Seedlings are left in the seed beds until they are two years old, when, as a
general rule, they are transplanted into other beds; but sometimes they are left
in the germinating beds until they are four years old, in which case they are
sent direct to the field plantation. The climate in the Erzgebirge, however, is
so unfavorable that the foresters deem it advisable, in general practice, to use
transplants.

The expense of raising two-year-old seedlings in the Olbernhau Revier is from
one to two marks per thousand plants; to prepare the soil and transplant them
costs one and one half marks more per thousand; and to set them out in a
plantation, from ten to fifteen marks per thousand.

Field planting by the seed-spot method, a modified form of nursery work, is exten-
sively practiced in Saxony, and plantations of this kind are made at Tharandt, the
seat of the Royal Forest Academy. ‘The Saxon foresters generally sow the seeds
along the edge of the strip or patch, where they are not so hable to be heaved
- or thrown out by frost. In the Erzgebirge, wherever this method is used, spruce
is not mixed with pine or larch as at Tharandt. At the latter place a mixture is
used to protect the spruce from the deer. A few seeds of pine and larch are
mixed with the spruce seed, and as the former have a more rapid growth, and

are preferred by the deer, the spruce remains uninjured.

220 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

At the Oberwiesenthal Revier, in the Erzgebirge, along the Austrian border,
the technical work in the nurseries is about the same as that just described.

The nurseries are devoted almost exclusively to the propagation of Norway
spruce. The soil for the most part is of a kind known theré as fillet, which is
composed largely of fine particles of gneiss.

For fertilizing bone meal (aufgeschlossenes) is used exclusively, sixteen pounds
per are. In making a plot ready the trees are cut, the stumps taken out, the
ground dug up and thrown into heaps in autumn, after which the bone meal is
mixed with the heaps. In the following spring these heaps are spread over the
ground, beds are made and sown, the seed having been mixed with lead-oxide,
two pounds of the latter to sixteen pounds of seed. The depression in the bed
having been made, the seed is sown thickly in them and then covered with a thin
layer of fine earth that has been put through a sieve, after which the surface is
pressed down gently.

Dry branches of spruce, bare of foliage, are laid on the beds for shade, and
are held in place by poles laid on them. This brush is left on the beds until
the plants come up through the ground, when it is removed and is not used again.
Dead branches are used, because the spruce needles, which otherwise would fall
on the beds, are heating in their effect and would injure the plants.

In July or August fresh humus is strewn between the rows, two cubic meters
per are. This keeps the ground moist, hinders the growth of weeds and prevents
heaving out by frost. This humus, composed of decayed needles, is found in the
forest underneath the layers of freshly fallen leaves.

The plants are not watered. The foresters in these reviers claim that if water
is once used during a drought the sprinkling must be continued until rain comes,
or the plants will deteriorate in a noticeable degree.

The seed beds are made one and two tenths meters wide and of any convenient
length. On a slope they are laid out lengthwise across the slope so that the flow
of water from a heavy rainfall is checked or hindered. Side paths are twenty-five
centimeters wide, and are made shallow, so that the beds will not dry out too
much along their sides. The end paths are fifty centimeters broad, and are a
little deeper. If the slope is such that there is danger of flooding and washing,
a ditch is dug near the upper side of the inclosure, which is fenced for protection
from deer.

As usual, the plants are left in the seed beds until two years old, when they are
transplanted into other beds in the same nursery and treated with a fertilizer the
same as the seed beds. At Oberwiesenthal the transplant beds are nearly square,

three and five tenths centimeters on a side, with paths fifty centimeters wide.

sf

zs

A. KNECHTEL, PHOTUs
TEMPORARY NURSERY, NORTHERN AUSTRIA.

THE GROUND OUTSIDE THE FENCE IS PLANTED WITH FOUR-YEAR-OLD TRANSPLANTS.

A. KNECHIEL, PHOTO.

PART OF FOREST TREE NURSERY, THURINGIA, GERMANY.

THE BEDS IN THE BACKGROUND, WITH ROWS SHOWING DISTINCTLY, ARE WHITE PINE.

FOREST NURSERIES AND NURSERY METHODS IN EUROPE. Diol

Square beds are very unusual in European nurseries, although in some of the
commercial nurseries in Germany large areas filled with transplants may be seen
in which there are no paths.

A spade is used to take up the seedlings for transplanting. It is shoved
down between the rows, then pressed upwards, after which the plants are gently
and carefully removed by the workman with his fingers and placed in a box-like
frame made of slats. The seedlings are carried to the new bed, where they are
set out in drills four inches apart and the earth pressed firmly by hand around
the roots. The rows or drills in the transplant beds are made at intervals of five
inches. The infant trees are transplanted only once in the nursery and are left
there until they are five years old, as the climate is somewhat severe. Weeding is
necessary only twice a year, in the spring and fall.

In the Erzgebirge a plot is generally used for a nursery only once or twice,
after which it is abandoned. If used a second time, bone meal and humus are
applied in the same quantities as at first. The humus is not only a fertilizer,
but it acts mechanically, making the soil looser where it is too firm and firmer
where it is too loose.

Field plantations are made from the middle of May until the middle of June,
the spring being late in these reviers, as they are situated 2,800 feet or more
above sea level. The stumps are not removed from the ground which is to be
planted, but good earth is hauled there and distributed in small heaps, and in
quantities of about ten cubic meters per hectare (two and one half acres).

Transplants are taken out of the nursery bed and heeled in. At the proper
time they are hauled in a wagon to the planting ground, and heeled in again as
deep as they stood in the nursery. They are taken up again as fast as needed,
placed in pails or baskets and carried to the men who do the planting. They are
planted 1.4 meters apart, and are set in the earth that is thrown up at the side
of the hole (lochhiigelpflanzung), two or three handfuls of the good earth being
packed around the roots of each. By this method the plants receive nourishment
from the grass and sod beneath the hillock.

The preparation of the ground for a seed plot costs about 22 marks per are,
the expense being made up as follows: Clearing and digging the ground, ro marks;
bone meal, 1.20 marks; seed, 1.20 marks; making the beds and sowing the seed,
5 marks; covering with brush, 2 marks; lead oxide, 0.10 marks; spreading humus,
3.2 marks—or about $5.50 for a plot 33 feet square. These figures may seem
rather high, but they were furnished by the oberforster from his account book.

Transplanting costs: Digging over the ground in autumn, 10 marks; bone

meal, 1.2 marks; making beds, 3 marks; transplanting, 10 marks, and humus,

222 REPORT OF THE FOREST, Fish AND (GAME (COMMISSION:

3.2 marks; total, 27.4 marks per are, or about $6.75 per area of 33 feet square.
Removing the plants from the nursery and setting them out in a plantation
costs about $4.25 per 1,000 plants, and to grow the trees in the nursery, ready

for planting, about $1.75 per 1,000.

Tharingia.

At Eisenach, in the Thuringian Forest, there is a revier of about 11,000 acres
in which there are six permanent nurseries, each in the vicinity of the planting
grounds where the young stock will be needed.

The soil is fertile, being composed largely of disintegrated gneiss and feldspar.
The nurseries are located on gentle slopes, where the plots can have a northern
or eastern exposure in order to avoid so far as possible any injury from frost, and.
preferably on land from which a growth of beech has been removed. In many of
them sufficient space is maintained between the sides of the enclosure and the
forest so that the ground will not be shaded by tall trees. Protection from wind
is deemed unnecessary.

In preparing the plot the trees are cut and the stumps taken out. The ground
is spaded to the depth of one foot, so that it may freeze and pulverize in the
winter. In the spring it is again dug over and beds are made, thirty-nine inches
wide, with narrow sidepaths one foot in width.

Fertilizers are not applied for two or three years. Then humus and rich earth
are mixed with the soil immediately after the plants are removed. Seed is sown as
soon as the danger from frost is passed, about the last of April. The coating
of the seeds with red lead is deemed unnecessary here. The rows in the seed
beds are four and one half inches apart. A narrow slat of wood, pressed into
the earth with the foot, is used to mark the rows and make the depression in
which the seeds are placed.

Spruce is sown twice as thickly as pine and about one fifth of an inch apart.
Larch is sown as thickly as spruce, because fifty per cent of the seeds do not
germinate. Spruce and larch seed is covered to a depth of a quarter of an inch
with humus or sand, or with a mixture of both, while pine is sprinkled with it
so lightly as to barely hide the grains from sight.

Branches of pine are then laid on the beds; but spruce brush is not used, as
the dead needles, falling on. the ground, are liable to become heated and thus
injure the seedlings. When the plants appear and are a month or so old, the
branches are placed upright for shade. These are taken off in a dry time to allow
the night dew to refresh the plants, and are removed entirely when the seedlings

are strong enough to do without shade.

PHOTO.

FOREST TREE NURSERY IN THE THURINGER WALD, SAXE-GOTHA.

A. KNECHTEL, PHOTO,

NURSERY PLANTED EXCLUSIVELY WITH NORWAY SPRUCE.

AT RUHLA, SAXE-GOTHA.

FOREST NURSERIES AND NURSERY METHODS IN EUROPE, 223

Ammoniated superphosphate is scattered broadcast over the beds in June,
twenty grammes per square meter, preferably just before a rainfall. It may be
added a second time a month later, but usually this is not necessary. In autumn
moss is laid between the rows to keep the seedlings from heaving; if a supply
of moss cannot be obtained conveniently, dead leaves are used for the same
purpose. This covering is removed the next spring, as soon as the danger from
frost is over.

Seedlings are transplanted when one year old, as they grow better than when
left in the seed bed until they are two years old, and the transplanting is less
expensive. The seedlings are put into water when lifted from the seed bed to
prevent them from drying out in any degree whatever during the transfer. They
are set out in the transplant beds two and one half inches apart and in rows five
inches apart, just wide enough to permit the use of a hoe in weeding. They are
left in the transplant bed two years; but if they are to be used in a plantation
on grassy land they are held there one year more, or until they are four years old,

The nursery near Annathal has a rectangular area of 100 by 138 feet, sloping
slightly to the southeast. The natural soil is a fertile loam, enriched by a liberal
admixture with forest humus and supplemented annually with mineral fertilizers.

In the ground plan the beds are laid out sixty-five feet long and three and
one quarter feet wide. A walk, three feet in width, runs across the middle of
the plot and around its sides at the fence. Long paths, twenty-two in number and
a foot wide each, separate the beds, with one wide path down the middle.

The seedlings in the germination beds, one and two years old,* are in rows
running across the beds, the seed having been sown in furrows or depressed lines,
not broadcast over the entire surface as practiced in many European nurseries.
But the transplants are set out in rows running lengthwise of the beds, six rows
in a bed. The coniferous species propagated in this nursery consist entirely of
Norway spruce and Scotch pine. In a small portion of the enclosure there are some
thrifty broad-leaved plants— horse chestnut, European alder and speckled alder.

Another nursery, in an adjoining range on the road to Liebenstein, has an area
of 120 by 150 feet, and is situated on ground sloping to the south, where it is
bordered on that side by a clearing of ten acres or more. The other three sides
are closely hemmed in by a dense forest. The beds are three and one quarter by
fifty feet, containing five rows of plants, lengthwise, mostly Norway spruce.
Quite a large area, comparatively, is occupied by sycamore maples, three years old.

In making a forest plantation in Thuringia the transplants are set out by

women mostly, who work for one and one half marks per day of ten hours. The

® Seed beds are made each year.

224 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

plants are placed in the field at a cost of one pfennig each, including all incidental
expenses. They are planted at intervals of one meter, or 10,000 plants per hectare
—about 4,o00 per acre.

Most of the nurseries in the Thiiringer Wald are small, each with an area of
less than one acre. But at Ruhla there is a permanent one of two and one half
hectares (six and one quarter acres) planted entirely with Norway spruce. In
fertilizing, four centners (four hundred and forty pounds) of Thomasmehl and two
centners of kainit are used for one morgen or quarter hectare. After the seeds
have germinated in the seed beds ammoriated superphosphate is strewn between
the rows.

The seed is sowr by hand, about the end of May, in drills along the beds so
that the plants can be protected with moss in the late autumn. ‘The seed is sown
thickly. No screens are used. The seedlings stand in the seed beds until two
years old, when they are removed to other beds, where they remain two years

more. As a general rule, four-year-old transplants are used in making a plantation.

Prassia.

The forest at Friedrichsruh, near Hamburg, covers 18,750 acres, divided into
eight reviers. The eight nurseries necessary for the annual planting occupy, in all,
four hectares, or about ten acres of ground. One of the best of these is situated
about two miles from the railroad station at Friedrichsruh, in the Bismarck Forest,
a large tract of woodland presented to the German Chancellor by the government
in recognition of his services in the Franco-Prussian war.

This nursery has an enclosure of 200 by 150 feet, is on level ground and is
surrounded on all sides by an old forest, mostly beech, which comes close to the
fence.

The coniferous plants raised here are mostly rottanne, with a few beds of
Douglas spruce. About one fourth of the area is devoted to broad-leaf plants,
the greater part of which are pedunculate oak. There is no arrangement for
screening the seed beds to protect them from birds; but a stuffed hawk, perched
on a stake close by, seems to answer the same purpose to a satisfactory extent.

At the Revier Hohne, in the Hartz, temporary nurseries located in the center
of the planting ground are the rule. The soil, derived from granitic formations,
has a natural fertility that is sufficient for the propagation of plants; but if a plot
is used a second time, mineral fertilizers, of the kinds already described, are
applied, with some lime (£a/k) also in a few instances. Its elevation is only forty-
five feet above the sea. In both seed beds and transplant beds the rows run

lengthwise.

H. G. SIEVENS, FHOTO,

FOREST TREE NURSERY, NEAR FRIEDRICHSRUH, NORTH PRUSSIA.

H. G. STEVENS, PHOTO.

NURSERY FOR DECIDUOUS TREES, BISMARCK FOREST.

GERMAN FORESTERS IN UNIFORM.

FOREST NURSERIES AND NURSERY METHODS IN EUROPE. 225

As usual, in Northern Germany, spruce is cultivated almost exclusively, or to a
large extent. Seed, coated with lead-oxide, is thickly sown in the germinating beds
about the middle of May, in rows four and one half inches apart. Brush is not laid
on the beds, as this is considered unnecessary except as a protection from birds;
but moss is used to protect the seedlings during the winter. The latter is placed
on the beds in October and is not removed in the spring until the snow has melted.

Seedlings are usually left in the beds two years—or one year if very strong
and thrifty —and are then transplanted in rows six inches apart, where they remain
two years: but if the field where they are to be set out finally is covered with
grass the plants are given one year more in the nursery beds.

The Forest of Grabow, in Mecklenburg, belongs to the city. It has an area
of 6,470 acres. A forester (stadtfdrster) manages it; a hunter (stadtydger) protects
the game, and an overseer (forstaufseher) guards it against fire and trespass. The
overseers are not technically educated men, but are chosen from the ranks of
the workmen. The revenues are paid into the city treasury, after which the net
income is applied to the reduction of taxes. This custom is common in most
of the city and communal forests in Germany.

As the soil in the vicinity of Grabow is sandy, its forests consist almost
entirely of Scotch pine (Pimus sylvestris), a small area only being planted with
spruce (/%cea excelsa) and silver fir (Adzes pectinata). The broad-leaved trees also
occupy a small area, where the fertility of the soil may indicate their use. But
the soil is very poor, to a great extent consisting of a light colored sand which,
even when damp, will not cohere if squeezed in the hand.

The nursery is located at an altitude of 335 feet. In summer the temperature
rises as high as thirty-two degrees (Reaumur) in the sun, and twenty-four degrees
in the shade; in winter it falls as low as twenty degrees below zero, same
standard. Lhe winters, however, are mild. The first frost occurs about the
middle of November, and freezing weather is liable to last until the middle of

_April, with an occasional frost in May.

The seed for the nursery is generally purchased from commercial dealers,
mostly from a seed house in Darmstadt. The seed beds require a large amount
of mineral fertilizers, owing to the barrenness of the natural soil. For this pur-
pose the forester uses Thomas meal, sixteen per cent citrates, in quantities
of 880 pounds per hectare’(2™% acres); carnallite, about 2,200 pounds per hectare,
and slaked lime, 6,600 pounds per hectare. These compounds are mixed with fine
turf, scattered thickly over the ground in winter and in the following spring are
worked thoroughly into the soil. The turf is also strewn between the seedlings

in the second summer of their growth.

x

15

226 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

The Grabow nursery has an area of about half a hectare. The beds are laid
out forty inches wide, and of any convenient length. The sidepaths are one foot,
end paths thirty-two inches, and wagon roads ten feet in width.

The seed is sown from the fifth to the fifteenth of April, in rows about four
inches apart and so thickly that the grains touch one another in many places.
Sowing in. rows instead of broadcast is done to facilitate weeding. The seeds are
covered, about half a centimeter.deep, with natural soil, unfertilized, which is not
pressed down as dene elsewhere in many instances. Scotch pine is usually sown
first. No screens are used; but the beds are sprinkled daily in time of drought,
enough water being used to moisten the ground thoroughly.

scotch. pine us left in) the =seed beds fon one jyean only satten mw hich meric
seedlings of this species are sent to the plantations. If left in the seed beds
after they are one year old the crowded condition of the plants induces the fungal
growth known as ‘‘schitte.’ If, however, the plants are needed for a plantation
on grassy land, the seedlings are transplanted into the nursery beds, set out there
eight inches apart each way, and allowed to remain another year before their
removal to the field.

Bavarta.

The forests in the Spessart are composed so largely of oak and beech that in
this region the proportion of nurseries is not so large as elsewhere.

In the, Forstamt Hain the plots are about one eighth of an acre each in size.
In one of these, near the village of Hain, various coniferous species are grown —
white pine, Norway, spruce and larch predominating.

The method by which the beds are covered for winter is somewhat peculiar.
Green branches of silver fir are used for this purpose. The beds containing white
pine yearlings have each a pole fixed along the center at a height of one foot
above the ground. Long branches are laid against this, with their lower ends
resting on the paths between the beds. The white pine and Norway spruce,
two years old, have twigs laid between the rows. The Norway spruce, one year
old, is covered with the branches laid flat upon the bed, entirely covering it. The
larch is left uncovered through the winter.

The nursery lies almost level. It is protected from deer by a fence of woven
wire with a round top-rail, above which are two strands of barbed wire. In its
minor details the management is the same as that at most other nurseries
in Germany.

The methods prevailing in the various nurseries as described here will give a
fair idea of the technique employed. Further examples might be given, but they

would offer no additional information and would involve unnecessary repetition.

A. KNECHTEL, PHOTO.

WEEDING TRANSPLANT BEDS OF SCOTCH PINE.

THIS NURSERY BELONGS TO THE CITY OF GRABOW, MECKLENBURG.

A. KNECHTEL, PHOTO.

FOREST TREE NURSERY, GERMANY.

IN THE FOREGROUND ARE BEDS OF RED OAK SEEDLINGS, TWO YEARS OLD.
FOUR YEARS OLD.

IN THE BACKGROUND, SAME SPECIES,

4)

a

FOREST NURSERIES AND NURSERY METHODS IN EUROPE, 227

In General.

By way of summary it may be said that, in general, the following methods
are observed:

In locating a nursery no great importance is attached to the question of
exposure or slope, the site being selected with reference to reasons that are more
essential in connection with the management of the revier. Neither is the
altitude taken into consideration, as nurseries may be found everywhere, from
the low countries at sea level up to the mountain forests of the Apennines or
Vosges 3,000 feet above tide. The location may be determined by the nearness
of water, which may be needed for sprinkling the beds in time of drought, or for
irrigation. But the use of water is avoided as far as possible on account of the
extra expense, and because, as claimed by some, that when once resorted to it
must be continued.

Square or rectangular enclosures are generally made in order to secure a better
ground plan, regularity in the form of the beds, and to economize in fencing.

In nearly every instance the enclosure is closely surrounded by a high forest
that furnishes climatic protection to a great extent, although in a few localities
the foresters deem the shade from the trees as somewhat of a detriment. All
use carefully prepared or screened earth, free from gravel, stones and roots, to
which a liberal addition of compost or mineral fertilizers is made each year.

In making the ground plan long beds are preferred, with the rows of transplants
running lengthwise. But in many nurseries the seed beds are planted with cross-
rows to facilitate weeding. The broadcast method for sowing seed beds, however,
seems to be a favorite one. Where this is practiced the seeds are distributed
thickly and as evenly as possible over the surface of the bed, after which the top
earth is raked over carefully and smoothly to cover the seeds. Another method
consists in spreading a very thin layer of rich, fine earth over the seeds instead of
raking them under; and it is claimed that a more even catch is thus secured.

In order that the ground may attain the highest degree of fertility the forester
often suspends operations in his nursery at intervals of four or five years, and, after
the plants have been taken up, aliows the ground to lie fallow one season, as the
exposure to rain, frost and snow has a recuperative effect on the soil. Good
results are further obtained by using the ground one season for an agricultural
crop, in the cultivation of which manure is used; and there is in addition a
beneficial working or division of the soil

The size and number of the nurseries under any one management is propor-

tioned to the area of the plantations to be made. If two-year-old seedlings are

228 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

to be used in the fieldwork, set out at spaces of four feet each way, the nurseries
for this purpose have, as a general rule, a combined area equal to one per cent,
or less, of that of the planting grounds. Schlich says one half of one per cent.*
But if four-year-old transplants are to be used the nurseries must necessarily
have a larger area, one which in their aggregate will be equivalent to four per
cent of that of the plantations. This percentage, however, applies to coniferous
species only. Broad-leaf plants, which are usually set out at wider spaces, require
a much larger percentage of area for their propagation. An enclosure of two
acres, after setting apart enough ground for seed beds, will furnish each year
about 138,000 four-year-old transplants of coniferous species, the number varying
somewhat according to-the space allotted to paths and roadways.

A nursery may be permanent or temporary as forest conditions may require.
The latter is made in some instances merely to supply plants for some particular
locality, after which, being no longer necessary, it is abandoned. If the plot will
not be needed again for many years it is allowed to grow up to a young forest,
some of the taller and more promising transplants being left in the beds at
proper intervals for this purpose.

In most nurseries screens are used for protection against heat and frost and for
protection against birds; and the beds are covered during the winter with moss
or litter to prevent the seedlings from heaving. But the practice in these respects

varies with the species and according to the climate or soil.

Protection from Deer.

Although every nursery is surrounded by a fence or hedge to protect the stock
from the deer, there are often large areas just outside the enclosure, freshly
planted with four-year-olds, to which these animals have access. If the leaders on
the plants are cropped by deer or cattle, the young tree is retarded in growth
and is hable to become distorted in shape.

At a nursery in Thuringia a large area just outside the fence was recently
filled with five-year-old transplants of Norway spruce. ‘To prevent the deer from
nipping the leaders, for which these animals have a decided partiality, each plant
had a ‘sharp tin ‘euard bent around the tip, (See illustration.) 7 Rhese tims
before using are flat, one and three quarter inches long, one half an inch wide,
and notched into four points at the top edge. This strip of tin is bent into a
square, each side having a point, and slipped on the leader so that the points

project above the tip. They are bought by the thousand, and are placed on the

* Schlich’s Manual of Forestry. Vol. II, p. 99.

FOREST NURSERIES AND NURSERY METHODS IN EUKOPE. . 229

plants at a merely nominal expense. As a deer nips at the leader first instead of
the side shoots, its sensitive nose receives a pricking that induces the animal to
desist immediately from further effort.

This device has proved very effective. But the tins fall off in time, become
rusty, and when the barefooted women and children who work in the nurseries
and plantations step on one of them lockjaw is
liable to ensue. Deaths from this cause have
occurred so frequently that some foresters will
no longer permit) them “use. “A> forstmeister at
Eisenach, who deprecated their use strongly,
secures protection for his plants by painting the

leader on each with a mixture in which beef’s

blood forms a large component, the putrid odor

1 1 “ 1 a Shape.of tin guard before using. It is bent
o h pe.of tin g
pro Villa als efficacious and as repulsi WE TO thie squarely at the places indicated by Hottedtlines

Ps : 9 before placing it on the tip of the leader.
nose of the deer as the sharp-pointed tin. Small Fe aa z

wads of cotton or tow tied to the terminal buds are also used by some foresters
to protect young plants, but this method requires so much time in affixing the

material that it is regarded generally as expensive and impractical.

Commercial Narserics.

The commercial nurseries in Germany are remarkable for their great areas,
intelligent management and economical methods. Their annual output of plants and
seedlings is figured in millions—many millions*—and their superior advantages
enable them to supply, at a profit, the demand from forest reviers, and also from
the smaller nurseries in Europe and America, the proprietors of which prefer to
buy their seedlings instead of operating seed beds themselves. ‘These commercial
nurseries are well worth the careful attention and personal observation of any
one who is interested in this branch of silvics.

The principal nurseries of this class are located at Halstenbek, in Holstein,
and at Knittelsheim (railroad station at Bellheim), in the Rheinpfalz. The former
is near the city of Hamburg, and the Amarican forestry student who crosses the
ocean on the Hamburg line will find Halstenbek a convenient place to visit in
pursuing his studies. The latter is not far from the northern part of the Black

Forest, and is easily reached from there.

* The advertising circular of one firm this year showing the number of plants of each species
for sale indicates a stock on hand of 56,959,000 seedlings and transplants.

230 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

There are several firms at Halstenbek engaged in this business one of them
having 200 acres or more laid out in beds, or large plots without paths, with an
annual product of several million plants. They supply the managers of State,
communal and private forests who have no nurseries of their own, or who find
that they can purchase their plants cheaper than they can propagate them on
their own reviers, or who may need an extra supply at times in addition to that
raised on their own land. Shipments are also made to America, both to foresters
and nurserymen. The latter import one and two year old seedlings, and set them
out in their nurseries.

A visit to the commercial nurseries of Germany, and an observation of their
immense annual output, will give some idea of the great extent which the planting
of artificial forests has attained throughout Europe. It indicates clearly the prac-
tical value of the system and commands the attention of American foresters, who
will find in it a good precedent for similar work at home.

A notable feature of the business at these places is their large sales of two-
year-old seedlings and three-year-old transplants. The demand for four-year-old
transplants is comparatively small, due largely to the extra price and greater expense
of packing and freight.

The three-year-old plants may be seedlings, or yearlings that, having been
transplanted, remained two years in the beds; or, two-year-old seedlings that were
taken up and given one year in the transplant beds.

The prices of coniferous plants at the commercial nurseries, delivered free on

board cars at the nearest railway station, are about as follows:

SPECIES. Age, years. Inches. Per roco.
White pine, once transplanted 4 8 to 15 $2 75
White spruce, once transplanted 4 8 to 16 2 50
Norway spruce, once transplanted . 4 ro to 18 2 50
White pine, once transplanted 3 4 to 6 I 75
Norway spruce, once transplanted . 3 6 to 12 1 75
Douglas spruce, once transplanted . 3 8 to 16 5 50
Larch, once transplanted . a 16 to 22 4 50
Scotch pine, once transplanted 2 4 to 125
White pine seedlings 2 3 to I 50
Larch seedlings . 2 6 to 15 2 00
Norway spruce seedlings 2 4 to 12 75
Douglas spruce seedlings . 2 br tome 3 00
Scotch pine seedlings I | Aiko 3 50

A. KNECHTEL, PHOTO.

COMMERCIAL NURSERY, HALSTENBEK, HOLSTEIN.

NOTE THE HEDGES OF WHITE CEDAR, TO SCREEN THE BEDS FROM WIND.

A. KNECHTEL, PHOTO.

BED OR WV PEN eh OURS YES WRS OLD DRAINS PIS ANdL ED).

COMMERCIAL NURSERY, GERMANY.

anaes
“a

FOREST NURSERIES AND NURSERY METHODS IN EUROPE. 231

For large orders (50,000 to 100,000) a satisfactory discount is made from the
above figures; but the price-lists of the nurserymen vary at times, influenced by a
surplus stock or scarcity of the particular species quoted. The plants, wrapped in
damp moss, are packed for shipment in large baskets, or in crates constructed
of open willow-work, and an extra charge is made for packing and packages. On
shipments to the United States there is a tariff of twenty-five per cent ad valorem,
which together with the freight and the risk in transportation—the long time
in which the plants are packed—renders an importation a somewhat doubtful
expedient.

The methods employed in the commercial nurseries are substantially the same
as in the nurseries belonging to the forest reviers; but more attention is paid
to minor details. The supply of seed, however, is purchased from salesmen instead
of collecting it from the forest. The seeds of all needle-trees are kept during winter
in sacks, stored in a cool place, but the seed is not mixed with sand as advised in
some textbooks. The sowing is done in April and May.

The Halstenbek nurseries are on level ground, at an altitude of only thirty-two
feet above tide. The seed beds are made of black soil—a good loam that will
not fall apart if pressed in the hand. Manure from the streets of Hamburg is
used largely as a fertilizer, and it is scattered over the ground in winter.

The seed beds are mostly four feet wide and about sixty-five feet long.
Broadcast sowing is the rule, in order to obtain a fuller utilization of the soil.
If the seeds when tested show a high percentage of germination, they are sown
so that the grains lie about one quarter of an inch apart; if the seed is poor it is
sown more thickly. The coniferous plants are not screened; but in time of
drought the beds are sprinkled, some of the nurseries having installed an irriga-
tion plant for this purpose.

White pine, Norway spruce, balsam (Adzes balsamea) and silver fir are left in
the seed beds until two years old; sometimes the firs are left still another year.
Scotch pine can be left in the seed bed only one year with safety, as the plants
are liable to suffer from ‘‘schiitte,” a fungous disease that is developed in this
species by the crowded condition of the seedlings in the second year.

White pine and Norway spruce, when transplanted, are set two inches apart
in the row, if the plants are to remain there only one year; but they must be
placed farther apart if they are to remain a longer time in order to permit of
their increased growth. The rows are made with spaces of six inches between
them, or wider if the plants are to stand there two years. These simple
requirements must be observed in order to secure thrifty plants and to avoid

crowding in the beds.

232 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

Scotch pine yearlings, when transplanted, are placed two and a half inches
apart in the row, and the rows are laid out ten inches apart. This wide spacing
of the rows is to prevent any loss from schiitte. If this species is given another
year in the nursery the plants must be transplanted again and given more space
for growth.*

In Germany Scotch pine is generally taken directly to the forest plantations
when the seedlings are one year old. If they are to be set out on grassy land,
however, they are allowed the benefit of one year first in a transplant bed; and
if the grass is thick or apt to overshadow them too much, they are transplanted
twice.

From the Halstenbek nurseries white pine is often sent to the forest when two
years old, untransplanted; or three years old, once transplanted, if they are to
to be used on grass land. It is claimed by the commercial nurserymen that this
species grows too slim and that the root system is poorly developed if left in
the seed bed more than two years.

Douglas spruce, balsam fir (Adzes concolor) and silver fir are protected. from
frost for the first two years by mats made of coarse reeds supported by long
poles laid along the beds on stakes one foot in height. The Douglas spruce is
protected from the wind by hedges, for which purpose white cedar is planted at
one side of the beds. These hedges are used to considerable extent at Halstenbek,
although they are not essential to the growth of other species. They also serve
to shelter the workmen from the cold winds prevalent there in spring and fall.

The seeds of most of the broad-leaved trees are sown in March and April; but
the seeds of basswood, ash and thorn are kept in ‘‘seed-chests” eighteen months
before planting. These seed-chests are compartments made of brick, with an
inside measurement of thirty-nine inches in length, twenty inches in width, and
twenty inches high. They are placed out doors, partly below the surface of the
ground, in rows of ten, each row surrounded by a thick hedge of white cedar.
The seeds stored in them are usually mixed with sand, although this is not
deemed essential, and a mat made of straw is laid over them. With this treat-
ment the seeds when planted germinate and come up quickly, usually in two
weeks.

In the propagation of deciduous species, beds are made about the same as for
the needle-trees, and the seeds are sown in rows lengthwise with the bed, seven

rows in each. The drills or depressed grooves are made with a machine; but

* While this treatment of Scotch pine may be necessary at Halstenbek to prevent disease, in
American nurseries this species is left in the seed beds two years, and in the transplant beds two
or three years with perfect safety, no matter how closely the seeds may be sown or the transplants
placed.

A. KNECHTEL, PHOTO,

WEEDING TRANSPLANT BEDS.

COMMERCIAL NURSERY, GERMANY.

A. KNECHTEL, PHOTO.

LARGE BEDS OF NORWAY SPRUCE, FOUR YEARS OLD, ONCE TRANSPLANTED.

COMMERCIAL NURSERY, GERMANY,

FOREST NURSERIES AND NURSERY METHODS IN EUROPE. 233

the seed is sown and covered by hand. The rows are seven inches apart,
but after one year the alternate rows are taken out. The seeds are sown
thickly, so that the plants will stand about four inches apart.

Needle-plants are shipped in large cylindrical baskets— Scotch pine, one year
old, 15,000 in a basket; white pine, one year old 30,000; two years, 10,000; three
years, 7,000; and Norway spruce, two years, 15,000: three years, 8,000. Paper is
laid in the basket, on the bottom and around the sides, next to which is placed
a layer of moss. A bunch of straw is then placed vertically in the center of the
basket. The plants, which are tied into small bundles before taking them from
the field, are placed in the basket with their tops towards the outside. From the
center to the side of the basket three circular rows of bundles can be placed,
which, however, overlap each other at one end like the shingles on a roof. Each
layer of bundles is covered with loose turf before the next layer is put into the
basket. The bunch of straw standing in the center permits the escape of heat,
the paper prevents the escape of moisture, while the moss and turf hold the
water that supplies the necessary moisture during transportation.

When a shipment is to be made the plants are lifted from the beds during
the day, tied in small bundles and each bundle buried lightly in the earth, this
work being done usually by women. Then in the evening the bundles are gathered
and hauled to a cellar where they are packed in baskets the next day for ship-
ment. Two men pack from 3,000, 000 to 4,000,000 plants (one and two years old)
in a day. The baskets are then weighed, loaded on wagons and hauled to the
railroad station, which at Halstenbek is close by the nurseries. Broad-leaf trees
are put up in large bundles and wrapped in straw for shipment, the roots covered
with burlap. The proprietor of a large commercial nursery at Knittelsheim, in his
instructions to purchasers, says:

‘Plants should be taken from the railway station promptly after their arrival.
If they cannot be planted immediately they should be heeled in, care being taken
that the roots are properly covered with earth. During transportation, whether
on the railroad or on the delivery wagons, the plants should be covered with
straw or otherwise sheltered from the sun and winds. If, on account of frosty —
weather, they cannot be set out immediately, they should be put in a cellar in
upright position close together. Plants which arrive in a heated condition, as some-
times happens with Scotch pine, should be treated the same way. Immediate
watering while stored in damp cellars. must be avoided, or the roots will become
rotten; and in no case should frozen plants be put in a warm room. It is also
dangerous to hold a Scotch pine yearling in the hand longer than necessary, as

the warmth will affect it unfavorably. Shortening the roots will, in most cases,

234 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

promote a better development of the fibrous growth. A sharp knife should
be used, and a downward cut made. In trimming transplants it is sufficient to
shorten the root-hairs merely and to remove the dead ones. Transplants cost
more than seedlings; but, in most cases, it is false economy to buy the latter,
for transplants are stronger, have a better root system, and are more able to

withstand all unfavorable influences.”

Commercial Seedsmen.

In all nurseries, whether commercial or otherwise, a supply of good seed is an
important matter. To a great extent the commercial nurseries, and many of the
forest nurseries as well, obtain their seed from dealers who make a specialty
of collecting, preparing and storing forest-tree seed in large quantities. Mercantile
houses that deal in seeds only may be found in most any of the principal cities
of Europe. Having superior facilities, through specialized work for carrying on
this business they are able to offer better seed and at lower prices than the
nursery managers can collect it.

Seeds of the principal coniferous species can be bought from any of the large
seed houses in Europe at the following rates, subject to variation at times caused

by a scarcity or plenty of some particular kind:

Per pound.
Wihhite-poimie aye" aoNe ama epee iote s,s cy ean iar eye is aE 2AOs
SCOLC HU OIG N sy Aare eae OMe Mach tes iss rt iran es et la. AR 57
NOMA y: \SPEUCE ye eu treie aey a sr sega emt le Ue ee 23
Silver fir F/T aed So RS ele JD ae Suet sane oh hac) ne cele a 14
European larch cro a AMR ee peeee MI aie lec a cay foward Alcea A ane aa 35

Seeds that show a very high percentage of germination may command a slightly
higher price.

Their houses in which the cones of the needle-trees are dried and the seed
extracted are each furnished with a specially devised apparatus. In some of them
the heat is regulated by electricity in order to secure a more even temperature and
thereby avoid any overheating of the cones, which would destroy the germi-
nating quality of the seeds. They also have special facilities for cleaning, drying
and storing seed; and in every detail the methods employed are based on long
experience in this special work.

In any of these seed houses may be seen some kind of device or apparatus for

testing the vitality of seeds and their percentage of germination, an important

FOREST NURSERIES AND NURSERY METHODS IN EUROPE. 235

item in the business. Still, in order to satisfy customers, official tests are also
obtained by prominent dealers. A seed house in Knittelsheim advertises that its
collections are tested for ‘‘ purity and germination” by the ‘‘Swiss Control Office

’

for the Examination of Seeds,” at Zurich, Switzerland.

Foresters who gather seed for use in their own nurseries have various well-
known tests of a simple character to determine its value. But there are several
government stations to which samples of stock may be sent to be tested and to
determine the percentage of germination. The principal ones are located at
“berswalde and Tharandt, in Germany; Zurich, in Switzerland, and Mariabrunn,
in Austria.

These official tests enable the nursery manager to avoid any loss caused by sowing
worthless grains, to protect himself against fraud on the part of unscrupulous
dealers and to determine the quantity that should be sown.

If a report is needed immediately from the station, a number of seeds are cut
open and examined for color, plumpness, taste, odor, etc. For example, the
kernel of the beech and the chestnut, if all right, is white and very pleasant
to the taste; that of the oak is reddish white; the maple, green; the ash, white
and waxy; pine, white with a strong odor of turpentine. Coniferous seeds are
crushed with the finger nail upon a piece of white paper, upon which a good seed
leaves an oily stain.

If time permit the seeds may be actually germinated. The larger sorts, such
as the oak seeds, are placed in vessels filled with earth, covered the proper depth,
kept moist and at a temperature favorable to germination. Conifer seeds are
placed between folds of flannel which are dipped into water kept at a medium
temperature. There are also several forms of porous vessels made specially for
such tests.

It is hoped that the descriptions given in the foregoing pages, together with
the illustrations accompanying them, may be useful in calling public attention
to the practical value of planted forests. In America the reforesting of denuded
lands by artificial means— the formation of planted forests—is a question that
sooner or later will confront our foresters. The student, on graduating from a
forestry school, should supplement his course of study with a trip abroad in
order to see the plantations there and the nurseries which are an indispensable

adjunct to this particular system of forestry.

Birds as Conservators of the Porcst
IS vg sy lee eal eNO

HE enemies of the forest may be roughly grouped in three categories —
a vegetable enemies, such as fungi and bacteria; invertebrated animals,
mostly insects; and, lastly, vertebrates. These will include birds, mice,
rabbits, etc., and, most destructive of all, man. Of the three groups, the second is
by far the worst in its effects, and is the most difficult to combat. There is prob-
ably not a single species of land plant which does not have an insect enemy that
preys upon it, and most of them have several, while the trees of the forest
furnish food for a legion. In the Fifth Report of the United States Entomological
Commission, over 400 species of insects are recorded as preying upon the oak,
and the opinion is expressed that this number is far below what are actually in
existence. In the same work the elm is said to have about 80 species which feed
upon it, the hickory 170, the locust 41, the maples 100, the birch 105, the willow 186
and the pine 165, and in each case the list is confessedly incomplete.

On this point Dr. Hopkins has said:

““The results of investigations lead to the conclusion that the annual loss from
insect work on forest trees, and their crude and finished products, amounts to at
least one hundred million dollars.

‘No period in the life history of a tree is exempt from insect attack, and
every part, from the smallest roots to the terminal buds, leaves, flowers and fruit,
may be infested by one or many species. The seed in the ground, the tender
shoots of both roots and stems, and the young seedling, to the matured tree,
may all be attacked by special enemies which injure or destroy different parts or
the entire plant. In fact, living, diseased, dead, or decaying, a tree may be the
home of hundreds of species and thousands of individuals of insect life.” +

From these considerations it may be seen at once how important any agency
must be which will in any considerable degree reduce or restrain this great army

of tree destroyers.

* Biological Survey, U. S. Dept. Agr.

+ From Lecture on Forest’ Insects and Their Destructive Work; by Dr. A. D. Hopkins, in
charge of Forest Insect Investigations, Bureau of Entomology, U. S. Dept. Agr.

236

BIRDS AS CONSERVATORS OF THE FOREST. 237

Birds that Destroy Insects.

One very important means which Nature has provided for the restriction of
these pests within reasonable bounds is found in the insect-eating birds, many
species of which spend the most of their lives upon trees, and subsist upon the
insects found thereon. The insectivorous habits of birds have been matters of
common observation for centuries, but their scientific demonstration has been
reserved for more modern times. The examination of birds’ stomachs has shown
that nearly all of the smaller species, and many of the larger ones, such as the
crow, subsist largely upon insects in the summer time, while rearing their young,
and, as a general rule, all the small birds feed their nestlings on this food no
matter what the adults may eat. It is perhaps unnecessary to say that birds do
not select their food with any special reference to the good or harm they may
be doing to man, and those persons who expect to find in them a series of
beneficent organisms wisely designed to do a certain amount of good and no
harm are doomed to disappointment.

In the selection of their food, birds are either guided by their natural tastes
or driven by a blind necessity, and it may be stated as a general rule that each
species eats that kind of food which it finds by its own special method of
foraging —that is, a flycatcher eats such insects as it catches in midair, and
blackbirds and other terrestrial species such as they find upon the ground, while
cuckoos, woodpeckers, and titmice gather their food mostly from trees. It does
not follow, however, that birds eat all the insects which are found in their own
peculiar haunts, but when they have a special method of their own they rarely
abandon it for any other.

To what extent birds are guided by a natural taste in their selection of food
is a point which is far from being settled. Whether a bird will pass by an
abundant supply of insects in order to secure others that are more to its taste is
a question which, aside from its biological interest, has an important bearing
upon the economic side of ornithology. This problem can not be solved by
stomach examination alone, but requires also patient and delicate field observation,
combined with a thorough knowledge of the available food supply of the locality
under consideration.

Some insects are supposed to be especially protected from birds by color, smell
or taste, but stomach examinations have seemed to demonstrate that such devices
are of but little use when brought in opposition to the keen senses and sharp
appetites of their feathered enemies. The same method of investigation has

shown that protective coloration is not so potent a factor in saving insects from

238 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

destruction by birds as many writers have supposed. Many species that have a
disgusting odor, and rank, acrid taste, were formerly thought to be protected
by these means, but it is found that these insects often form a very important
percentage of the food of birds, and are eaten to some extent by nearly all
insectivorous species.

In seeking for food, birds destroy useful insects as well as harmful ones; and
while in many cases this is to be deplored, yet in the long run the birds are doing
a good service by this indiscriminate destruction. Investigation. and observation
have furnished grounds for the belief that the true function of the insectivorous
birds is to reduce the too crowded ranks of insect life as a whole, rather than to
prey upon this or that particular pest, although this may be a very welcome
service. If birds ate only harmful vegetable-eating insects, the predaceous species,
which also prey upon them, would have their food supply reduced, and as it is
well-known that many of them can and do feed to some extent upon vegetable
matter, they might in their search for food attack some valuable products of the
farm, orchard, or forest, and so in their turn become as great a pest as was their
former prey. The woodpeckers feed largely upon woodboring grubs, the cukoos
and orioles subsist upon caterpillars, all of which are practically harmful insects,
while the flycatchers prey to a great extent upon parasitic Hymenoptera, which
would otherwise live upon the grubs and caterpillars, so that these groups of birds
complement each other in their food habits, the one devouring the pests upon
which the prey of the other would have subsisted.

While many birds belonging to various families gain their living largely from
tree-infesting insects, there are some families of which every species practically
lives upon trees, and subsist upon the insects or other food which they find there.
At the head of these may be placed the family of woodpeckers (Picidae) and fol-
lowing these, but scarcely inferior in rank of usefulness, are the titmice (Paridae),
the creepers (Certhiidae), the kinglets (Silviidae), the vireos (Vireonidae), and the
wood warblers (Mniotiltidae). To these may be added certain species of wrens,
orioles, flycatchers and swallows, of which many species subsist to a very consider-
able extent upon arboreal insects. In the following pages all references to the
contents of birds’ stomachs, unless otherwise stated, are based on examinations
made by the writer.

THE WOoopPECKERS.

Among birds which decidedly affect the welfare of the forest the family of
woodpeckers probably takes the lead. Of these there are about forty-five species
and subspecies that are found within the limits of the United States, all of

which are of decidedly economic importance. The value of their work in dollars

ING

Vo

Lu

Lu

BIRDS AS CONSERVATORS OF THE FOREST. 239

and cents is difficult of determination, but careful study has brought out much of
practical importance by ascertaining approximately to what degree each species
is harmful or helpful in its relation to the forests. Their subsistence is obtained
for the most part upon trees, a mode of life for which they are specially adapted.
The character of the feet and tail enables them to cling easily to upright trunks,
and the structure of the bill and tongue gives them the power to cut into solid
wood and withdraw the insects lodged within. The toes are in pairs, one pair
projecting forward and the other backward, and are furnished with very strong,

sharp claws, an arrangement which insures a firm hold upon the bark. The tail is

Fic. 2.—Special development of tongues of woodpeckers: a, skull

Fic. r—Tongues of woodpeckers: © of flicker (Colaptes auratus). Showing root of tongue extending to
a, hyoid of flicker (Colapzes auratus); tip of bill (after Lindahl); 4, head of hairy woodpecker (Dryodsates
6, tip of tongue of downy wood- villosus), showing root of tongue curving around eye (after Audu-
pecker (Dryobates pubescens). bon).

composed of very strong feathers, each with a sharp, stiff point at the end, which
can be pressed against the tree trunk, and thus made to support and steady the
bird. The beak is rather long, but stout, with a chisel-shaped point which is
hardened and sharpened so as to render it a most effective wood-cutting instru-
ment. The tongue, which is the most peculiar portion of the anatomy of these
birds, is extended backward by two slender, flexible filaments of the hyoid bone,
each incased in a muscular sheath (Fig. 1,a). These filaments, instead of ending
at the back of the mouth, curve up over the back of the skull, across the top of the
head, and down on the forehead (Fig. 2, b), and in some species enter the opening
of the right nostril and extend forward to the end of the beak (Fig. 2, a). In the

last case the tongue is practically twice as long as the head. By means of its sur-

240 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

rounding muscular sheath, the tongue can be protruded from the bird’s mouth
a considerable portion of its length, and can thus be inserted into the burrows of
wood-boring larvae. In order to secure grubs or other insects, it is usually fur-
nished with a sharp point and is barbed on the sides (Fig. 1, b). It is evident
that a bird possessing such an apparatus must be capable of doing work which less
advantageously endowed species can not accomplish. Hence, while most birds
content themselves with eating such insects as they find upon the surface, wood-
peckers seek those larvae or grubs which are beneath the bark, or even in the
very heart of the tree. To render more effective the mechanism here described,
these birds are gifted with a remarkably acute sense of hearing, by which to
locate their prey within the wood. That they do so with great accuracy is proved
by examination of their work, which shows that they cut small holes directly to the
burrows of the grubs.

ce

The name ‘‘sapsucker”’ has been applied to two or three of the smaller kinds
of woodpeckers, in the belief that they subsist to a great extent upon the juice of
trees obtained from small holes which they peck in the bark. There can be little
doubt that one species, the yellow-bellied woodpecker (Sphyrapicus varius), does live
to a great extent upon this sap. Observation does not show that other species have
the same habit, but it 1s a difficult point to decide by dissection, as fluid contents
disappear quickly from the stomach. The rings of punctures often seen around
the trunks of trees are certainly the work of the sapsucker, though sometimes
attributed to the downy and hairy woodpeckers. It is true, however, that wood-
peckers sometimes do serious harm by removing large areas of the outer bark from
trunks of trees, but this work has been definitely fixed upon the sapsucker alone.
It is supposed that the object is to get at the mucilaginous layer called cambium,
lying just inside of the bark, and from which both bark and wood are formed.
Except in the case of this one species, stomach examination does not bear out
this view, since cambium, if present at all, was in such small quantities as to be
of no practical importance. The yellow-bellied woodpecker, however, is evidently
fond of this substance, for the stomachs of this species were found to contain it
in very considerable quantities. Moreover, as the true cambium is a soft and easily
digested substance, it is probable that what is usually found in the stomach is
only the outer and harder part, which therefore represents a much larger quantity.

Among the insects which enter into the diet of the woodpeckers the most
important are the larvae of the woodboring beetles belonging to the families of
longicorns (Cerambycidae), and the metallic woodborers (Buprestidae), with some
woodboring caterpillars, the larvae of carpenter moths (Cosiidae), or the clear

winged moths (Sesiidae). During all seasons of the year these larvae constitute

BIRDS AS CONSERVATORS OF THE FOREST. 241

a remarkably constant element of the food of most species of woodpeckers, which
from their peculiar physical conformation are able to secure them though concealed
in the solid wood, and in this way protected from the attacks of other birds.
Stomach examinations show that with some species very few days pass when they do
not get at least one meal of this kind of food. Besides these larvae many adult
beetles of the same families are also taken, as weil as others which prey upon trees,
such as the engravers (Scolytidae) and some of the leaf-eaters (Chrysomelidae).

The ants are another family of insects that prey upon trees and do great dam-
age. When a tree has been damaged by woodboring larvae, and these have been
destroyed by woodpeckers, a colony of ants will generally occupy the vacant burrow,
which they at once enlarge and extend till in course of time, as the colony increases,
the whole trunk is riddled. Upon these the woodpeckers bring to bear the same
tactics that were used in dislodging the woodboring grubs. The ants are dug out
and devoured, and examination of the stomachs of many individuals of several
species of these birds shows that they constitute a very considerable element of
their food. Many stomachs contained nothing else, and, like the woodboring grubs,
they form an almost daily article of diet. They are eaten in all stages—eggs,
larvae, pupae, and adults, and all of these forms may sometimes be found in a
single stomach.

Besides the direct injury which the ants cause to the trunks of trees, they are
indirectly responsible for a good deal of mischief to the foliage done by the plant-
lice (Aphides), which they distribute and protect. The relation of the ants to the
plant-lice is quite like that of a dairyman to his cows. In fact, a French writer
upon popular natural history has spoken of the ant as ‘‘the little black milkmaid,
who pastures her green cows in the meadow of a rose leaf.” This is a graphic, if
somewhat fanciful, picture of the relations of ants and plant-lice, but unfortunately
the black milkmaid does not limit her pasture to the rose leaf meadows. There are
comparatively few plants which do not suffer to some extent from the ravages of
plant-lice, and many forest trees seem to be especially subject to their attacks.
Ants protect these lice from harm, and when the plant on which they are feeding is
exhausted, carry them to fresh pastures and in some cases actually build shelters
over them. Besides destroying the ants the woodpeckers eat many of the plant-lice.

Bark-lice, or scales (Coccidae), are also eaten quite extensively by the smaller
species of woodveckers, and as these creatures are very difficult to distinguish after
they have been partially digested, it is probable that more of them are really
taken than are credited to the birds. Many insects’ eggs are eaten by the smaller
woodpeckers, more especially those of the tent caterpillars (Malacosoma), which are
found during the fall and winter months.

16

242 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

THe Downy Woopprecxker (Dryobates pubescens).

This little woodpecker is the smallest of all those inhabiting the United States.
It is also one of the most familiar, being a frequent visitor to the shade trees
about houses and parks, while its fondness for orchards is well known. It is, how-
ever, no stranger to the forest, where it often nests, and in the winter season
may be frequently met in a mixed company of chickadees, creepers, nuthatches and
kinglets, with whom it seems to be on the most amicable terms. It is moreover
so quiet and unobtrusive in its movements that the first notice one has of its
presence is perhaps a gentle tapping or scratching on the limb of a tree within
one or two yards of one’s head, where our diminutive friend has discovered a
decayed spot inhabited by woodboring larvae or ants.

About 300 stomachs of this bird have been examined by the United States
Department of Agriculture and found to contain about 75 per cent of animal food
to 25 of vegetable. The animal matter practically consisted entirely of insects and
their allies, and was made up of beetles, both adult and larval, ants, bugs, flies,
caterpillars and grasshoppers, with a few spiders and myriapods. The relative
proportions of these elements, however, differ widely. Beetles and their larvae
constitute nearly one-third of the animal food—z24 per cent—and the greater part of
these were woodboring species or those which are acknowledged to be the worst
enemies to forest trees. Cerambycid and Buprestid larvae, as well as the engraver
beetles (Scolytidae), are such constant elements of the food that they were found in
almost every stomach, and in some were the only contents. If to these we add the
caterpillars (16 per cent of the whole food), all of which were tree feeders, and
most of them borers, we have the total of 40 per cent, or over half of the animal
food, made up of these enemies of the forest. The American tent caterpillar (J7Zad-
cosoma americana), a notorious pest to both orchard and forest trees, was found in
many of the stomachs. Some other beetles besides the woodborers are also eaten
by the downy woodpecker. Over 50 specimens of Dorytomus mucidus, one of the
snout beetles or weevils, and a species which subsists on trees, were taken from
one stomach.

Ants enter the diet of the downy to nearly the same extent as beetles, viz, 23
per cent of the entire food. These are largely species of the genus Camponotus,
which inhabit the interior of the more or less solid wood, and constantly enlarge
their quarters by extending their galleries in all directions. Other of the species
upon which they feed are those that protect and care for the plant-lice, with many
that get their living in various ways.

Bugs (Hemiptera) are represented in the downy’s diet by several families, but

BIRDS AS CONSERVATORS OF THE FOREST. 243

most notably by plant-lice and scale insects. The former constitute 4 per cent
of the year’s food, but as they can only be found during the warmer portion of
the year, they amount to quite a considerable percentage of the food for those
months. Moreover, it must be borne in mind that these soft-bodied creatures
are so soon reduced to an unrecognizable pulp in the stomach it is probable that
many more are eaten than were positively identified. Scale insects (Coccidae) were
also eaten, and several stomachs were entirely filled with them, but lke the
plant-lice, they are difficult to determine after digestion has somewhat progressed,

so that it is probable many were overlooked. |

Tue Hairy Wooppecxer (Dryobates vzllosus).

The hairy woodpecker is as common as the downy in most parts of the United
States, and to the ordinary observer is only to be distinguished by its greater size,
as its colors and markings are very nearly the same. The hairy is a noisier bird,
however, and usually makes its presence known by loud calls and other obtrusive
behavior, such as rapid flights from tree to tree. Besides the general resemblance
of the two birds there is also a remarkable similarity in their food habits, as
shown by the contents of their stomachs. The greatest difference is that the hairy
eats a somewhat smaller percentage of ants than does the downy. From an exam-
ination of 172 stomachs the relative proportions of animal and vegetable food were
found to be about 74 per cent of the former to 26 ot the latter.

Beetles, both adult and larval, constitute 24 per cent of all the food, or more
than one third of the animal matter. As is the case with the downy, these beetles
are mostly woodboring species dug out of the solid wood by the sharp chisel of the
bird. Larvae of both the great woodboring families Cerambycidae and Bupresti-
dae were identified in most of the stomachs. From one stomach 1 adult and 70
larval Cerambycids were taken; from another, 100 larvae; and 50 and 25 respectively
were taken from two others. These are samples of what this bird is doing in
the work of forest preservation. But it also eats other beetles which prey upon
the trees; tog individuals of Dorytomus mucidus, the snout beetle, that was eaten
so freely by the downy, were found in one stomach of the hairy, with 63 in another
and less numbers in several others. Another interesting insect found in the stomach
of this bird was Polygraphus rufipennis, a destructive enemy of the pine tree.
Another stomach contained several specimens of Yowcus caelatus, another pest of
the forest.

Caterpillars amount to 21 per cent of the diet of the hairy woodpecker, and are

mostly of the woodboring species, and are all enemies to forest trees. Ants do

244 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION:

not constitute so large an element of food with this bird'as they do with the downy.
Only 17 per cent were found as a total of the year’s consumption, but these were
mostly of the genus Campanotus, which lives in the more or less decayed parts of
trees, from which the woodpeckers can alone dislodge them. Plant-lice and scales
were found in a few stomachs, and in several the latter constituted the whole
contents.

One point to be especially noted in regard to the food habits of the two birds
just considered is that the relative proportion of animal and vegetable foods in
their diet varies but little from month to month throughout the year. Most
birds that live on the same range through the whole year are found to subsist on
insect food during the warmer months, but in winter, when these are not easily
obtained, they change to a vegetable diet, such as seed, mast, etc. This, however,
is not the case with the two birds under discussion. While the animal food which
they consume does vary to some extent from month to month, there is no decided
increase in the warmer season or decrease in winter. This is evidently owing to
the fact that so large a proportion of the food consists of woodboring larvae, which
can be found in their burrows at all seasons, and which the birds prefer to dig
out rather than subsist upon other food which may be more abundant or more
easily obtained. It is this very marked preference for wood boring larvae, shown by
the amount of hard labor they are willing to undertake in order to get them, that

gives these birds their great value as conservators of the forest.

Tue THREE-TOED WoopPEcKERS (Pecozdes arctecus and P. americanus).

The two species of three-toed woodpeckers are so much alike in their food as
well as in their general habits that they may be considered together, as they eat
almost identically the same food and in the same proportions. ‘They are both found
only in the northern portions of the country. They breed to some extent in the
northern tier of New England States, and some of those farther west, but even
there they are most abundant during winter. They are eminently forest-haunting
birds, and live in and gain their livelihood from trees. Like the hairy and downy
woodpeckers, their principal food consists of wood-inhabiting coleopterous and
lepidopterous larvae-— that is, grubs and caterpillars that bore into trees and
fallen logs.

An examination of a number of their stomachs shows that more than nine-
tenths of their food consists of animal matter, and that more than four-fifths of this
is made up of these destructive woodborers. The remainder is composed of ants, a

few engraver beetles and some scales. As with the hairy and downy woodpeckers,

BIRDS AS CONSERVATORS OF THE FOREST. 245

their diet varies but little with the season. In the dead of winter, when all
insect life is apparently at a standstill, these birds still demand and obtain their
daily fill of their favorite meat. Flies and bees no longer sport in the sunshine,
butterflies and flowers are replaced by sleet and snow, the beetles are either dead
or snugly ensconced in some crevice in the bark, awaiting the return of warmth,
while the larvae repose in their burrows of solid wood, apparently safe from all
disturbance. But undaunted by any degree of cold and undeterred by any amount
of labor our intrepid little friends tear open the secure retreats in the bark, or
chisel into the more solid wood, and drag forth the luckless insects to certain
destruction.

In the Report on Forest Insects by the United States Entomological Commis-
sion, some twenty-five species of Cerambycid and Buprestid beetles are noted as
preying upon the ash tree alone, and thirty-five upon the pine. When we reflect
that the family Cerambycidae contains upwards of 7,500 species, of which 600 are
found in America, and all of which pass their larval stage within the substance
of some tree or woody plant, and that many of them remain in the larval state
two or three years, and eat all the time, it is not difficult to comprehend the
immense amount of damage that these creatures inflict upon forest trees and other
plants. It is not probable that there is any other agency more destructive to
timber than this family of beetles. Nor is timber safe even after it has been
eut. Logs lying in the mill yard or forest will be much injured, if not ruined,
in a single season if some precautions are not taken to prevent these creatures
from depositing their eggs. So long do some of these larvae live in the wood that
it has frequently happened that they have emerged from an article of furniture
after it has passed into household use.

It is far within the limits of probability to say that each individual bird of the
four species already discussed destroys during every day of its life at least twelve
woodboring beetles, either in the adult or larval form. In any extensive area of
forest land, like the Adirondack Woods, there must be thousands of these birds, and
the numbers of insects that ar2 every year stopped in their career of devastation must
reach into the millions. Is there any other agency so effectual in the destruction
of these pests, or so efficient in hoiding them in check? In orchards, or even in
parks, it may be possible to combat insect enemies by insecticides or other artificial
appliances, but in the forests this becomes wholly out of the question, and it
behooves the forester to take every advantage of such forces as nature has kindly
placed at his disposal, and among these the insectivorous birds must take high
rank. It is unfortunate that the three-toed woodpeckers are not so numerous as

most other species, and for this reason they should be rigidly protected.

246 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

Tue RepHEADED WooppeEcKkeErR (MWelanerpes erythrocephalus).

The redhead is a common bird in suitable localities throughout the United
States east of the Rocky Mountains, but is only casual in New England. It is not |
so much of a forest lover as some of the other woodpeckers, preferring to keep on
the outskirts rather than in the depths of the woodlands. It is a familiar object
on telegraph posts and dead trees, and seems to prefer these apparently rather
barren hunting grounds to more fruitful fields. The character of its food, however,
shows that it is largely taken upon these bare surfaces, or, as has been observed,
caught in mid air.

Examination of many stomachs of the redhead shows that its food is composed
of about 52 per cent of animal to 48 per cent of vegetable matter. While all of the
more common orders of insects are eaten to some extent, beetles are evidently
the favorite food, as they constitute nearly one-third of the whole. Unlike the
downy, hairy, and three-toed woodpeckers, however, the redhead takes most of
its beetles in the adult stage. Many of them belong to the May beetle family
(Scarabaeidae), with representatives of several others. It seems to be a prominent
characteristic of this bird to prefer large insects for its prey, such as the dor-bug
(Lachnosterna), the June bug (Allorhina nitida), and the fire ground beetle (Cado-
soma calidum), a predaceous beetle of large size and vile odor. VPassalus cornutus,
a large species that lives in rotten wood, was also found in some of the stomachs,
and a pair of mandibles belonging to Przonus brevicornis, one of the largest beetles
in the northern United States. This last is a very destructive forest insect, as its
larvae lives in the trunks and roots of certain trees, and being of enormous size
its burrows are a great damage to the timber. Weevils were found in many
stomachs, and as many as ten were contained in one. The rest of the food
consists of ants, which constitute eleven per cent of the food, with a few bugs,
grasshoppers, caterpillars, etc. The redhead eats fewer ants than any of the
foregoing species, as these insects are not so often found on the bare poles which

the bird so persistently haunts.

Tue Fuicxer (Colaptes auratus).

Three species of the genus Colaptes, with several subspecies, are found within
the limits of the United States. Their differences in form, size and plumage.
are not remarkable, and their variations in diet are still less noticeable—in fact,
whatever may be said of the food of one may be said of all, making due allowance

for differences in the available food supply of various localities.

BIRDS AS CONSERVATORS OF THE FOREST. 247

The Eastern form, commonly known as the flicker, or golden-winged wood-
pecker, is one of the largest and best known of our common woodpeckers, and is
more migratory than either the downy or hairy. In winter it is absent, or at least
very scarce, on its breeding range in the Northern States, where it is abundant in
summer and early fall. In most places it is a much shyer bird than any of the
preceding, and while it frequents the farm, and comes about the buildings freely,
it keeps more in the tops of the trees, and does not allow so near an approach of
its greatest enemy—man. It is the most terrestrial of all the woodpeckers, in spite
of its high-perching and high-nesting proclivities, and may often be seen walking
about in the grass like a meadow lark.

From the examination of over 400 stomachs of the flicker, it has been found that
its food consists of approximately sixty per cent of animal matter and forty per
cent of vegetable. The animal matter is made up of ants, beetles, bugs, grass-
hoppers, crickets, caterpillars, May flies and white ants. Three fourths of this, or
forty-five per cent of the whole, consists of ants. No North American bird has
yet been investigated whose record for eating ants is equal to this. Quite a number
of the stomachs were entirely filled with these insects, and in many, even where
there was other food, more than a thousand of them were found. The contents
of three stomachs were carefully counted, and two of them were found to contain
Over 3,000 each and the third over 5,o00 of these creatures. A large part of the
ants eaten by the flicker are the small species which live in burrows in the ground,
but many of the wood-boring species are also taken. Another interesting insect
found in the flicker’s stomach is the white ant (Zermes flavipes). While this
insect has no natural relationship to the ordinary ant, it very much resembles
it in its habits, often inhabiting rotten logs, and sometimes living in and injuring
living trees. It also bores into timber in buildings.

Beetles constitute about 10 per cent of the flicker’s food, and a much larger
proportion of them are adults than is the case with the preceding species. Still
it does eat some of the wood-boring larvae, which it obtains from the tree, where
the wood is not too hard. May beetles (Lachnosterna) and their allies were found
in several stomachs, as were also a few predaceous ground beetles (Carabidae),
and some larvae of tiger beetles (Cicindelidae). The two last, taken in connection
with the ants and a few grasshoppers which had been eaten, emphasize the ter-
restrial habits of the species.

The vegetable portion of the flicker’s food is larger and more varied than that
of any of the foregoing species, but this part of the woodpecker’s diet will be

taken up and discussed on another page.

248 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

It is unfortunate that the flesh of the flicker is very palatable, so that in
many places they are considered as a game bird, and slaughtered accordingly.
When the wild black cherries (Prunus serotina) are ripe, they form a favorite food
for the flickers, as well as for many other birds, and at such times they are so
busy in the cherry trees that they seem to lose their customary shyness, and are
easily approached and shot. lEPefore the game laws were made so stringent,
thousands of flickers were annualy shot for food in the northeastern portion of the
country during the last of August and September. This is now to some extent

prevented, and should be wholly suppressed.

THE YELLOW-BELLIED WoOODPECKER, OR SAPSUCKER.

This species is probably the most migratory of all our woodpeckers. In the
United States it breeds only in the most northerly parts, and in some of the
mountains farther south. In the fall it ranges southward, and in the winter is
found in most of the Gulf States and beyond. It is not so generally distributed
as most of the other species, being quite unknown in some districts, while it is
very abundant in others. Dr. C. Hart Merriam states that in the Adirondack _
region during migration it outnumbers all other species of the family together,
and in summer is second in numbers only to the hairy woodpecker. At Mount
Chocorua, in New Hampshire, Mr. Frank Bolles found it the most abundant
species. In Minnesota, also, it is very common, while on the other hand in
Massachusetts and lowa it is comparatively rare.

It is to this species that the term ‘‘sapsucker”’ is most often and most justly
applied, for it drills holes in the bark of certain trees and drinks the sap. It
also feeds on cambium, insects, wild fruit and berries.

In writing of the woodpeckers of this species in northern New York, in 1878,
Dr. Merriam states:

‘“They really do considerable mischief by drilling holes in the bark of apple,
thorn apple and mountain ash trees in such a way as to form girdles of punctures,
sometimes 2 feet or more in breadth (up and down) about the trunks and branches.
* * * The holes, which are sometimes merely single punctures, and some-
times squarish spaces (multiple punctures) nearly half an inch across, are placed
so near together that not unfrequently they cover more of the tree than the
remaining bark. Hence, more than half of the bark is sometimes removed from
the girdled portions, and the balance often dries up and comes off. Therefore it
is not surprising that trees which have been extensively girdled generally die,

and mountain ash are much more prone to do so than either avple or thorn apple

£ i
uit Ugassz Ke

BIRDS AS CONSERVATORS OF THE FOREST. 249

trees, due, very likely, to their more slender stems. The motive which induces
this species to operate thus upon young and healthy trees is, I think, but partly
understood. It is unquestionably true that they feed, to a certain extent, both
upon the inner bark and the fresh sap from these trees, but that the procure-
ment of these two elements of sustenance, gratifying as they doubtless are, is their
chief aim in making the punctures I am inclined to dispute. As the sap exudes
from the newly made punctures, thousands of flies, yellow-jackets and other insects
congregate about the place, till the hum of their wings suggests a swarm of bees.
If, now, the tree be watched, the woodpecker will soon be seen to return and
alight over the part of the girdle which he has most recently punctured. Here
he remains, with motionless body, and feasts upon the choicest species from the

HoSteom insects withinueasy teach. * =.=

In making each girdle they work
around the trunk, and from below upwards, but they may begin a new girdle below
an old one. They make but few holes each day, and after completing two or three
remain over the spot for some little time, and as the clear fresh sap exudes and
trickles down the bark they place their bill against the dependent drop and suck it in
with evident relish—a habit which has doubtless given rise to the more appropriate
than elegant term sapsucker, by which they are commonly known in some parts
of the country. I have several times watched this performance at a distance of
less than 1o feet, and all the details of the process were distinctly seen, the bird
looking at me meanwhile ‘out of the corner of his eye.’ When his thirst is satis-
fied he silently disappears, and as silently returns again after a few hours, to feast
upon the insects that have been attracted to the spot by the escaping sap. This
bird then, by a few strokes of its bill, is enabled to secure both food (animal
and vegetable) and drink in abundance for an entire day; and a single tree,
favorably situated, may suffice for a whole season.” *

The late Frank Bolles has published some interesting detailed observations
respecting the food habits of the sapsucker. His conclusions are:

‘“That the yellow-bellied woodpecker is in the habit for successive years of
drilling the canoe birch, red maple, red oak, white ash, and probably other trees,
for the purpose of taking from them the elaborated sap, and in some cases parts of
the cambium layer; that the bird consumes the sap in large quantities for its own
sake and not for the insect matter which such sap may chance occasionally to
contain; that the sap attracts many insects of various species, a few of which
form a considerable part of the food of this bird, but whose capture does not
occupy its time to anything like the extent to which sap drinking occupies it;

* * &

that the forest trees attacked by them generally die, possibly in the second

* Bull. Nuttall Ornith. Club, Vol. IV, January, 18709, pp. 3-5.

250 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

or third year of use; that the total damage done by them is too insignificant to
justify their persecution in well-wooded regions.” *

In a subsequent article Mr. Bolles gives the results of an attempt to keep
several young sapsuckers alive on a diet of diluted maple syrup. Unfortunately
for the success of the experiment, the birds obtained and greedily devoured many
insects that were attracted to the cage by the syrup. How many insects were
eaten was not known, but all of the birds died within four months. Examination
of their bodies showed fatty degeneration of the liver—a condition said to be
usual in cases of starvation. Mr. Bolles has thus proved that concentrated sap
(saturated with sugar) is not sufficient to sustain life, even with a small percent-
age of insects. The natural inference is that sap, while agreeable to the birds, and
consumed in large quantities, holds but a subordinate place as an article of food.

The examination of the stomachs of quite a number of yellow-bellied wood-
peckers shows that they eat animal and vegetable food in about equal proportions.
The animal food consists of ants, beetles, flies, bugs, grasshoppers, crickets, May flies
and spiders. Ants amount to thirty-six per cent of the whole, a greater record
than that of any other woodpecker except the flicker. The other insects do not
appear in any remarkable quantities, so that it is as an ant eater that this bird
does the greatest good. It is here, if anywhere, that it compensates for what -
harm it commits in girdling trees. In this last respect, however, it is doubtful
if the bird ever inflicts any very appreciable damage upon a natural forest. In
these, trees are usually superabundant, and the few that are killed only give
a better chance for those that remain.

Another point, to which Dr. A. D. Hopkins has recently called attention, is the
fact that the wounds made in the bark or cambium of trees by the beak of this
bird, while sometimes resulting in injury or death to the) tree; at “othemiames
leads to certain distortions of the grain in future growth which gives a variegated
appearance to the polished surface of the timber when used, and often very
much enhances its beauty. As the wounds heal over the new layers of wood are
either elevated or depressed at the point where the wounds were made, and when
the logs are cut into boards the appearance of what is called ‘‘bird’s-eye” is
produced, or if a radial cut is made we have the ‘‘curl.” These effects resemble
very closely the bird’s-eyes and curls which are produced naturally in maple and

some other woods, but are usually less in numbers in a given area.

*The Auk, Vol. VIII, July, 1801, p. 149.

h BIRDS AS CONSERVATORS OF THE FOREST. 251

Tue Great PILEATED WooppeEcKER (Ceophlocus pileatus).

This bird, variously known as the log cock, cock of the woods, or pileated
woodpecker, is the largest of the family now found within the limits of the
United States, with the single exception of the ivory-billed woodpecker, which is
very rare. It is essentially a bird of the forests, and is only found where there
dhe rariehmextensive tracts of Mimber- levis ashy, retiring, bird, difficult, to
approach, and, where not abundant, is better known by its work than by sight
of the bird itself. Its large size, loud voice, and habit of hammering upon dead
trees, render it conspicuous, however, at a considerable distance. Its strength is
wonderful, and one unacquainted with it can scarcely credit a bird with such
powers of destruction as is sometimes shown by a stump or dead trunk on which
it has operated for ants or boring larvae. I have seen strips of wood two feet in
length and four inches wide, by one inch thick, torn from a stump, and thrown
several yards away by this bird. It is a well known fact that various species of
woodpeckers have a way of signaling to each other by hammering upon a dead
tree or branch, or any other resonant body, such as the metallic cornice of a build-
ing, as has been sometimes observed. The pileated woodpecker is an adept at this
method of telegraphing, and once gave the writer an exhibition of skill in
this respect which will long linger in his memory. It was toward the close
of a sultry afternoon among the mountains of Virginia, and a thunder shower was
rapidly approaching. The sky was all overcast, and it was as dark as twilight,
though the sun was several hours above the horizon. The wind had died away,
every leaf hung motionless, and, except for an occasional low mutter of thunder,
not a sound could be heard. Suddenly from near the top of a ridge came the
loud, sharp rub-a-dub-dub of the great woodpecker drumming on a dead chestnut
stub. Immediately came the answering drum of another half way down the slope,
then another from farther along the ridge, then from across the valley, and so on
until at last a dozen performers were callng and answering to each other in turn,
until the downpour of the shower put a stop to the whole.

The food of the pileated woodpecker is nearly evenly divided between insect
and vegetable matter. The former consists of beetles and ants, with a few of
‘some other orders. The beetles are mostly taken in the larval stage, and are
nearly all wood-boring species. Even those that are eaten in the adult form
are of the same species as the larvae. The ants are all of the large species that
infest wood, decayed or otherwise. All of the insects taken are such as are found

in the forests where these birds feed almost exclusively.

252 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

The scarcity of this species in most parts of the country renders it such an
object of curiosity that it is usually shot on sight by hunters or by anybody
who happens to have a gun with him. This should not be allowed. The bird is
not fit for food, and there is no possible use to which its body can be put after its

death, while when alive it is one of the most valuable conservators of the forest.

Tue Tirmice (Paridae).

The titmice are mostly small, plain-colored birds, with but little attempt at
ornamentation beyond a crest or tuft of feathers upon the head, which can be
raised or lowered at will. Their colors are, for the most part, black and white,
with some brown and plain gray. While they may often be seen in groves and
orchards, and even on wayside trees, they are by nature. inhabitants of the forests.
This is more especially true of the Eastern species, most of which are nonmigra-
tory, and in winter time may be met in loose flocks rambling through the woods,
every one busy searching the trees for food, and at short intervals giving his call
note, which enables the company to keep together. At such times there will
usually be a few birds of other species with them, notably the downy woodpecker,
the brown creeper and one or both of the common species of nuthatches. This
is not entirely a case of birds of a feather flocking together, but of birds of
similar food habits banded for a common purpose. Community of taste in the
matter of diet, and the method of obtaining it, is evidently the bond which holds
these different species together.

If one will watch these tiny creatures as they flit from tree to tree, he will
wonder that anything suitable for food can escape their prying eyes. When
one of them alights upon a tree it at once begins a minute investigation
of the trunk and limbs, paying particular attention to every place, such as a
knothole or a decayed spot, where any insect might be concealed or where its
eggs might be laid. In doing this it swings itself under horizontal branches, runs
up the perpendicular trunk, or stands head downward while it examines a particu-
larly promising spot. It searches every crack in the bark, peeks under every bit
of moss or lichen, and, if it be the time when the leaf-buds are beginning to swell,
it will peer into every one in search of the newly hatched caterpillar, which it
literally “‘nips in the bud.”

The birds of the titmice family, though insignificant in size, are far from
being so in the matter of their food habits. What they lack in size of body they
more than make up in numbers of individuals. While in the case of some of

the larger birds —as, for instance, the flicker —there is one pair of eyes to look

BIRDS AS CONSERVATORS OF THE FOREST. Ze

for food for one large stomach, we have in the ten times as numereus titmice an
equivalent stomach capacity divided into ten parts, and each portion furnished
with a pair of eyes and other accessories, such as wings and feet. As against
the one place occupied by the larger bird, ten are being searched for food at the
same time by the lesser ones. It is evident that this arrangement is more
effective in the destruction of the smaller species of insects than the plan of a
single large bird.

The character of the food of the titmice gives a peculiar value to their services,
for it consists largely of the smaller insects and their eggs, objects which either
escape the search of the larger birds or are too insignificant to be considered
worthy of notice. Among the prominent elements of food which the titmice find
in their inspection of the trees in the winter are hibernating insects and their
eggs. A great many species pass through this cold season in the shape of eggs,
and thousands of these come to an untimely end in the stomach of these minute
birds. Others spend the winter in the larval or pupal state, still others hibernate
in the adult form, but unless buried beyond reach they are dragged forth from
their places of concealment and devoured.

There are within the boundaries of the United States seventeen species, with
several subspecies, of titmice, all of them inhabitants of the forests and foragers
upon trees. Comparison of the food of the various species shows that it is of the
same general character for all, but that the particular kind of insects which
are eaten varies somewhat with the geographical range of the bird. But whatever
insect may be chosen it is nearly always some species that preys upon the foliage,
flowers, or fruit of some tree or shrub. Nearly one thousand stomachs of different
Species and subspecies of titmice have been examined, and the result of careful
analysis has confirmed the observations made in the field and proved beyond
question that this family of birds is one of the most efficient conservators of the
forest.

The common black-capped chickadee is abundant over the northern portion of
the country, as far south as the Potomac and Ohio rivers in winter, and remains
in one or two of the most northerly tiers of States during the whole year. With
its two subspecies it extends entirely across the continent from ocean to ocean.
In June the food of this species consists almost entirely of insects, and in winter
this. part of the food sinks only to about forty-two per cent of the whole, which
is a large percentage for the cold months. Caterpillars and a few moths, with
many of their eggs, constitute one third of the entire food, and the consumption
of these during the winter months is but little below the average for the year.

This shows that these birds do not in vain search the trunks and branches of

254 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

trees —that they do find the eggs and hibernating insects which are concealed
in the crevices and cracks, and destroy them. Besides caterpillars, the titmice
also eat some beetles, ants and bugs, with quite a number of spiders. The
insects’ eggs taken by them consist largely of those of the two species Malacosoma,
or tent caterpillars, in the region where they are to be found. The beetles
eaten are of the smaller species of leaf-eaters (Chrysomelidae), the engraver beetles
(Scolytidae) and other weevils or snout beetles, especially the genus Balaninus,
which lays its eggs in acorns and other nuts, where the grub feeds and destroys
the seed. At times they find and destroy the beetles that are the parents of the
woodborers—that is, the Cerambycidae and Buprestidae. Bugs are represented
in the stomachs by a few stink bugs (Pentatomidae), but more especially by the
bark scales (Coccidae). The larger species, belonging to the genus Lecanium,
are evidently a favorite food, as they are found in many stomachs. The black
olive scale (ZL. oleae), which infests many kinds of trees besides the olive, is
especially abundant on the Pacific coast, and is freely eaten cy that pigmy of the
family, the California bush tit (Psaltriparus minimus californicus). Other scales,
however, are frequently eaten. Plant-lice and their eggs are also found in the

stomachs, the latter occurring in the winter months.

Tue Nourtuatcues (Sztta carolinensis and S. canadenszs).

The nuthatches are, like the titmice, lovers of the forest, and like them they
do not disdain to visit parks and orchards, and may occasionally be seen scrambling
over the trees in the dooryard. As acrobats they are unsurpassed; the wood-
peckers, the titmice and the creepers will run up a tree with ease and skill, but -
they will not try to run or walk down the trunk as the nuthatches do, nor can they
walk along the under side of a horizontal branch with that apparent disregard for
the attraction of gravity that the fly displays when on the ceilings. But this is
an ordinary matter to the nuthatches. They walk down a tree trunk, or around
it, or on the under side of a branch, and stop with their body hanging downward,
while they inspect a knothole, apparently not in the least inconvenienced by this
upside-down position. Nor when pecking at anything which they think may
promise food do they rest upon their tails as do the woodpeckers, but, held in
place by the clutch of their sharp claws, they stand and work at perfect ease.
Four species and three subspecies of nuthatches are found within the limits of the
United States. They all belong to the same genus, and vary but little in general
appearance, or in their food habits, and the two whose names stand at the head

of this chapter may be taken as types of all.

BIRDS AS CONSERVATORS OF THE FOREST. 255

It is almost unnecessary to say of these birds that their food is made up of
precisely the same element as that of the titmice, but somewhat varied in the
proportions of each. Like them they eat a great many caterpillars, and the eggs
from which caterpillars would be hatched. Small beetles, ants and bugs are also
favorite food. Scales and ‘‘spittle insects” (Cercopidae) are some of the enemies
to trees of which they appear to be very fond. The particular species of these
last which they eat are probably those that feed upon the pine, as most of the
stomachs in which they were found were taken in a pine forest. Of the nut-
hatches Dr. Coues has said: ‘‘In their relation to man, these birds are heedless
and familiar, as if they trusted to his good will in return for the valuable services
they render him in destroying incalculable numbers of noxious insects—a confidence
too often abused by the vulgar and ignorant, who harbor against them the same
prejudice that exists against the sapsucker (Sphyrapicus), the innocent and
industrious nuthatches being supposed to injure trees, when the fact is they

spend the whole of their laborious lives in man’s service.” *

Tue Brown CREEPER (Certhza familiaris americana).

This diminutive bird is one of the companions of the titmice in their winter
foraging parties, and appears to go with them merely for the sake of their
company, as its chance for food would evidently be better if alone. Like the
titmice, it gets its food upon trees, and eats practically the same things, but hunts
upon trunks of trees rather than on the branches. “It almost invariably alights
upon the tree near the ground and then runs spirally upward, sometimes to near
the top, at others only half way or less, and then wings its way to another.
It is very much of a forest bird, where for the most part it feeds and nests,
but it will occasionally visit an orchard or park in the winter season. The
geographic range of the creeper corresponds in a general way with that of the
black-capped chickadee.

It might be inferred from ordinary field observation that the food of this bird
would very closely resemble that of the titmice, as they hunt in the same places
and in nearly the same manner. This inference is confirmed by stomach exam-
ination, which shows that the food of the two birds is almost identical, and that
whatever may be said of the food of the titmice may also be said of that of the
creeper. The insects eaten are those which prey upon the foliage, flowers and
fruit of trees, as well as some that bore into the trunk or branches and do much
harm thereby.

* Birds of the Colorado Valley, p. 133.

256 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION:

There is no better description of the working habits of this bird than that
given by Dr. Coues:

““The leading trait of the Brown Creeper is its extraordinary industry — the
‘incomparable assiduity,’ as it has been well styled, with which it works for a
living. Like all good workers, the Creeper makes no fuss about it, but just sticks
to it. So quietly, yet with such celerity, does it go about its business that it.
scarcely seems to be at work, but rather to be rambling in an aimless way about
the trunks of trees, or at most only caring to see how fast it can scramble to the
top. During all this time, however, the bird is on the alert in the search for
insects, which it extracts from their lurking-places with such dexterity that
its progress is scarcely arrested for a moment; and the number of these minute

creatures yearly destroyed is simply incalculable.” *

THe WaARBLERS.

The wood warblers, or, as they are usually called in America, the warblers,
simply, are a large family of small birds noted for the brilliancy of the plumage
of many species, and for the sweetness of their song. They are peculiarly
American in distribution and in most cases are inhabitants of forests. ‘The
majority of the species obtain their food from trees and shrubs, but a few are
more terrestrial and feed largely upon the ground. There are within the limits
of the United States fifteen genera, with about fifty-nine species and eighteen
subspecies of this family, and there are few areas of any considerable size that
do not have their complement. They are as a family very small, many of them
being no bigger than the common house wren, and the largest ones only exceeding
the bluebird by a trifle.

There can be no finer tribute to the usefulness of this family than that of
Dr. Elliot Coues, who says:

‘“‘With tireless industry do the warblers befriend the human race; their
unconscious zeal plays due part in the nice adjustment of Nature’s forces,
helping to bring about the balance of vegetable and insect life, without which
agriculture would be in vain. They visit the orchard when the apple and
pear, the peach, plum and cherry are in bloom, seeming to revel amid the sweet-
scented and delicately-tinted blossoms, but never forgetting their good work:
They peer into the crevices of the bark, scrutinize each leaf, and explore the very

heart of the buds, to detect, drag forth and destroy those tiny creatures, singly

* Birds of the Colorado Valley, p. 147.

outs Cy asz Kuerves.

BLACKBURNIAN WARBLER
UPPER FIGURE MALE, LOWER FIGURE FEMALE

BIRDS AS CONSERVATORS OF THE FOREST. 257.

insignificant, collectively a scourge, which prey upon the hopes of the fruitgrower,
and which, if undisturbed, would bring his care to naught.” *

The food of the warbler, with the exception of the few ground-feeding species,
consists of such insects as are found upon the trunks, branches, leaves and flowers
of trees, mostly those of the forest, though many species of these birds visit the
orchard for food, and sometimes nest there. As might be expected, small beetles,
ants, and caterpillars, with some scales and plant-lice, make up the bulk of the
food of the tree-feeding species. The three elements which appear most prominently
in the stomachs are beetles, ants and caterpillars. These are remarkably constant
elements of the food, and are found in most of the stomachs examined. ‘The
beetles are largely of the family of snout-beetles (Rhyncophora), all of which are
injurious to some plant, and many of them to forest trees. To show the capacity
of some of these small birds, the contents of several of their stomachs may be
cited. No. 1 contained 68 weevils, some scales, a pupa case and a spider.
No. 2 contained 65 weevils, with a few other insects. No. 3 had at least 53
weevils, with fragments of others, and some other insect. No. 4 contained
50 weevils, with remains of others, a leafhopper and some ants. No. 5 was filled
with 35 weevils, remains of Hymenoptera (wasps), caterpillars, a pupa case and
a spider. These five birds had eaten altogether 271 of these injurious weevils,
and from the broken remains contained in their stomachs it is highly probable that
300 is much nearer the true figures. In another stomach were found 52 specimens
of another beetle, with remains of other insects.

While the different species of the warbler family show some peculiarities in
the selection of their food, there is still a pronounced similarity in the elements
selected by all those whose haunts are the same. The species that live upon
trees, which constitute a majority of the family, not only show the same tastes
in diet, but also strongly resemble in this respect the birds of other families that
live and obtain their food in the same places. Thus the food of the warblers is
strongly suggestive of that of the titmice, the nuthatches, the creepers and the
kinglets.

A single instance may serve to illustrate the kind of work done by this family
of birds. The spring of rg00 was remarkably cold and backward in the Northeastern
States, and a multitude of birds had migrated as far north as Massachusetts, but
were held from going farther by the cold and snow which still lay upon the ground
in New Hampshire and northward. In the meantime, owing to the cold northerly

winds, the insects were slow to come from their hiding-places, so that the birds

* Birds of the Colorado Valley, p. 2o1.
17

258 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

were in some straits for food. At this time the apple trees had advanced so far
that the end of every twig presented a rosette of slightly expanded leaves, often
enclosing undeveloped flower buds. A flock of warblers composed of several
species was one morning observed by the writer flitting from tree to tree in an
orchard, and examining each of these rosettes. So silent and industrious were
the birds that they paid no heed to the observer, but kept at their work even
when only a yard or two from his head. In order to determine what food these
birds were finding on the trees, a number of the rosettes were examined upon a
tree at some distance ahead of the birds, and each one was found to contain
from one to half a dozen large green plant-lice (Aphides). These insects were
large, full grown, and ready not only to suck the juice from the leaves and
flowers, but to bring forth a numerous progeny to prey upon the further growth
of the trees. But the birds came just at that time when by destroying the
mother insect they not only prevented her from doing further harm herself,
but cut off the future generations which would have continued in a steady
succession all summer. This work was observed on several days, and probably

was continued until the warmer weather brought an abundance of insect food.

Tue Kinciets (Regulus satrapa and R. calendula).

These two minute birds may be considered as titmice in disguise, for as far
as actions are concerned they are the complete counterparts of those restless
birds. They have the same tireless industry, the same unending search for insects
in the crevices of bark, under leaves, in buds or tufts of moss. Perhaps they do
not as a rule frequent such large trees as the titmice, but rather prefer small
trees or shrubs, but still they are forest inhabitants, and are to be found where
large trees are the principal growth. In color they are decidedly more stylish than
the titmice, in so far at least as their head dress goes, which consists of a
particularly jaunty cap of bright colored feathers, golden in one and ruby-colored
in the other—hence their two common names, the golden-crowned and the ruby-
crowned.

Their food is mostly composed of insects, with only a small percentage of
vegetable matter. An examination of several hundred of their stomachs shows
that the insects eaten are mostly small beetles, particularly weevils, ants, bugs
(Hemiptera), and small caterpillars, with a few of other orders. The first three
of these, however, make up the great bulk of the food. In the case of the ruby-
crowned kinglet (Regulus calendula), ants, with a few other Hymenoptera, amount

to more than thirty-six per cent of the whole food of the year, and are an

UPPER

MOURNING WARBLER,
FIGURE FEMALE, LOWER FIGURE MALE

BIRDS AS CONSERVATORS OF THE FOREST. ~ 259

important element in every month. Hemiptera constitute nearly thirty per cent
of the food, and are composed mostly of plant-lice and scales, which are eaten at
all times when they can be found, and the scales can be obtained in every month,
as they pass the winter on the bark in a dormant state, or in the shape of eggs.
Beetles are eaten to the extent of eighteen per cent of the food, and are nearly
all injurious species. All of the above insects are of the smaller species, such as
larger birds are apt to pass by, yet some of the worst enemies of forest
trees are found in these minute creatures. As a sample of what one of these
little birds can do in the way of devouring insects, the following account of a
stomach contents of Regulus calendula may serve. The principal item consisted
of the remains of something over 100 small beetles, Wotoxus alamedae, with several
others of the genus Anthicus, a few Chrysomelids (leaf-eating beetles), some
Scolytids (engraver beetles), one Scymnus and one beetle too badly mangled for
recognition. All of these are harmful insects except the last two, and the unknown

one might have been.

Tue Cuckoos (Coceyzus erythrophthalmus and C. americanus).

Cuckoos are quiet birds and rather retiring in their habits. Their notes, though ;
frequently heard in warm weather, are not loud or obtrusive. However, they do
not avoid the haunts of men, but have a way of concealing themselves amidst the
foliage, and shunning naked branches or exposed places, so that they are not often
seen. Their favorite resorts are the open groves or woods, the edges of forests,
orchards, and clumps of trees and shrubs. They often visit the shadetrees about
farmhouses, and are frequently heard in the trees along village streets, or even in
city parks.

While there are three species and two subspecies of these birds in the United
States, only two are abundant enough to become of economic importance. These,
with one subspecies, practically occupy the whole country except the plains and
deserts, but in winter are found only in the extreme southern portion of their
range. The yellow-billed cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus) breeds from the Gulf of
Mexico to southern Canada; the black-billed ranges still farther northward. The
migration does not begin until spring is well advanced, and on the return movement
most of the species leave the Northern States in August, though a few linger a
little longer. Their northern season is therefore comparatively short, a peculiarity
which is partly explained by the character of their food. From an economic point
of view the cuckoos take a high rank among useful birds. Their habit of living

more or less concealed among the leaves of trees or shrubs suggests, what observation

260 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH ANDY GAME ‘COMMISSION:

proves, that their diet consists for the most part of insects—very largely cater-
pillars—that are found in such places.

An examination of 155 stomachs of the two species mentioned shows that
their food is practically all animal matter—that is, insects. Of this, nearly
one-half consists of caterpillars. These are eaten at all times, and stomachs taken
in every month of the cuckoos’ stay on their northern range show a large per-
centage of these insects. Some pains were taken to ascertain the exact number
of caterpillars contained in the 155 stomachs, but as the process of digestion was far
advanced in some cases, the result can only be considered as an approximation.
The number actually counted was 2,771, which were all found in 129 stomachs, the
other twenty-six being filled with other food. It is probable, and almost certain,
that 3,000 would be nearer the exact number. If the contents of all the stomachs
examined be regarded as so many daily meals of the same bird, then the result
indicates that the bird had eaten 2,771 caterpillars in 155 consecutive days, at
the rate of only one meal each day, and some days not eating any. Now 155
days is about the length of time that cuckoos remain on their summer range;
moreover, one cuckoo must eat several meals a day, so this number (2,771) probably
falls short of the actual number of caterpillars devoured by each cuckoo during the
season. From these considerations it appears that cuckoos must eat an enormous .
number of larvae in the course of asummer. These insects are crude feeders, eating
immense quantities of vegetable tissue, and are usually so distended with it that
the amount of real nutrition contained in any one of them must be small. In
fact, stomachs of birds that have eaten largely of caterpillars always show a quantity
of this finely cut vegetable matter derived from the insects’ stomachs. As
digestion in birds is rapid, it would seem necessary to fill the stomach several
times a day with such quickly digested and slightly nutritious food as this, so that
the number of caterpillars found in a stomach at any one time probably repre-
sents but a small portion of the actual daily consumption. As to the kinds of
caterpillars eaten by the cuckoos, it is a singular fact that the hairy and spiny
species far outnumber the smooth ones; this may be due either to the greater
abundance of the hairy ones or to the birds’ preference. This disregard of hairs
or spines was well illustrated by one stomach which contained seven larvae of
the Io moth (Automeris 20). ‘These caterpillars are thickly studded along the
back and sides with tubercles from which grow many spines, that are not only
sharp but poisonous, and sting the hand quite severely when carelessly handled.
Several other stomachs contained a less number of these insects.

Among the insects eaten by the cuckoos which are of economic interest to

forestry may be mentioned the tent caterpillar (Malacosoma), the fall webworm

CUCKOO

YELLOW-BILLED

BIRDS AS CONSERVATORS OF THE FOREST. 201

(Ayphantria cunea), and the white-marked tussock moth (Hemerocampa leucostigma).
The former is eaten to such an extent that it constitutes at least half of the food
during the time when it can be obtained. Of the fifty stomachs taken while
the tent caterpillars could be found, seventeen contained these insects, and several
were entirely filled with them. In one stomach 250 were found. These, of
course, were small ones taken in the early stages of their growth, before they
had done much damage. The fall webworms are evidently another favorite food
of the cuckoo, as they were found in a number of stomachs, and in one 217
heads of these insects were counted. Twenty-eight species of caterpillars were
identified in the 155 stomachs, and, as many specimens were unidentifiable, it is
probable that there were more species than those noted. Other important insects
in the cuckoo’s diet are the larvae of sawflies. These so closely resemble cater-
pillars that they have been called ‘‘false caterpillars’’ and the cuckoos appear to
like them as well as they do the real caterpillars. They were found in many
stomachs, and one contained over sixty individuals. Larvae of the largest species
of sawfly (Czmbex americana) were found in several stomachs. The other insects
eaten by cuckoos were distributed through several orders, but with no great
percentage of any one. The most important, from a forestry point of view, are
ants, which were found in many stomachs, but not in large quantities.

The good done by these birds in their destruction of caterpillars can scarcely
be overestimated. In the summer of 1898 the writer observed the sugar maple
trees in the State of Vermont over a very extensive tract of country nearly
defoliated by the forest tent caterpilliar (JZalacosoma disstria). The damage was
so extensive as badly to affect the next year’s crop of sugar. Had a sufficient
number of cuckoos been present to materially reduce the number of caterpillars,
much of this defoliation would have been saved, as the trees would stand a
moderate reduction of their foliage without detriment. The cuckoos are, unfortu-
nately, rather shy, timid birds. All foresters should know their value, and afford
them every protection. The following is a list of all the caterpillars which were
positively identified in the stomachs of the 155 cuckoos, but it is almost certain

that there were many more so badly mangled as to be unrecognizable.

List of caterpillars identified in stomachs of cuckoos:

Yellow-necked caterpillar . . . . . Datana ministra.

JslavorelanayiGl wn@tl 5g og a a 8 8) DEC COURAGE,
Nadata gibbosa.

Ned=numpedscatenpillar anys le aS emicHIsta aloU Tors:

fleterocampa manteo.

SAIN WOM Wee eee) nea eu elCOp/ an enepunctas

REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

Zebra caterpillar

Nine nicanedacice ine in ae
White-marked tussock moth
The eight-spotted forester
Grapevine epimenis

Pear wood nymph

Fall webworm

Yellow bear

Southern tobacco-worm
White-lined sphinx
Imperial moth .
Rosy-striped oak-worm
Orange-striped oak-worm
Green-striped maple-worm
To moth aR
Polyphemus silk moth
Luna moth

Tent caterpillar

Locust leaf-folder
Mourning cloak

Viceroy butterfly .

Mamestra picta.
Apatela americana.
Hlemerocampa leucostigma.
Alypia octomaculata.
Psychomorpha epiments.
Euthisanotia unio.
Hyphantria cunea.
Diacrista virginica.
Phlegethontius sexta.
Detlephila lineata.
Bastlona tmpertalis.
Antsota virginiensis.
Antsota senatorta.
Anitsota rubicunda.
Automerts to.

Telea polyphemus.
Tropea luna.
Malacosoma americana.
Lpargyreus tityrus.
Euvanessa antiopa.
Lasilarchia archippus.

Tue Ba LtTiMorRE ORIOLE (/cterus galbula).

Next to the cuckoos the oriole takes rank as a destroyer of caterpillars.
Stomach examination shows that thirty-four per cent of the food for the months
when the bird is on its summer range is composed of these destructive leaf-eating
insects. One stomach contained no less than too of these creatures. The oriole
is not a lover of the forest, but prefers the more open groves, or the borders of
the dense wood. ‘The insects which it eats, however, are the same as those which
feed upon the leaves of forest trees, so that by destroying them the bird reduces
the sum total of the species, and so benefits the forest as much, if not so directly,
as it would if it ate them upon the forest trees. Several other species of orioles are
found within the borders of our country, and all of them show the same fondness

for caterpillars for food.

Tue Rosin (Merula migratoria).

The common robin can scarcely be called a forest bird, though instances have
been known where it has nested in the depths of the woodland, and it was observed

by the writer in the backwoods of Maine, far from farms or any extensive cleared

SOLITARY VIREO

lene
‘i

"a

BIRDS AS CONSERVATORS OF THE FOREST. 263

lands. The diet of the bird, however, merits some consideration in treating of
the good work done by birds in destroying forest enemies. The robin eats a large
number of injurious insects, but the ones to which attention is particularly
called now are the leaf-destroying caterpillars: These constitute over eight per cent
of the robin’s yearly food, as determined by the examination of 330 of their
stomachs. ‘They are a very constant element of the diet, and even the birds taken
during the winter months had in some way found quite a number of them, probably
from crannies where they were hibernating.

In the summer of 1898, when the forest tent caterpillar overran the maple
woods of Vermont, and thereby did much injury to the sugar orchards, thousands
of acres were stripped nearly bare of foliage. The insects were of course preyed
upon by many birds, but the good work done by one pair of robins deserves to be
placed on record. This pair had built their nest upon a maple tree which stood
in the corner of a farmer’s cowyard, and, like all the other maples in that
vicinity, it was covered with caterpillars. The farmer told the writer that every
night and morning, as he milked his cows, he watched these robins, which busily
fed their young as long as he was there. They did not spend their time going to
other trees, but simply took the insects from the outer twigs and leaves, brought
them to the nest, and stuffed them into the gaping mouths of the nestlings.
This they were always doing at all hours while under observation, until the
young were able to leave the nest.

The good work done by robins in distributing seeds will be detailed on

another page.

Wisi Woanrisos;

The vireos are a genus of birds that live largely in the forest, and obtain
their food from trees. They are rather quiet and unobtrusive, though active,
birds, and their plumage is of modest, subdued colors, with no startling or vivid
tints. There are thirteen species and ten subspecies within the boundaries of the
United States. They are migratory, so that the good work they do in the northern
forests is confined to the summer season. As a rule, they do not frequent the
deepest recesses of the forests, but choose the more open and parklike portions.
Deciduous trees are also preferred to the evergreens. In foraging they somewhat
resemble the orioles in the care with which they examine each leaf for possible
caterpillars and other insects. They are birds of tireless industry, and seem
always to be engaged in their search for insect food.

The vireos are practically wholly beneficial to the interests of man in the matter
of their food, which consists almost entirely of insects which are for the most

part injurious species. Of these the two most prominent items are bugs (Hemiptera)

264 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

and caterpillars. In the case of one species of vireo, the bugs amount to nearly
forty-five per cent of the food of the year, and in some months rise to over seventy-
five per cent. The families represented are the soldier bugs (Pentatomidae), the
buffalo tree-hoppers (Membracidae), the jumping plant-lice (Psyllidae), the spittle
insects (Cercopidae), the leaf-hoppers (Jassidae) and scales (Coccidae). All of
these insects are to a greater or less extent inhabitants of trees, upon the foliage
of which they subsist. Some species of the spittle insects are very harmful to
pines, while the scales in some of their numerous species infest nearly every form
of tree or shrub.

The next most important element of the vireo’s food is made up of caterpillars,
with a few of the adult insects (moths). The harm that these creatures do to the
foliage of trees has been discussed so often as to tequire no further comment.
The remainder of the food is made up of small beetles, including some weevils,
many ants, a few grasshoppers and some other insects.

The following observation illustrates how much good work a pair of these
birds may do in the way of insect destruction while rearing a brood of their off-
spring. A nestful of young, four in number, of the red-eyed vireo was kept
under observation from the time that the birds were first hatched until they
were able to leave the nest. They were watched for several hours each day in
hour periods, which were selected to fall in different parts of the day, so that
every hour was represented from early dawn until darkness closed the work. The
result was that the young were found to be fed by the parents on an average of
somewhat more than twelve times in each hour of daylight, from the time of hatch-
ing till they were able to fly. As there were at that time fully fourteen hours of
daylight in each day the birds were fed 168 times a day at least; or, as there
were four of them, forty-two times each. This means the destruction of 168
insects every day, and probably several times that number.

Besides the various species of birds which have been discussed in the fore-
going pages, there are many others that incidentally do a good work in forest
preservation by the destruction of its insect enemies. As the tree-destroying
beetles migrate from tree to tree, which they sometimes do in swarms, they are
preyed upon by the various species of fly-catchers, swallows and other birds that
habitually take more or less of their food upon the wing. To illustrate: the
destructive engraver beetle Yomzcus pint has been identified in the stomachs of
the following birds: Contopus virens, Hlirundo erythrogaster, Petrochelidon lunifrons,
Iridoprocne bicolor, and Chordeiles virginianus.

With the exception of the first, none of these is in any sense a forest bird, and

the insect must have been taken on the wing as it was migrating to new fields

BIRDS AS CONSERVATORS OF THE FOREST. : 265

of destruction. In the same way many destructive weevils have been found in the
stomachs of birds that never could have taken the insect in its feeding and breeding
haunts, but while it was migrating for the purpose of finding fresh foliage and
new unoccupied feeding grounds. In like manner the whole body of insect-eating
birds are at all times preying upon insects that may be more or less harmful to
forest trees, but which they find, not in the place where that destruction is wrought,
but while in transit from one place to another. Wherever an insect is destroyed,
if it be a species that ever feeds upon a forest tree, the forest is benefited by the
work, for the species is reduced in numbers, and fewer progeny will be brought

forth to prey upon vegetation in general, forests included.

Birds as Distribators of Seeds.

Thus far the vegetable portion of the food of the birds under discussion has
not been considered. In the case of many of the foregoing species it is the minor
part and of least importance, but still should not be neglected, as some of it plays
an important part in relation to the forest. Many trees bear fruits or nuts which
constitute an important element of the food of many species of birds, and by them
are transported from the forest tree to other places, where they are dropped and
often spring up, and if the conditions are favorable grow to be trees. In this
way the cedars, the wild cherries, the dogwoods, tupelos, maples, ashes, and all
the nut-bearing trees are often propagated. While nature has in many cases
provided the seeds of plants with special means for their distribution, many of
them are dependent upon the animal kingdom to place them in a situation where they
can germinate and grow. In this work various birds play an important part.

When seeds are eaten by birds, one of two things is liable to happen. Either
the seeds themselves are broken and ground up by the action of the stomach,
aided by the gravel contained therein, or else some digestible coating is taken off
and assimilated, and the remainder either passed out through the intestine or
regurgitated uninjured. The former takes place in the tringelline birds, the black
birds, the gallinaceous birds, and some others that subsist largely upon seeds.
In the case where small fruits containing seeds are taken as food, it is the pulp
which is sought for, and when the process of digestion has removed this, the
seed is usually passed out in a condition to germinate.

It is a time-honored belief that a seed which has passed through the digestive
tract of an animal is in a much better condition for germination than before. How-
ever this may be, it is certain that when swallowed by a bird the seed has a better

chance to be dropped at a distance from the parent plant, where the conditions for

266 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

growth are likely to be more favorable. Of all the seeds thus distributed, some are
certain to find conditions under which they can thrive, while, if they fell directly

to the ground from the branch where they grew, few or none would ever survive.

VEGETABLE Foop oF THE WOODPECKERS.

The vegetable portion of the food of the downy and hairy woodpeckers consists
largely of small fruits of trees or shrubs, the seeds of which pass through the
bird or are disgorged uninjured and ready to germinate and grow. The most
important seeds found in the stomachs of these species are those of dogwood
(Cornus), Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus), June or service berries (Amelanchier),
hornbeam (Ostrya), sour gum (Nyssa), and wild. black cherries (Prunus). Some
of these only rise to the dignity of shrubs, but still have their uses in the forest,
while others attain to the size of trees and produce useful timber. Many of the
wild berry-bearing shrubs are of no mean importance in the economy of nature.
They furnish food for birds, and in many cases for man also. Of these the rubus
fruits (blackberries and raspberries) are good examples. The berries are eaten freely
by the woodpeckers, which scatter the seeds far and wide, to germinate and
produce thick masses of brambles that act as covers to young forest growth,
as well as furnish berries.

The two species of three-toed woodpeckers eat practically no vegetable food,
or at most none which has any bearing upon the welfare of the forest.

The vegetable food of the flicker is much more extensive in variety and quantity
than that of the downy and hairy. It eats many more berries, such as elder-
berries, huckleberries, spiceberries, mulberries, hackberries, and, in addition to the
tree seeds eaten by the foregoing species, it eats juniper berries (/umzperus
virginiana). ‘This last forms a very favorite winter food for many species of
birds, and in the Middle and Southern States this tree is to be seen growing
in rows along every fence and by the roadsides, where the seeds have been
dropped by the birds when perched upon the fence.

The redheaded woodpecker eats about the same vegetable matter as the preced-
ing, but when there is a crop of beechnuts the bird, instead of migrating, remains
north all winter and lives upon them. Dr. C. Hart Merriam has given much
testimony upon this point. He states that in northern New York, where it is one
of the commonest woodpeckers, it subsists almost exclusively on beechnuts during
the fall and winter, even picking the green nuts before they are ripe and while the

trees are still covered with leaves. He has shown that these woodpeckers

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BIRDS AS CONSERVATORS OF THE FOREST. 267

invariably remain throughout the winter after good nut yields, but migrate when-
ever the nut crop fails.*

Mr. O. P. Hay says that in central Indiana, during a good beechnut year,
from the time the fruits begin to ripen the redheads were almost constantly on
the wing, passing from the beeches to some place of deposit. They hid the nuts
in almost every conceivable situation. Many were placed in cavities in partly
decayed trees; large handfuls were taken from a single knothole; they were
found under a patch of raised bark and single nuts were driven into cracks in
the bark. Others were thrust into the cracks of gateposts, and a favorite place
of deposit was behind long slivers on fenceposts. In several instances the space
formed by a board springing away from a fence was nearly filled with nuts, and
afterward pieces of bark and wood were brought and driven over the nuts as if
to hide them from poachers.

Now it seems to be fairly probable, if not absolutely certain, that in all this
passing back and forth, carrying beechnuts, some of them would be dropped upon
the ground, in places favorable to germination and growth. Observation shows
that when a bird drops a nut in this way it does not attempt to pick it up, but
simply goes for another. Nor is it improbable that many of these nuts are placed
at first in places where they can sprout and grow if left undisturbed, as must
often be the case. There is no testimony to show that the woodpeckers themselves
ever hide the nuts in the ground, as some other birds are known to do, but there
seems to be no reason to doubt that they might sometimes do so.

The yellow-bellied sapsucker eats rather fewer articles of vegetable diet than
the downy and hairy, but they are practically of the same kind.

The same may be said of the pileated woodpecker. This bird shows a fondness
for fruits, which constitute a larger percentage of its vegetable food than of any
other woodpecker except perhaps the flicker. The seeds of the sour gum, wild
grapes, and persimmons appear in many stomachs, and indicate that these fruits
are a favorite food. ,

There is one seed that is found in the stomachs of nearly all the woodpeckers
and many other birds, especially in winter, whose presence there, however, is to be
regretted. This is the seed of the poison ivy (Kus radicans), which is a favorite
winter food for many birds. The seed is surrounded by a coating of white wax-
like substance which appears to be quite nutritious, so that although it is but a
small part of the seed it evidently affords sufficient nutriment to supply the bird’s
wants. It is not unusual to find a stomach completely filled with these seeds from

* Birds of Connecticut, 1877, p. 66; Bull. Nuttall Ornith. Club, Vol. III, 1878, p. 124; Mammals

of the Adirondacks, 1884, p. 226.
+ Auk, Vol. IV, 1887, pp. 194, 105.

268 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

which the wax has all been removed by the process of digestion. This large quantity
of seeds then passes through the intestine, or in some cases, notably the crow,
regurgitated and scattered broadcast, ready to grow and produce a great number
of these disagreeable and, to some people, dangerous plants. This vine is in
itself ornamental, especially in autumn, and were it not for its poisonous qualities
would be a desirable plant for covering unsightly objects like stumps and dilapidated
walls and stone piles. As it is, however, its presence is always to be deplored, and
while it subserves a useful purpose in furnishing food for many birds in a season
of scarcity, it is unfortunate that the seeds are not devitalized in the process of
digestion. There is at least one bird, the chickadee, which, while it subsists to some
extent upon this seed, does not assist in its dissemination. This bird is too
small to swallow so large a seed, so it merely pecks the wax from the outside
and leaves the seed upon the parent vine. There is another vine which closely
resembles the poison ivy, but is harmless. This is the Virginia creeper or
woodbine (Parthenoctssus quinquefolia), and as its seeds are borne in an attractive
berry they are eaten by birds nearly as much as those of the ivy, and are scattered
in the same way. For this we are duly thankful, as the plant is at all times
ornamental, and its beauty in the fall is proverbial. The resemblance between
the two is unfortunately very close, and many distressing accidents have happened
when inexperienced persons have gone in quest of autumn leaves and have mistaken

the ivy for the woodbine.
Tue Rosin.

As an eater of fruit and a distributor of seeds the robin has few, if any, rivals,
except possibly the cedarbird. In the examination of 380 stomachs there were
identified forty-two different species of wild fruits, of which the seeds would either
pass through the intestine unharmed or would be regurgitated, but in either case
would in all probability fall where they could sprout and grow. Some of these,
like the wild cherry, the sour gum and junipers, are genuine trees, while others, like
the dogwoods, the bird cherries and the amelanchiers, are of smaller growth, and still
others are only shrubs. As the robin is not a frequenter of the forest depths,
the seeds would be dropped, as a general rule, away from overshadowing trees,
and so have the best possible chance for growth, and in this way the forest is

extended.
Tue CEpDARBIRD (Ampelzs cedrorum).

This bird, like the robin, subsists largely upon fruits, the seeds of which it
distributes far and wide. The wild cherry, the sour gum and the juniper are
three species whose fruit is much eaten by the cedarbird, and the seeds scattered

in a thousand places where they have a chance for germination and growth.

wo

BIRDS AS CONSERVATORS OF THE FOREST. 269

THE Jays.

There are within the limits of the United States ten species, with several
subspecies, of jays, all of which inhabit the forest, or at least avoid the habitations
and improvements of man. In the east there are two species, the blue jay
(Cyanocitta cristata) and the Canada jay (Pertsoreus canadensis). On the Pacific
coast several species of jays are found, but two are conspicuous, as they inhabit
the more thickly settled portion of that region. These are the California jay
(Aphelocoma californica) and Stellar’s jay (Cyanocitta stelleri), In their general
habits they strongly resemble the blue jay of the east, and their food habits are
much the same, though the western species feed much more freely on fruit than
their eastern relative. This perhaps is owing to greater opportunities, and the
taste may be an acquired one. Like the eastern species, however, mast is a
prominent ingredient of their food, and it is this which renders the group of interest
to foresters.

THe BLue Jay.

Of all the birds of the forest, there are few that are more conspicuous than
the blue jay of the east. Its plumage is of the most brilliant hues, and its voice
is loud and piercing. Besides, it is an active bird, and always seems to have a
good deal of business on hand, but still has plenty of time to inquire into yours
if you happen to trespass upon what it considers its own especial domain. As
the bird is a resident in most parts of its range, it is seen most often and to the
best advantage in fall and winter. At such times the brilliant hue of its plumage
is finely contrasted with the crimson leaves, or with the snows of winter.

It is as a nut eater that the jay becomes of the most interest in its relation
to the forest; still its diet does contain a fair percentage of harmful insects.
Among those eaten were a number of beetles belonging to the genera Cotalpa,
Pelidnota and lLachnosterna, all of which are injurious to trees, while some
Chrysomelids were taken, which feed upon foliage. Besides these, several weevils
belonging to the genus Balaninus were eaten. ‘This insect infests acorns, chestnuts,
etc., and was probably taken by the jay while collecting mast, which is its favorite
food. Caterpillars are also eaten to some extent in the last of summer and early
fall. In the winter months the jay eats the eggs of injurious moths, notably
those of the tent caterpillars (Malacosoma). Mr. E. H. Forbush records that it
fed freely upon the larvae of the gypsy moth, perhaps the most destructive
enemy to the forest ever known in America.

The largest item of food in the yearly diet of the jay is mast —that is, acorns,

chestnuts, chinquapins, beechnuts, etc. The jay not only eats these but stores

270 REPORT OF THE FORESD, FISH AND (GAME ‘COMMISSION.

them up for winter use in various cracks and crannies, or frequently simply
places them in a fork of a tree branch, and it is in this work that it does its
greatest good for forest propagation. The writer has often found stray acorns,
chestnuts, etc., in open fields far from the parent tree, where they had probably
been accidentally dropped by jays when being carried to some place of concealment.
At such times these birds have a great deal of business on hand, and do a great
deal of flying about and screaming; and whether they can scream and hold a nut
in the beak at the same time is doubtful, so it is probable that a goodly propor-
tion of the nuts that are intended for storing are dropped in®= transit, Bie
California jay has the habit of storing acorns in the ground, and Dr. Merriam
informs me that the Indians of that region call the jay the oak planter, and say
that every oak that grows is from an acorn planted by one of these birds.
Whether the eastern species ever intentionally places acorns in the ground I am
unable to say, but it is certain that it puts many there by accident, and often
those that are stored are in positions where they may germinate and grow, such
as cracks in stumps or partially decayed logs. Moreover, many nuts are either by
intention or through carelessness left on the tops of fenceposts, or in forks of trees,
from which the wind will easily dislodge them.

The Canada jay is the most northerly of any of the jays, extending its range
well up into the Arctic regions. It is a denizen of the coniferous forests, and it
is not known whether it ever feeds upon the seeds of these trees. If it does it prob-

ably aids in their distribution.

Tur Common Crow (Corvus brachyrhyncos).

As a distributor of forest seeds the crow deserves at least a passing notice.
During the winter season the crow feeds largely upon the more or less dried up
fruits of the previous summer, with many seeds of the poison ivy. The indigestible
portion of this food —that is, the seeds or stones—are disgorged after the available
nutrient part has been removed by action of the stomach. The seeds so disgorged
are in no way injured, but are in excellent condition to sprout and grow. In
many parts of the country, crows have a habit of gathering in one place to roost
at night, though during the day they distribute themselves over a large area of
country to forage. One of their roosts which was inspected by the writer was
estimated to be occupied by at least 250,000 crows at night, and extended over
several acres of forest. All through this area every square inch of ground
was covered by the disgorged pellets made up of seeds and gravel which were

rejected by the birds during the night. On this ground many bushels of seeds

AMERICAN RED CROSSBILL
UPPER FIGURES MALES, LOWER FIGURE FEMALE

BIRDS AS CONSERVATORS OF THE FOREST. 27

of wild grapes, sour gum, juniper, dogwood, viburnum and poison ivy could have
been gathered. As the crow is an inhabitant of the forest or its immediate
vicinity, it feeds largely upon the fruits of the forest, and thus distributes the
seeds by which it is replenished.

Tue Prine Grospeak (Pexzcola enucleator).

The pine grosbeak is an inhabitant of the northern portion of North America,
and a winter visitant to the more northerly parts of the United States, sometimes
coming as far south as Pennsylvania. It is, however, rather erratic in its move-
ments, and is often absent from some localities for a series of years, after which
it may again become abundant. During its winter stay in the United States it is
wonderfully tame and confiding, and can usually be approached to within a few
feet, and sometimes can be taken with the hand.

The food of the grosbeak is mostly obtained upon trees, and consists of seeds
and small fruits during the months when the bird is not breeding. Accurate
data are lacking as to the bird’s diet while engaged in rearing its young, but
it is probable that at that time it consists principally of insects or other animal
matter. The seeds eaten consist mostly of those of trees such as the ash and
the conifers. It takes the seeds from the cone by means of its stout beak, and
while most of them are eaten and so destroyed, many fall to the ground where
they can germinate. The fruit which these birds eat is mostly of such species as
grow. upon trees or the larger shrubs, like the juniper, the sour gum and the vibur-
nums. The seeds of these of course pass through the intestinal tract uninjured
and are distributed where they have a chance to sprout and grow. Besides seed and
fruit, the bird subsists to some extent upon buds, and is accused of doing damage

to trees in this way, but it is doubtful if the injury is serious.

Tue Crosspitis (Loxza curvtrostra minor and C. leucoptera).

The crossbills, like the pine grosbeak, are residents of the north, and make
irregular excursions into the country lying farther south. While in a general
way these southern migrations occur at the beginning of cold weather, and the
return northward in the spring, yet in the case of the red species (L. c. mznor)
the birds often linger in the south till spring is far advanced. Another of their
peculiarities is that they frequently breed in midwinter, even in a climate as
cold as that of central New England, and this may account for the fact that they
are in no hurry to get back to the north in the spring as their procreative

duties may have been already performed.

LHe REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

The food of the crossbills resembles that of the grosbeak, as they are strictly
forest inhabitants, and obtain most of their food from trees. A small number of
stomachs of these birds has been examined, and the uniformity of their contents
leads to the belief that they give a fair idea of the general food. Seeds are the
favorite article of diet for the greater portion of the year, yet during the summer
time some insects are eaten. A number of stomachs of the red crossbill taken
in the summer months yielded specimens of only two orders of insects —viz,
caterpillars and plant-lice. These last appear to be a very favorite food, for several
stomachs were nearly filled with them, and one contained nothing else. It scarcely
needs to be pointed out that in eating these insects the crossbills are doing a
good work for the forest.

It is, however, in their character as seed-eaters that the crossbills are best
known. Their preference for coniferous forests as a place of residence and their
fondness for the seeds from the cones has long been a matter of observation.
The peculiar structure of their bills enables them to extract and hull the seeds
of ‘the pines and other conifers with a deftness which can be equaled by no
other bird. As a consequence, the seeds of the cone-bearing trees form the largest
item of their food. Of course the seeds that are thus eaten do not help to
perpetuate the forest, but many seeds are scattered broadcast, and it is probable
that by this means more of them are placed in a location suitable for germi-
nation than would happen if the cones were left upon the trees unopened until

they fell of their own weight.

The Birds of Prey.

While the smaller mammals, such as mice, voles, wood-rats and rabbits do not
habitually do any remarkable damage to the grown forest, they are very destructive
to young trees, and in the forest nurseries often cause great losses by girdling
young stock. These creatures have long been a source of annoyance and expense
in young orchards and nurseries of fruit trees, and where efforts are being made to
raise forest trees for the purpose of artificially restocking forest areas it is found
necessary to take measures to guard against these pests, or much of the labor
and expense will be wasted.

It is in such emergencies as these that the beneficial work of the hawks and owls
is appreciated. The food of these birds has been thoroughly studied and discussed by
Dr. A. K. Fisher, and his publication upon the subject is a model of painstaking
labor.*

*The Hawks and Owls of the United States, in Their Relation to Agriculture, Bulletin No. 3,
Div. Ornithology and Mammals, U. S. Dept. Agric. By A. K. Fisher, M. D.

BIRDS AS CONSERVATORS OF THE FOREST. 273

Dr. Fisher has shown that the principal food of these birds, with a few excep-
tions, consists of small noxious mammals, such as rats, mice, rabbits, etc., and
it is probable that they are the most potent factor in preventing the undue
increase of these pests. The common cotton-tail rabbit, as well as others of his
ilk, is a constant menace to young nursery stock of either fruit or forest trees,
and as these creatures are nocturnal in their habits, they feed at a time when it is
practically impossible to protect the trees from their depredations. But nature
has kindly arranged that two of our largest species of nocturnal birds—that is,
the great horned owl and the barred owl—should prey upon the rabbits, and so keep
their numbers within bounds. In most cases they would do this work effectually
if unmolested, but it seems impossible for a man with a gun to abstain from
killing an owl if a chance is presented, and then to justify himself will declare
that owls kill pigeons, poultry and game birds.

That the majority of the birds of prey feed to an injurious extent upon birds
or poultry is a contention which has been thoroughly refuted by Dr. Fisher.
That they do occasionally attack poultry, and sometimes, when hard pressed, kill
small birds or game no one will have the hardihood to deny, but, as Dr. Fisher
has demonstrated, these cases constitute the exception and not the rule. The
normal food of the various species of hawks and owls, with two or three exceptions,
consists of the small mammals, mostly of the order of Rodentia, all of which are
more or less harmful to the interests of agriculture, and some are pests. The
smaller species of owls, preying as they do in the night, come in contact with
mice and voles, whose habits are more or less nocturnal, and find the principal
source of their food supply in these noxious creatures. During the winter season,
particularly if the snow be deep, these mice and other rodents subsist largely
upon the bark of young trees, which they girdle beneath the surface of the snow,
and in this way ruin thousands. During daylight many of these creatures are
captured by the various species of hawks, so that the good work of destroying
them is carried on throughout the whole twenty-four hours.

Perhaps the most striking instance of the good work accomplished by birds of
prey is the case of a pair of barn owls that have for a number of years occupied
one of the towers of one of the public buildings in Washington. Dr. Fisher has at
various times visited this eyrie and gathered the disgorged pellets containing the
undigestible portion of their prey, which it is well known the birds regurgitate.
In all there were collected 675 of these pellets, and by a careful analysis they
were found to contain the bones of 1,787 small mammals, thirty-two birds and
two frogs, or 1,821 individual animals in all. These, it must be borne in mind,

were collected in the parks and the immediate vicinity of a large city, which one

274 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

would scarcely consider as the best kind of a hunting ground. This species of
owl is an abundant resident on the Pacific coast, and must have a very decided

effect upon the small mammalian fauna of that region.

Damage Done to Trees by Birds by Destroying Beds.

In treating of the pine grosbeak, reference was made to the fact that a portion
of its food consists of buds of trees. The pine grosbeak, the crossbills, the
purple finch (Carpadacus purpureus) and other species of the finches, and the ruffed
grouse and perhaps some others, have all been accused of doing harm to trees
by eating the buds, both of blossoms and leaves. As far as the writer has been
able to observe, very little such harm is done, even when the disbudding has
been quite extensive. As a general rule, buds upon: trees are superabundant.
Moreover, nature has kindly arranged that when one set of buds are taken from
a tree a new supply are at once developed from around the bases of the old set,
or often at a distance from these places, and the tree appears to suffer no appreci-
able harm. In one case which came under the writer’s observation, a portion of
the mowing land of an abandoned farm was by nature seeded to poplars (Populus
tremuloides), which came up very thickly over a considerable area. When these
trees were a few feet in hight they became the feeding ground for ruffed grouse
from the adjacent woods, and these birds might be seen feeding there any evening
during the winter months.

As the area of forest was quite extensive, there were many grouse that soon
made the poplar patch their regular foraging ground; but, in spite of this, within
ten years the trees had grown to between thirty and forty feet in hight, and
were as thrifty as could be desired.

In another instance an apple orchard was bounded on two sides by woodland and
the grouse ‘‘budded” extensively upon the trees that were nearest to the forest.
These birds are supposed to have a special fondness for the blossom buds of apple
trees, and often venture to quite a distance from their forest retreats in order
to gratify this taste, so it is to be inferred that in the instance where the trees
were so easily accessible they did their best, or, from a horticultural point of
view, their worst. In any case a careful inspection year after year of the trees
nearest the woods did not show any inferiority in fruit bearing or in any other
respect as compared with those at a distance. Most trees, either of the orchard
or forest, produce several times as many blossoms as they are able to mature, so
that the taking away of a portion of them, if not carried too far, is a positive

benefit.

Fishes and Fishing in the ddirondacks

From the Sportsman’s Point of View.

By A. Jupp Norrturup.

T might as well be confessed at the outset that the Forest, Fish and Game

| Commission are not to be held responsible for any faulty views or erroneous

opinions expressed in this article. They have kindly left the writer free

to say what he will, and he alone is responsible. Some things he may say will

doubtless be ‘‘random casts,’ and often wide of the mark, but that is not an
uncommon experience of fishermen.

Prior to forty years ago, or thereabouts, very few of the people of this State
had much knowledge or any due appreciation of the special nature and value
of the Adirondacks. In ‘‘the good old times” before Murray wrote his facts and
fables of that enchanting region, the sportsmen and the dwellers along the fringes
of the forest had the monopoly of the fish and game, and the lovers of nature
among them the enjoyment of the marvelous forests, lakes, rivers and mountains.
Year after year, ‘‘accoutered as they were,” in their old woolen clothing, with
pack baskets, ‘‘supplies,”’ fishing tackle and guns, they rather shyly (for they were
frowned on in those days) slipped off to the ‘‘ North Woods” for their glorious
sport with rod and gun and camp. In May, and again in July, they reached
the edge of the forest as best they could, with no railroads to make approach
easy, and then came the rough trails, the unmarked ways to the favorite resorts,
the streams down which the waters tumbled over rocks and precipices, with here
and there a welcome ‘“‘still-water,’’ until at last the chosen spot on stream or
lake, and possibly a rude camp of logs or bark built in other days of delight,
was reached. And then heaven smiled on them, and the leaf-clad earth gladdened
them, and the forest swayed its great tree tops in joyous welcome! Fish?

’

Worlds of them! Trout, speckled and ‘‘salmon,”’ mostly. These had little fear
of man; they were not educated to fear. They took the deceitful fly, worms, fish
tails or fin, pork rind, the red rag —anything.

275

276 REPORT OF DHE HORESL, PISH AND GAME) COMMISSION:

The deer, too, were there, and venison steak was in season all the year round.
There were no game laws to speak of—at least none that the sportsman
remembered. And the sportsman had the primeval hunger. He lived like a
lord, a lord that had fresh air all day, on the streams or lakes, and through
the night in his open camp; and his appetite was like that of a modern locomotive
going up grade. Trout, venison, flapjacks and maple sugar, and coffee went
into his cavernous stomach, and he got up steam for long tramps, and slept
without a bad dream.

The sportsman had all this world to himself (save the invasions by the pot
fisherman of the semicivilized border settlers in other days). And he kept it to
himself and a few chosen friends, for the public counted him a tramp, a vagrant,
rather than a sportsman. Those were the barbarous days before vacations came
into fashion. So, the good steady people of the State knew very little of the
Adirondacks, their beauty and sublimity, their healthfulness and health giving,
the material riches and value of the forest growths, the mines of ore, the reservoirs
of water in the leaf-mold soil and in the lakes—water that fed the lazy rivers of
the outer world in summer, and turned the wheels of many mills outside. None
of these goodly, steady people cared much for the rude, rough wilderness up
north, where wheat and corn and meadow were unknown. Legislators had no
incentive to make stringent laws for the protection of a region deemed worthless
nor executive officers to execute the few laws for the unappreciated wealth of
forest and waters.

A few simple wise men, it is true—even the guileless Emerson at one time
and his company of like-minded philosophers —loved and sought nature here, and
sang the glories of the forest. But their voice sounded afar off to the common ear.

Then came Murray and Headley with blare of trumpets and the speech of the
people, and dear old W. C. Prime, who put ‘‘I Go a-Fishing” into a book with
artistic and scholastic taste; and they severally told the story of their happenings
and happiness in the forest.

The secret was out! The Adirondacks were discovered. Then came the rush
of the multitudes; later, the rude highways, and lastly the railroads and the
screech and scream of the steam whistle on rails of iron, on streams and lakes;
and the great hotels, with gas, electricity, dancing, card parties and all the
paraphernalia of a new Saratoga. Vanished then the happiest days of the
primitive sportsman, with his rude camp and rough clothing and his as yet guileless

oe

guide. The command of the new events and new multitudes was to ‘‘move on!”
and he hied himself to valleys among mountain fastnesses and the little lakes

hidden there; or, he changed, not his skies, but his nature, put on good clothes,

FROM PHOTOGRAPH BY HON. IRVING G. VANN.

INSCRIPTION ON ROCK IN CRANBERRY LAKE:

ee — = * oA
IN MEMORY OF REUBEN WOOD, A GENIAL GENTLEMAN AND GOOD FISHERMAN, WHO WAS FOND OF THESE
SOLITUDES.”’

FISHES AND FISHING IN THE ADIRONDACKS. 27h

knickerbockers, a linen collar, lived in a caravansary, made ‘‘trips,” dined in a
dress suit and attended ‘‘hops,” and became another creature altogether. For
the old fishing resorts were fast being depleted; the rude camps were supplanted
by cottages and hotels; sport became work; fish baskets grew smaller, and too
large at that, for they seldom ran over.

Yet, the genuine sportsman—not the man who fishes to fill a tub and salts
down trout for his winter’s food—think of that!—did not regret that women
and children and invalids came to his old haunts and drank in the beauty and

,

joy and health that so long had been his own. The ‘‘ gentle sportsman” sighed for
what had departed, but breathed a thanksgiving that these others might now
share these blessings—even a goodly portion of his own.

Still, he of the generous soul clung to his old ideals, the open camp, the
hidden lakes and streams, the immediate contact with nature, made his own fight
with whatever of hardships of tramp or weather, and gloried in the freedom from
the outer world’s work and worry—and by and by, came out strong from the
old, old toil and fun!

In the old times we built our rude camps substantially in this wise: First,
we laid logs two or three feet high on three sides (sometimes we omitted the
logs), leaving an open front; then put up crotches to sustain a pole in front
seven or eight feet above ground, on which poles were laid sloping to the logs
(or ground) in rear, as a framework for the roof. On these were laid broad
Sheers Ol Dania pecledmrrommentnessbOdieS OL sSpriuce mthees On them sides were
upright sheets of bark tucked snugly under the roof; the whole structure making
an open camp extending in length according to the requirements of the number
to be housed. A heap of stones, if obtainable, was placed in front a few feet
distant for the fire of logs on which the cooking was done and a fire kept up to
warm the camp at night and afford the evening light for the talks, fish stories
and the soothing pipe. The bed in camp was composed of the finer twigs of
balsam boughs, or hemlock if balsam could not be procured. Sometimes rude
bedsteads were constructed on which the boughs were laid, but oftener, especially
if the camp was to be used only for a short time, the boughs, well ‘‘shingled”
and the finest on the top, were laid, six inches or more thick, upon the ground.
A single small log laid on the ground at the front of the camp served as a seat
before the fire and to keep things snug under cover. Various additions to
comfort, by way of stools, rude camp chairs, etc., often were constructed, lines
were stretched and nails driven on which to hang clothing and blankets.

The dining-rocm (a luxury sometimes indulged in), built separately, consisted

simply of a nearly flat bark roof supported by posts set in the ground, and the

278 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

‘‘room’’ furnished with a bark table, and a long seat on two sides consisting of
strong poles. Then the ‘‘camp” was deemed to be complete and comfortable
if not elegant. Sometimes, if the same party visited a camp ground year after
year, a rude structure of logs was made—always with bark for a roof —and
often even indulging in the luxury of a door. |

The peeling of spruce trees for the bark was a fearfully wasteful but some-
what indispensable and excusable matter at a period when it was impossible to
procure other matertal than bark for roof and siding for the forest home. That
necessity has passed since the means of transportation have so vastly improved,
and serviceable and comparatively light and cheap paper roofing is made. Besides,
light waterproofed tents for camping are easily transported, quickly set up, and
serve the camper’s needs fairly well. The old-time camper, however, still laments
the passing of his open camp, his bed of boughs, and the cheerful fire in front.
Even the smoke that brought tears to his eyes and choked him in the middle of
his best fish story had a fascination that the tent can never create.

It requires a bit of genius to know where to build the camp or pitch the
tent. It must not be under or near a tree liable to fall or blow down. Of course
it must be reasonably near the fishing ground, by stream or lake. It ought, too,
to be near a good spring of drinking water, or a very clear and cold stream. One
should, and will be inclined to, drink an abundance of water — water with no
bacteria to bother him when he goes home. By the way, the less bottles one
carries into the woods the better. Better even to have a few bacteria now and then
than an abused stomach and befuddled brain. One doesn’t need to be much of
a sportsman to learn after a little that punkies, black flies and mosquitoes are
the black clouds of which good fishing is the silver lining. The less cloud,
however, the better. The camp, if possible, should face toward the prevailing
breeze. That drives away some thousands of the pests. Sunlight, to make the
camp dry, is desirable. A breezy, sunlit camp, near a good spring of water,
facing a pleasant view, near good fishing grounds, is a joy forever —in memory
as well as realization.

The game fish of the Adirondacks, until recently, were all of the trout
family. The black bass is a new comer, and he came because he had to. He
was drafted to fill the depleted ranks of the trout. Perhaps he continues the
process of thinning out the trout — which the lumberman began and the multitude
continued. It probably depends largely on conditions. If he can otherwise get
all the food he wants, quite likely he will not seriously disturb the spawning
beds of the trout or chase to their death the troutlings. But the black bass is a

glorious fighter, game to the last, and the sportsman will not quarrel with his

AN OLD-TIME SANITARIUM.

STILLWATER ON THE BEAVER RIVER.

FISHES AND FISHING IN THE ADIRONDACKS. 279

coming in waters that practically have ceased to be inhabited by trout. A fine
feature in Adirondack fishing certainly has been added.

The great enemy of the trout is the wicked pickerel. Anathema Maranatha /
say all sportsmen, upon the heads of the villains who for revenge or from pure,
unadulterated accursedness have introduced this fish demon into the happy home
of the trout family!

How to catch trout, is the question the beginner asks, and the answers will
depend on various facts—seasons, waters, weather, times of day, and amount
and quality of food the fish are having, and the mood of the fish themselves.
Then, again, the ardent fly fisherman will decry bait fishing; the bait fisherman
will boast of his catches and tell you that his basket contains the larger and more
numerous fish. Again, the fly caster will descant upon flies learnedly and show you
such a variety that you will wonder how he learned so much of the tastes
and preferences of the trout family.

However, some facts about the matter are plain. In May, after the ice goes
out of the rivers and lakes, the trout are hungry, and roam about in search of
food to break their long fast. Bait fishing is then in its best estate, and fly fishing
only mildly satisfactory. Earth worms and grubs seem to be most attractive, but
other kinds of bait will serve. Trolling in the larger lakes along the shores and
around rocky islands, with bright spoons to draw attention to the angle worms
trailing from the hook, is successfully practiced. Very early the fish begin to ascend
the rapids, and there fly fishing is likely to be good.

Spring is the season when parties from the ‘‘ border” come into the Adiron-
dacks and fish for the tub. They camp by a lake, and clean it out. It is said
that last year one such party, in two weeks, caught, in one of the smaller lakes
not far from Cranberry Lake, four hundred pounds, which they salted down like
so much pork! It is not surprising that the summer fisherman found that lake
“‘poor fishing.” In Cranberry Lake, in the spring of 1904, a whole fishing
fleet trolled along the rocky points at the south end of the lake and around
Buck Island, day after day, taking a vast quantity of large trout. The following
summer, sportsmen wondered why that celebrated fishing resort had ceased to
afford the royal sport of former years and why the spring holes yielded so few
trout. The story of the spring fishing gave the answer.

Late in June, and during July and August, the trout seek the cool water,
and crowd into the little coves where cold streams enter lake or river, or ascend
streams toward their fountain head. Then artificial flies are the most attractive
lure and give the sportsman his greatest pleasure. Bait, however, takes the big

sly fish that hug the bottom, although at certain hours, notably at evening, they

280 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

rise to the fly; and if the fisherman’s chief desire is to fill his basket, without
regard to the pleasure, he may perhaps successfully with bait compete with the.
fly fishing sportsman. This he can do, however, only where there is deep water.
There is no comparision in the pleasure of the two methods, even when baskets
are even.

Lake trout may be taken, in the spring, by trolling along the shallow water
near shore or around rocky ledges, and in the summer with bait or by deep
trolling. Such fishing, however, is mainly a matter of providing a breakfast,
and can hardly be called sport.

On no point do sportsmen differ so much, perhaps, as upon choice of, or
preference for, certain flies. The amateur will show you a gorgeous hued assort-
ment that would bewilder the wisest fish and cause inextinguishable laughter in
his family. The old-timer—who has had that craze and recovered from it —
meanwhile will have a half dozen tried and true favorites, each with a history
of victories fairly won, and now on the retired list, while recruits of the same
sort are on duty. If, however, one were on a tramp through the forest, and
his life depended on now and then capturing a trout, and he could have but one
fly, it should be the humble, modest brown hackle. It is perhaps suited to more
times, seasons, waters and fish appetites than any other—and yet one may still
have his half-dozen favorites. For use on the dark Adirondack waters trout flies
may be larger than those used on clearer waters.

As for rods, the good old ash and lance wood variety of former days has
disappeared, and the light, strong, supple split bamboo has taken its place. A
good bamboo rod is the acme of excellence. The steel rod has its admirers also.
The automatic reels are a delight to those who have learned how to use them
and when and when not to ‘‘push the button.” The finer the tackle the more the
pleasure with a skillful hand at the butt. The success, however, measured
by the basket is not always commensurate. The rough and tumble of much of
Adirondack fishing suggests the use of a fairly substantial fishing outfit.

By reason of destructive agencies, some of which have been mentioned, only
on the private preserves, in streams and lakes somewhat inaccessible to the less
enterprising sportsman, and here and there a lake unusually fitted for the growth
of trout, are they found in anything like satisfactory numbers. Do what they
may, the State hatcheries cannot do much to.meet or arrest the decrease while
these abuses continue, and the sportsman predicts in sadness that if they are
not checked the next generation very likely will know nothing of Adirondack

trout fishing except from tradition and books.

“SHNNH UVAN ‘STIVA AIHOLVOUMSO

FISHES AND FISHING IN THE ADIRONDACKS. 281

There are some very evident causes of this condition — causes which the State
could have prevented or arrested if it had begun the work of preserving the
forest, fish aud game in time. Apparently, it was only when it began to see
that commercial interests were involved, and water for navigation and water
power was diminishing from a denuding of the forest, that the State awoke to
the situation, then too late to undo the mischief, and undertook to save some-
thing from the wreck. The damage cannot be repaired within a decade, a
quarter or half century. But a beginning has been made, and with a serious
effort the Adirondacks some time—not while the older sportsmen are on earth
to enjoy it—the forest may come back to something like its old glory, and the

native home of the trout fitted for their return.

The greatest injury to the forest—and incidentally to the game fishing —has
been caused by the reckless lumbering of privately owned lands, and some of
the worst results of this profligate use of the forest growths have come about
by the destructive fires that frequently follow the cutting and removal of pretty
much all the trees, large and small. There is no desolation more gloomy and
forbidding than a forest section stripped of nearly all its trees and then burned
over, the very soil destroyed, and the bare rocks and ghostly scattered tree
trunks, dead and blackened, telling of the raging, devouring forest fire. Bird and
beast shun the region as if it were accursed. The streams, once cool and full, shrink
and shrivel; the shady nooks and covering under which the trout used to sport and
multiply are gone, and the trout themselves have sought other homes —if the
devastation has left access to any such.

Then, too, the traffic by steamers plying on the lakes and navigable streams,
however desirable or necessary, disturbs the shy fish in their natural haunts and
sometimes destroys or seriously disturbs their hatching beds.

No doubt it is wise to introduce bass in certain waters which from one cause
or another the trout have practically ceased to inhabit and to which, for various
reasons, they cannot be restored. The bass is a game fish with which the expert
angler will be glad to test his skill and fill his basket and to meet and enjoy at
his table —if he cannot follow the trout. Nevertheless, he is a menace to the
trout, and, as has already been suggested, if not otherwise well fed will complete
the work of extermination of the trout still struggling to maintain the reputation
and traditions of the old fishing waters. There is no excuse, however, for the
pickerel in the Adirondacks. His introduction there was fiendish and his work
among the gentle trout family is as devilish. Both these fish multiply rapidly
and work out their instincts vigorously. Where they both abound, the old type

of Adirondack sportsmen will certainly be seen no more.

282 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

Of course, the immense increase in the number of fishermen —legitimate
sportsmen in large part, perhaps—accounts for a part of the decrease of the
trout Shon ay lone time, (pot mishermenm trom: thee border amiaie entered
the Adirondacks in the early spring and ‘‘fished to death” the lakes and
streams they infest.

Fishing the small streams where the young trout betake themselves — their
nurseries—is one of the most destructive agencies for depleting the larger
streams and lakes, to which these trout if allowed to live would return grown to
a size enabling them to maintain themselves with the enemies of their babyhood.
The slaughter of these innocents out-Herods Herod. If a man claiming to be a
sportsman is guilty of this murderous business, he is somewhat paid for it in the loss
of legitimate sport in the larger waters. He ought to be prohibited from the
act by law and punished vigorously for doing it. The writer remembers still, with
a share of his old rage yet in his blood, seeing the catch in the northern wilderness
of two fish murderers from his own city some years ago, who returned at night
after one day’s fishing a small stream, showing with great glee their catch of about
four hundred baby trout! And at that time and place there was no law to
prevent their cruel and wasteful work. Between the pot fishers who in spring
‘‘clean out” the lakes and these July baby killers the trout have a hard time.
State and Preserve hatcheries wage a doubtful warfare against such enemies, but
with the help of legal restraints and rigid enforcement of law they may yet win the
battle.

The first remedy for this state of affairs is to bring the wild lands of the
Adirondacks into the State Park as rapidly as possible, and then guard it from
abuses such as have been described. It will take money to do this, of course,
but it is money well spent. This wilderness ought to belong to the people of the
State. It is unique, like Niagara Falls; of value as the sanitarium of the people;
the great vacation park, and ‘‘play ground” of grown up men and women; and
now that the sportsman is no longer in popular estimate ‘‘an idle fellow,”
and his name has become legion, it would seem as if he might be considered
just a little in this matter.

First and foremost, the denuding of the forest should be stopped where it is;
or, if valuable lumber is to be removed, it should be by selection and care and
under stringent regulations, by which a sufficient proportion and quality of trees
to really preserve the forest should be left standing, and by which—and this is
all important —the material for forest fires shall be removed or carefully destroyed.
Where the State acquires the whole title to a tract, this, by proper means, can

readily be accomplished. Where the State acquires title subject to the right of

SC (CIBURUCS” 7 WAG INET.

FISHES AND FISHING IN THE ADIRONDACKS. 283

the original owner to cut trees, as it is sometimes compelled to do in order
to acquire the lands at all, the enforcement of the protective regulations should
be followed up with the greatest watchfulness and effectiveness. Of course,
this is exceedingly difficult in such a secluded and wide area.

Laws should be enacted controlling the methods of lumbering on forest lands
owned by private individuals or companies; on the same general principle that in
cities the erection of buildings may be controlled in the way of preventing fires.
It cannot really be difficult to frame legislation to compel individual owners to so
use their own property as not to imperil the property of their neighbors, whether
their neighbors be the State or individuals.

Again, there ought to be a permanent State law against fishing the small streams
in the Adirondacks. It is not easy to say in a statute what a ‘‘small stream’ is, and
perhaps some provision could be framed leaving that as a designation to be applied
by the Forest, Fish and Game Commission to certain streams and the provisions
modified from time to time. At all events, fishing in fish nurseries should be
absolutely prohibited if any protective laws whatever are worth having.

Limiting the number or quantity of trout one person in one day may take
would certainly be wise. The Forest Preserve belonging to all the people, and
its fishing privileges and fish being theirs in common, and since there is not now
‘“enough to go around,” legal restraint of those who selfishly would take more
than their share is right in principle and has become necessary. The golden rule
needs to be put on the statute books, with penalties to back it up to make it -
effective —the millenium not yet having arrived.

With all these provisions accomplished and in working order, the State and
club hatcheries would play a still more effective and important part in their
attempt to restore the sportsman’s paradise lost. With the clubs owning and
protecting their own preserves, they accomplish their object. The forest —
their portion of it—is kept intact; the streams do not dry up; forest fires are
prevented; small streams are sacred to the fingerling trout; the individual catch
is limited to a reasonable number or weight; there are ‘‘rest days” for the fish, in
which they gambol and leap and take flies without fear of a barbed hook; and
the gray haired old sportsman who knew the virgin Adirondacks, as he passes
through these parks, dreams of the old elysium, feels anew the thrill which in
his younger days filled every nerve with delight.

Those who are inclined to rebel against the fact that men of wealth have
appropriated the best parts of the Adirondacks and closed the gates to all but
themselves and their friends have this to console them, that but for these rich

men and clubs the same senseless and destructive abuse of the forest and fish

284 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND) GAME COMMISSION.

which has prevailed elsewhere would have devastated these preserved spots;
that something has been rescued from the gross selfishness of the pot fisherman,
the thoughtless greed of the so-called sportsman, the ‘‘ worse than an infidel,”
who skulks along the little streams and murders the fingerlings, and that chief of
sinners, the slashing Jumberman. These portions of the forest have been, literally,
‘‘snatched from the burning.” It will at least afford the sad-eyed outsider grim
satisfaction to remember that some of the fish and game, bred and preserved
here, escape to the yet open streams and forest which he may capture —if he can.
He may have some liberal crumbs if not a full loaf, when, except for them, the
crumbs would be lacking. Nevertheless, without further loss of time or oppor-
tunity, the State, and not individuals, should purchase all the remaining ‘‘ choice
places”’ and hold them in perpetual trust for all the people. That is the present

’

pressing duty, the performance of which the ‘‘plain people” insistently demand.

The State is struggling against many obstacles, with a wider domain to look
after and protect, with laws less effective than the regulations of private owners
and clubs, to accomplish the same good purpose. Hatcheries, game protectors and
foresters do much, but more stringent laws, well enforced, will aid much,
and their aid is needed to carry out effectively the will of the people when they
dedicated this State Park for the use of the people. It is of pressing importance
to purchase detached tracts which now separate those already owned by the State.
The laws already provide for it; let the appropriations follow. These parcels are
increasing in value, and it is good business policy on the part of the State
to purchase them at the earliest possible time. And while they thus divide the
park into detached portions the difficulty of guarding the State lands is vastly
increased.

The effects of dams upon rivers and outlets of lakes in the Adirondacks have
been both disastrous and beneficial, so far as the pleasures of sportsmen are
concerned. Two notable instances are the dam raising Cranberry Lake, constructed
many years ago, the other of comparatively late construction on Beaver River
where the Beaver River Club has its preserve. The former flooded a large tract
of land, made the formerly beautiful lake a region of ghostly dead trees along the
shores lined with the ‘‘groaning dead wood, in pain with every wave,” and on
the low grounds great swamps of tangled upturned roots and still standing dead
trees, a veritable picture of nature’s woe and despair. Time, however, has at
length made the lake shores normal again, and the State has made a commodious
passage way up the sluggish inlet to the mushroom town of Wanakena. Enlarge-
ment of the lake and the backing of the waters of the stream entering it made

this body of water, by its size and other conditions, one of the best breeding

SG ONS, IDNR,

FISHES AND FISHING IN THE ADIRONDACKS. 285

grounds and fish food productive waters in the Adirondacks, where the largest
trout grow and afford the finest sport yet remaining in the whole State. For
a time it seemed as if fish pirates, lumbermen and increasing hordes of fishermen
could not affect the fish production, but the time has at length arrived when even
these grand waters are yielding to the inevitable effects of abuse and overfishing.

The Beaver River dam flooded the long valley through which the river used
to wander and wind, with beauty and delight at almost every turn of its crookedness,
and where the good fishing holes were, and numerous deer tracks on sandy
points told of the nightly family gatherings by the grateful waters. The bushy,
line-entangling alders, and the overhanging trees and all the green and lush
vegetation, and bird songs, and camping places, and everything else at the memory
of which the old sportsman’s heart leaps, are gone, all gone, and a desolation
indescribable has taken their place. Yet, the State is trying to redeem some
portions of this dear old resort and has already removed some of the ugliness,
and the lake that has been formed is becoming, and later on will become, a
beautiful resort. For a time the trout lost their reckoning, could not find their
old nesting beds, or discover new ones, and despairingly wandered about the flooded
lands. At length they have found new homes for domestic life, learned where
food abounds in the new conditions, and have become happy, large, fat and numerous.
The fishing there was never better than now — but, then, the waters are protected.

The streams below the dams have also been benefited. The uneven flow in
summer — especially since wholesale tree cutting destroyed so much of the spongy
soil which used to be the regulator of the flow of the streams—has been
regulated and the normal flow measurably sustained. Utilitarianism and the
needs of the hungry mills below, in this case, have been the sportsman’s friend.

One does not want to, and cannot if he wants to, fish all the while. Some
days the trout seem to take a short vacation of a day or two (alas! sometimes
a week or two), and often during the day they indulge in a siesta. Then is the

ce

time when that much-abused ‘‘camera fiend,” who loves to take the beauties of
forest and stream home with him for his winter’s solace, gets in his work. In
the days of dry plates—‘‘films” not yet having been introduced—a camera
carrying a glass dry plate, 5 by 8 inches in size, was almost invariably a part of
the writer’s luggage. It traveled over many a mile of trail and along many a stream,
in the pack basket of a guide, and was almost always our companion in the
canoe. When the fishing was dull, especially at the siesta hour of the trout,
or whenever a particularly interesting and picturesque scene presented itself, the
camera was elevated upon its three spindling legs, the loaded plate holder put in

position, and the vision of beauty captured for the friends at home and for the

Z86 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

angler’s own delight in the coming long winter evenings, when a sniff at the ‘‘tar
oil” bottle, and a pipe of the fragrant weed, and the photographs, revived
precious memories of happy days.

And then, too, the particularly good ‘‘catch” was photographed, furnishing
indisputable evidence of the truth of the fish stories we told to our wonder-
ing friends—and skeptical stay-at-homes—the only disadvantage being that one
had to be reasonably truthful, contrary to all precedent in the matter of fish
stories. Camp scenes, also, were admirable subjects. The walls of the ‘‘den,”
snug and warm, where this article is being written while a blizzard is raging
outside, this cold winter’s night, are adorned with scenes of camp, lake, river,
mountain, falls. The pictured outlines of a 34%-pound trout, taken with the fly
at the ‘‘Glory Hole” on the upper Oswegatchie, almost seem to start into life in
such company, and the broad tail—no, it doesn’t move! It is the imagination
and memory of his captor that revel in the scenes, but the trout is not dashing
along the wall into that other picture, the beautiful river with its overhanging
banks and cool retreats.

The big, heavy camera and glass plates have been stowed away. ‘The kodak,
with its films, fits the large loose pocket and does not expose the old sportsman
to the quiet scorn of —the other sort of folks. When this lover of pictures gets
home, he looks over his prints (he lets the photographer make them), selects
those he loves best and has enlargements made of them. Look around these
walls, and see if, after all, it doesn’t pay to fish, even with a camera!

After all, what is the secret of this fascination of fishing in the Adirondacks
which we old sportsmen feel; which makes us count the days when in February
they begin to lengthen, and later we watch the reports about the ice going out?
Is it the heat and discomfort of the hot July days that drive us out of our homes
into the cool forest? Or, is there not something there that draws us thither? Is
it the fishing alone; the fierce leap of the trout when the fly alights on the
water; the thrill of the strike; the joy of the fight and victory; visions of full baskets,
and the memory of rich, unique feasts?

hese do, indeed, let us confess, draw us, and move us; but there is something
still stronger—a haunting memory of a subtle something one never can quite
define even to his own consciousness. The solemn forest, all the mysteries of
sound, the low murmur of the pine leaves, the sweet odors of soil and vegetation,
the silences, the glittering waters, the dark-hued pools, the hermit thrush’s note
at evening—a hundred other things we can name and label; but beyond all
these there is something like the secret of what is life itself, which no mortal

has ever solved. The humblest blade of grass, the tiniest insect, hides this

*STIVA TUL WON WVAAXLS NMOCd ONINOOT

SEHAD TIAHOLIMI

FISHES AND FISHING IN THE ADIRONDACKS. 287

sublime secret of life, and laughs at man’s ineffectual effort to reach the mystery
by observation, analogy or analysis. So with this secret of the forest’s enchantment.

Better thus. All unknown but not unfelt the charm and mystic influence.
Let us not pick our flower in pieces to find how and of what it is made. While
we destroy the flower the secret escapes us—the life, the soul of this charm we
would hold in our hands vanishes, like the odor of the flower. Let us enjoy
the great beauty of nature with thankfulness, but without searching too curiously
to know what her winning power is which she will forever hide from us.

Perhaps the most interesting feature of the Adirondacks is the mountains,
hidden among which are some of the best fishing ponds and streams. Some of
them standing alone are majestic in themselves. Others, in huge masses and
rugged, crowd together in hordes. Climb one that towers well toward the sky —
Blue Mountain, for instance—and gaze upon the marvelous plan which nature
has wrought out, the map of her handiwork spread before you, the vast stretches
of forest in every direction, the gleaming lakes hidden in valleys, now brought to
view, the silver streams winding their devious ways, but, above all, the grand
outlines of the true Adirondack mountains ranging off to the northeast. There
are no Alpine heights with snowy peaks, to be sure, but many bold and bald
heights where storms and strong winds and possibly great fires have raged
and wrought desolation, and a scene of such imposing majesty as to move you,
it you have the reverent soul, to lift your eyes to the heavens over you and feel in
your heart of hearts a new reverence and worship for the power of which this
majestic grandeur is an expression. On such a day as this on the heights, the
lover of the great forest gets very near the elusive secret of his love. For this
day, the minor delights and joys of his forest life recede and are silent for a
while, and this heart communion with the deities of this rugged garden of the
gods fills all his soul.

Blessed is the sportsman who can come now and then to this height of experience,
and then descend to the common life retaining something of its inspiration. When
again, in quieter scenes and in gentler ways, he, still a sportsman, but one who
has seen visions and dreamed dreams, is tramping the shaded trails, or swaying
his supple rod over smiling waters, or before the evening campfire talks with
chosen companions and thinks of the themes of common life, there is a subconscious
thought through it all, an undertone of feeling that came down the mountain
with him hidden in the very soul of his soul. Of these he cannot talk; they are

sacred, and henceforth, even if unconsciously, a part of his very life.

**Tt is not all of fishing, to fish.’’

288 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

And how this fascination —rather, this love — persists. Other pleasures grow
dull; the things which thrilled the nerves and made the blood hot with joy when
youth and vigor were fresh and ardent cease to excite more than a languid
interest when age creeps on apace; but as the old and wornout warhorse at the
hurried beating of the drum and the clarion call of the bugle springs to his feet,
ready for the charge upon the ranks of an unseen foe, so the ‘* Old Adirondacker ”
at mention of his ancient haunts feels the old fire in his veins and his eyes gaze
with a new light and longing off toward the forest scenes where his younger days
were filled with an inexpressible joy.

Some years ago (alas! it is a quarter of a century ago) the writer perpetrated
upon the public a little volume of personal experiences and observations in the
Adirondacks. One chapter was upon a happy summer at “‘ Jock’s Lake” (now
Honnedaga) in 1863—his first taste of the Adirondacks. An old friend, who for
many months had been painfully and hopelessly ill, heard of the little book, sent
to the bookstore for it, and amid the racking, torturing, almost insufferable

’

pains of his body, read and reread the simple story of ‘‘ Jock’s Lake,” where he
had spent some of the happiest days of his life. They said that while reading
it he forgot his pain and seemed to live over again with undiminished enjoyment
those other happy days. His grateful letter to the author also told it all. It was |
a revelation of the strength and persistency of the fisherman’s love of forest and
angling.

Another instance—but let this same little book tell it in a brief quotation.
It happened (long ago, as we measure time in these days) at Paul Smith’s, on
PHM eNecuSt

‘““There was one learned old doctor and professor from New Haven who
interested me very much. He was quite infirm, and his son, who accompanied
him, with filial devotion anticipated every want. The brave old man was out
early every morning, and with a guide rowed around the little rocky peninsula,
southeasterly from the hotel, to the mouth of a cold stream that comes through
the tamaracks into the lake not far beyond. There at the edge of the lily-pads
(successors of those noted by W.-C. Prime in his delicious -volume, “I Go
A-Fishing,’ on page 125), he skillfully and patiently cast his flies until he took
the one big trout awaiting his morning call, and then returned to the hotel to
breakfast and for the day.

‘‘It was something more than a splendid trout that he brought to view as we
met him at the landing. The young heart in the old body, the genuine enthusiasm
of the veteran angler, the glorification of the gentle art which has soothed and

comforted many an aged philosopher —all this he revealed to us, and we wanted

“WVG GALVLS FHL ALT GHAOULSAG SVM ANANWOS ANL AWOAMAL

“UHATY YWHAVAE HHL NO

FISHES AND FISHING IN THE ADIRONDACKS, 289

to lift the grand old man to our shoulders and bear him in reverent triumph up

the ascent.” ’
Possibly the ‘‘sportsman’s view”—especially if he is past the age when

Dr. Osler says he should be chloroformed—may be extended to another subject

ce

which concerns him indirectly, but very much. He will venture to ‘‘say his say.”

By the terms of section 7, Article VII, of the Constitution of 1894 the lands
of the State; then owned or thereafter acquired, within the limits of the Forest
Preserve, are forever to be kept as ‘‘wild forest lands.” ‘‘ They shall not be leased,
sold or exchanged, or be taken by any corporation, public or private, nor shall
the timber thereon be sold, removed or destroyed.” This new provision of the
Constitution outlined and fixed the policy of the State with reference to these lands.

Chapter 220, Laws of 1897, created a Forest Preserve Board and provided for
the acquisition of land and waters and structures within the territory embraced:
in the Adirondack Park, or such portions thereof as such board may deem it
advisable to acquire for the interests of the State. The board was given the
power by a quick and simple proceeding to take, and reduce to immediate
possession, such lands, etc., and to adjust the claims of the owners if they can
be agreed upon. If they are unable to agree with the owner for the value of
the property and the damages for taking it, the owner is given the right to go
to the Court of Claims and obtain judgment therefor.

This power to. appropriate real property, so vested in the Forest Preserve
Board, is limited to the appropriation of real property adjoining land already owned
or appropriated by the State at the time the description and certificate (for the
new appropriation) are filed in the office of the Secretary of State; ‘‘ercept that
timber land not so adjoining State land may be appropriated whenever in the
judgment of the board timber thereon, other than spruce, pine or hemlock, is being
cut or removed to the detriment of the forest, or the interests of the State.”

The owner of land taken under the act of 1897 may at his option, to be exer-
cised within certain limitations, reserve the spruce timber thereon ten inches or
more in diameter at a height three feet above the ground; and land acquired
by purchase may be taken subject to the reservation of the soft timber thereon
down to eight inches in diameter on the stump with the right to remove the
same. There are various restrictions on this reservation of timber and the exer-
cise of the right; notably, the reservation does not include or affect timber within
twenty rods of a lake, pond or river, and such timber cannot be reserved. By chapter
94, Laws of tgo1, the Forest Preserve Board was abolished, and its powers
(herein set forth) granted to the Forest, Fish and Game Commission; and two

Commissioners of the Land Office may be designated to act with them.

no

290 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

It may be presumptuous, but perhaps not unpardonable, to comment some-
what suggestively upon some of these, in the main, most commendable provisions
of the Constitution and statutes. The judgment of the Constitutional Convention
and the Legislature solemnly expressed in Constitution and statute, doubtless took
into account facts and conditions existing at the times of their enactment not
readily ascertained or wisely considered by the general observer.

In the laudable zeal to forever preserve the Adirondacks as ‘‘ wild forest lands,”
for economic reasons, the important economic fact seems to have been forgotten,
or its importance minimized, that the forest contains and continually produces a
vast wealth of timber much needed for both public and private uses and doomed
under the provisions of the Constitution to inevitable decay, some portions of which
might be removed, under wise regulation and strict supervision, without injury or
detriment to the forest, its waters, its beauty or its productiveness as affecting
the great rivers it feeds. The revenue that might be derived from utilizing the
surplus timber would go far toward relieving the State treasury of much of
the burden of administering the State’s supervision of the Adirondack Park, and
enabling the State eventually to acquire substantially all the lands within the borders
of the Preserve.

It seems quite possible that at no remote period the constitutional provision
that the timber on the Forest Preserve shall not be sold or removed will be modified
so as to permit sale and removal of some portions under such restrictions as will

ce

practically leave the Preserve ‘‘wild forest lands.”

It is very fortunate for all except the younger sportsmen that here and there
throughout the Preserve there are private lands on which hotels and cottages
have been and, as years go on, will be erected. They supply one great and
important want of the people, and do not destroy, or tend to any great degree
to destroy, the beauty or public use of the Preserve. The Fulton Chain of Lakes,
Lake Placid, St. Regis Lake, Cranberry Lake, anid’ many other lakes afford
examples amply illustrating and supporting this view. The few facilities for this
sort of use of the forest and its waters at Raquette Lake lead one to surmise
what a misfortune it would be if throughout the Preserve no structure could
be erected better or more ample than a tent.

The wise policy of the Forest Preserve Board, and the Commission which
succeeded it, in not seeking to appropriate by condemnation these lands and
structures so occupied, notwithstanding its legal power to do so, is doubtless
founded in a due appreciation of the benefits, to the people as a. whole, of the
existence of this private ownership; and improvement by way of cottages and hotels,

of these practically exempted lands. Fortunately, public opinion and the evident

“MHATA UAAVAT ANL NO

‘THLOH S.AONOW MOTAd SCIdVA ATLL

FISHES AND FISHING IN THE ADIRONDACKS, 291

benefits of such a condition have sustained the Board in its recognition of the
simple fact that, after all, it does not best serve the State or the people of the State

“wild forest lands.”

to make a// the Preserve

And this leads to the further thought and questioning whether or not some
carefully restricted and fairly exercised power should not be given to the
Commission, in some future amendment to the Constitution—a power, possibly,
to be exercised through an application to the higher courts—for the leasing, for
moderate periods, of points of land upon some of the lakes, for hotel purposes
or cottages, or both. This would be but an extension of the present policy
which permits owners of private lands to retain their hotels and cottages in
seeming violation of the intent of the Constitution to reduce the entire Preserve
to ‘wild forest lands” —an inttnt which, if strictly carried out, would make it a
‘‘wilderness” indeed to three-fourths of the people who now enjoy its benefits.

It might be supposed that one who ventures to pose as a ‘‘sportsman”’ and
to give his ‘‘ view” of fish, would have some expert and scientific knowlenge of
icthyology in general and of Adirondack fishes in particular, but he confesses
that he is one of those who go to the woods and waters principally to rest
and enjoy and not so much to learn; that he loves the trout fisherman-wise and
gastronomically, and to this day calls him Salmo fontinalis although he reads
that he ought to say Salmo salvelinus; and although in his boyhood days he
wrestled with Cicero’s native tongue, he prefers plain ‘‘brook trout” to either.
Yet he knows he is wrong and ought to be scientific in his nomenclature if he
would be understood outside of his own bailiwick.

He attempts, however, although conscious of his deficiencies, but borrowing °
from others who know, to give some facts about Adirondack fish in general for
the possible benefit of some reader who is not already familiar with them. He
is amazed at the outset to see how even scientific authorities differ in their
scientific nomenclature of fishes, while the varieties of the common names of the
same fishes in different localities are utterly confounding. It will be better
to steer clear of difficulties by giving only a few names of well-known fishes
than to plunge into the deep waters of a critical essay on the subject.

Fred Mather, that genial gentleman and wise sportsman who wrote fascinating
books on fishing, at the request of Verplanck Colvin, Superintendent of the New
York State Adirondack Land Survey, in 1882, made a serious and protracted
attempt by actual investigation to learn all about and describe scientifically the
fishes inhabiting the Adirondack waters, and made a very full and clear report,
published in Colvin’s Report in 1891. Careful use here is made of Mather’s

article and of some later authorities.

202 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

’

The ‘‘Family Salmonidae” is first in importance, embracing as it does the
original and most esteemed game fish of the Adirondacks, and some cousins of
his later introduced.

“At the head of all stands the ‘‘ brook trout” or ‘‘speckled trout” (Salmo salve-
Zinus or fontinalis), native to nearly all the Adirondack waters. The ‘‘ rainbow
trout’ of California (Salmo trideus) and ‘‘brown trout” of Europe (Salmo fario)
have been introduced in late years, and thrive under the same conditions as the
brook trout, and are not distinctively unlike the brook trout as game fish. The
rainbow trout seems to thrive as well in deeper and warmer waters than brook

trout require.

’ ’

The ‘‘lake trout ’’—erroneously called ‘‘land-locked salmon,” ‘‘salmon,” and
‘‘salmon trout ’— (Salvelinus namaycush, also Cristivomer namaycush), as their
names imply, inhabit a number of lakes. They require colder water than the
brook trout and are usually found only in the deepest waters of those lakes which
have a depth of forty or more feet. In the early spring, however, while the
water is cold, they are found in shallow water near the shores and then are easily
taken by trolling, and they sometimes rise to the fly. In the summer they must
generally be fished for in deep water. In Fourth Lake, Fulton Chain, and perhaps
imsother. lakes,) they, areitaken) int thes summers by deeper trollino tae hneysmane
usvally of good weight, from four to ten pounds, often weighing fifteen to twenty,
occasionally much more. It is an excellent food fish.

The ‘‘frost fish,” sometimes called ‘‘white fish” (Prosopium quadrilateral),
belongs to the salmon family, and is a good food fish. It does not take the hook
“and is usually captured in the fall, in traps or nets, while running up the brooks
to spawn. 7

The ‘‘ Family Centrarchidae,” or bass family, are next in importance as game
fish. Only one variety, however, is known to have been introduced into the
Adirondack waters, namely, the ‘‘smallmouth black bass” (MWuzcropterus bolomten),
not native to any of these waters, but introduced into many of them, notably in
Raquette Lake and the Fulton Chain of Lakes, and wandering into others. As
a game fish it deserves high rank, averaging a larger size than the brook trout,
taking the fly readily, and making a gallant fight when hooked. Its cousin, the
‘‘Oswego bass,” or ‘‘largemouth black bass”? (Mzcropterus salmotdes), resembles
closely the smallmouth variety, and possibly has been placed in some of the lakes.

The troublesome ‘‘rock bass” (Ambloplites rupestris), a nimble biter in waters
where his gamier relatives exist, does not infest the Adirondacks. But the still

humbler member of the bass family, the ‘sunfish,’ or ‘‘pumpkin seed” of our

“€6Q1 NI NMOG NUOL ANAM SONIGTING ASATHL

“(VIIT 21V1) AVI S.ALINS NO THIOH-S.LNONVI

FISHES AND FISHING IN THE ADIRONDACKS. 293

boyhood experience (Eupomotis anvens), is found in great numbers, with the same
bad habit of ‘‘taking the bait”? which characterizes him in the outside waters.

The ‘‘Family Esocidez,” or “‘the pikes,” are not native to the Adirondacks,
but unfortunately, through ignorance and sometimes through malice, have been
placed in waters inhabited by trout, proving to be among the most destructive
enemies of that royal fish. The true ‘‘ pike” (Zsox /uczus) and the ‘‘ pickerel” (Zsox
reticulatus), a smaller fish of the Esox family (‘‘ pickerel” properly meaning ‘‘a
little pike”), are often confounded with each other. The pike was found by Mather
in Long Lake and Forked Lake, but now exists in quite a number of lakes. It is
believed that the pickerel (Asox reticulatus) also has been placed in some Adiron-
dack lakes. Guides and sportsmen usually, perhaps universally, apply the name
‘‘pickerel”’ indiscriminately to both varieties, and always in emphatic deprecation.

hey ebony ollinidacw bie Calm uSheSmamabelaLephesented sine wv dimondack
waters by the ‘‘bullhead” (Aszurus catus). They thrive best in sluggish waters
having muddy bottoms. The fisherman for trout abandons his ‘‘choice spot”
when the bullhead begins to take his bait. It is an excellent food fish when
properly cooked.

The ‘‘Family Anguilla,” ‘‘the eels,” has one representative in many Adiron-
dack waters, ‘‘the common eel” (Anguzlla rostrata), although its presence is

hardly ever suspected by or made known to the sportsman.

The ‘‘ Family Calostromidae,” ““the sucker.” Of these, four varieties were
found by Mather in abundance in the Adirondacks —the ‘‘long nosed,” ‘‘common,”’
“June” and “dwarf.” They bear a great variety of common names. In the

Adirondacks they are of value as food for other and better fishes.

theye sramily Cy prnidaes in» this. sfamily {there are over) a. hundred
genera, and nearly a thousand species. ‘‘In the Old World,” says Mather, ‘‘there
are several species of this family which grow to good size and are recognized as
game fish. In America there is but one species which grows to a size that
entitles it to the notice of the angler. This is the ‘big chub,’ ‘fall fish,’ ‘roach,’
etc. The other members of the family are lumped together in the popular
nomenclature as chubs, dace, shiners and that name which covers a multitude of

ye)

fishes, ‘minnows.’” These smaller fishes are very abundant in most Adirondack
waters and constitute the most important fish food upon which the existence of
the trout and bass families largely depends. In lakes or streams where they
do not abound, or other sufficient live food supply is not furnished, these noble
game fish cannot live. The memory of many a gray-haired sportsman goes back

to his juvenile days when with pin hook and tow string he had his first piscatory

294 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

triumphs and joys at the foot of some mill dam with these same despised but
useful little chubs, dace and shiners, and some of them still serve him as bait.

Other fish food for the smaller fish found in the Adirondacks are insect
larvae —of mosquitoes, ‘‘black flies,” gnats, midges and ‘‘punkies.” The larva
of the helgramite fly is a famous bait for the black bass. The common crayfish
and the little ‘‘fresh water shrimp” are excellent fish food, especially the latter,
which forms an important part of the food of the trout family.

The life of the fishes is in constant peril from natural enemies. The aquatic
birds — loons, herons, fish eating ducks, kingfishers, fishhawks, and others — wage
constant warfare upon them. The otters and minks unrelentingly pursue and
destroy them. The fishes themselves are cannibals, devouring their own unborn
babies in the egg and the helpless infants of their families, and by instinct the
stronger devour the weaker. The savagery hidden under the calm surface of the
waters parallels that upon the land among human savages. Nature, to meet
those destructive agencies, has given to the fishes marvelous reproductivity, and
the races and families, genera and species survive and flourish, holding an equilib-
rium of existence practically undisturbed —until man comes with new modes of
destruction. Then Nature is defeated in her wisely adjusted plan. The equilibrium
is broken up.

Just here is where the wisdom of the law comes in to check the indiscrimi-
nately destructive work of man, and to help restore the fast failing powers of
the hard pressed hosts of the fish kingdom to their true place and rank in the
economy of nature.

So, it is one of the most important departments of the work of the Forest,
Fish and Game Commission so to administer the laws of the State and aid the laws
of nature as to return to nature what the thoughtless greed of man and his

unwise use of nature’s gifts have rudely taken from her.

ine Mibine, hreok Nroat"
By (Crmporp Res beamisy eee.

T the various fish hatcheries of this State there have appeared in the regular
hatch of fry from eggs of both wild and domesticated brook trout, fry
which were white. They have naturally been called albinos. In some

cases they have been selected and reared separately. At other times they have been
raised without any particular care, planted with the general stock, and been lost
to notice.

The albino brook trout is a form of our common brook trout, the Salvelinus fontt-
nmalis, It differs from the regular form only in color. Its skin is a creamy white,
mottled or barred with brownish yellow, the white on the ventral side shading to
the darker color of the dorsal portion. The dorsal and caudal fins are yellowish,

while the lower fins are light colored. The eyes are pink.

Albino Troat tn this State.

The first authentic record of albino trout in this State that I am able to find
were those raised by the late James Marks, then foreman of the State Hatchery
at Caledonia. About 1875 some albino fry appeared among the hatch of that
season, from which a female fish was raised that lived to be six years old, and
attained a length of about eleven inches. When she was three years old she produced
eggs Having no albino male, her eggs were fertilized by an ordinary brook trout.
The fry produced were mostly straight brook trout, but a few, however, were
albinos. All record of the fry thus hatched has been lost. Albinos have appeared
at this hatchery from 1880 to 1888, the number varying from 15 to 300 in a
season. No particular attention was paid to them, and they were planted with
the others. Albino brown trout have also been hatched at the Caledonia Hatchery.

At the Fulton Chain Hatchery, albinos appear nearly every season both among
the lake and brook trout fry. Foreman Davidson, in 1902, saved five from the fry
hatched that spring out of 300,000 brook trout eggs. Four of these lived and

were liberated with the other fingerlings in the same year.

* A portion of this article appeared in a contribution by the same author to the June number
of Science, 1904, and is reprinted here by permission.

295

296 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

The late Seth Green, who for many years had charge of all the fish hatcheries
of this State, wrote an article in 1885 from which the following extract is taken.
‘“Another curiosity which is sometimes seen in the propagation of fish is the
albino, as perfectly as could possibly be imagined, pure white with pink eyes.
They are quite rare, probably not more than one making its appearance among a
million fry. On several occasions we have kept them until they were several
months old, and four until they were two years old, when all but two were caught
by kingfishers. They are such a perfect mark and can be seen so much easier than
other trout that they are easily caught. One was raised until it was three years
old when unfortunately it died, much to the regret of all as it was a great curiosity
to visitors. T’rom this fish we took 300 eggs and impregnated them with ordinary
brook trout. A good percentage of the spawn hatched, but the young showed no
differences from the ordinary fry. 7

Albino brook trout were raised at the Sacandaga State Hatchery from eggs
taken from wild fish. At least one of these fish lived to be two years old.

At the Adirondack Hatchery, Saranac Inn, albinos have hatched nearly every
year. In March, 1902, there were about fifty of them from an entire hatching
of 800,000 eggs taken from both wild and confined brook trout. As there were so
many they attracted attention and were put by themselves. They received the
best of care, but only four lived. Two of these are typical specimens, con-
forming to my description, while the other two are without the colored spots.
Color, silvery; black eyes, and appear to be barren fish. They have all been
kept in the races at the hatchery and fed on ground liver. One of the pure albinos
is a male and the other a female. November 10, 1903, when the two albinos were
twenty months old, they were stripped for eggs and fertilization. At that time
their combined weight was approximately one half pound, the female being much
the larger.

Foreman Winchester made the following experiments in fertilization: First
cross, 527 eggs from female albino x albino male ; second cross, 103 eggs from
female albino x natural male; third cross, 424 eggs from natural female x albino

male. The eggs, after fertilization, were placed in the hatchery races the same as

oo*)
done with all brook trout eggs. The hatching began March 1, 1904, and continued
until the thirteenth of the same month, the period of incubation being the same

as that for the other trout eggs. The results of the hatching were as follows:

Eunsty cross) 4) 2 es2enarched. a. appromimately On percent:
Second cross,. =. 43 hatched, ~ . approximately 42 per cent.

hind cross, «., #41oshatched,- 45) approximately joduper scent.

1INOY¥L WOON ONISTV

THE ALBINO BROOK TROUT. 297

The fry from the pure albino strain all died within sixty days from time of
hatching. Their characteristics of color were pure albino. Their weakness
is indicated in that only six per cent of the eggs proved fertile, and that several of
the fish were imperfect. Those that hatched from the second cross all died
within thirty days. Those from the third cross are all living and making a fine
growth. As the fry from the eggs of the pure albino female lived so short a
time it would indicate her weakness. :

On the other hand, the eggs of a wild trout fertilized by the albino male
produced a higher percentage of fertile eggs than is generally secured in fish
culture. One hundred of the fingerlings from the third cross were given
to the Carnegie Institute, for research work at their laboratory, Cold Spring
anno Ne Yo Lhe fry. from both the second and third crosses) resembled
almost entirely their natural parents, the albino characteristics having practically dis-
appeared.

Some fry from both ordinary trout and the pure albino were sent to
Dr. Charles K. Winne, Jr., of the Bender Laboratory, Albany, N. Y., who made a
microscopic examination and reported as follows: ‘‘The ordinary fry contain an
abundant layer of pigment in and just beneath what would correspond to the epider-
mal layer in human skin. In the albino fish there is absolutely no appearance of
pigment anywhere.” Hence it is conclusive that this difference of color is simply
one of presence or absence of pigment under the outer skin. These fish were
exhibited at the State Fair, in Syracuse, last fall, where the male died on
account of someone shutting off the water supply from the tank. The male at that
time had reached a length of nine inches. The female is now ten and one half

inches long, and will weigh about half a pound.

Albinos at Private Hatcheries.

Mr. James Annin, Jr., proprietor of the Caledonia Trout Ponds, says: ‘‘I
have had quite a number of albino brook trout hatch in past years, but have
no memorandum on this subject. In 1go2 I had four or five fine albino yearlings
that I raised from fry. In the spring, when they were yearlings, we placed
them with some brook trout yearlings in a tank provided with plenty of shade.
But with all our care, as they were so conspicuous, the kingfishers got them all
before they had been in the tank a week. I have hatched albinos from both
wild and domesticated brook trout. I have also hatched albino brown trout. These
fish were a creamy white with pink eyes. At my Randolph Hatchery, 1n 1899, I had

an albino brown trout that weighed nearly three pounds. I gave this fish to

298 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION,

the New York Aquarium. The albinos mentioned above were strong, and perfect
in every way, and fully as large as any of the fish from the same hatch.”

At the Combs Brook Hatchery, belonging to the Adirondack League Club,
out of 300,000 brook trout eggs hatched in 1897 there appeared four pure albinos.
One of these lived to a year old, and reached a length of five inches.

Mr..A. W. Marks, who has had charge of private hatcheries at Cedar Island,
Wis., at Detroit, and now at Munising, Mich., says: ‘‘We find more or less
albinos among our fry, but more among the salmon or lake trout than among
the brooks. One season at Cedar Island we hatched too of these fish. They
were the pure albinos with pink eyes and white flesh, the fins tinged with
pinks Whe eggs were taken from wild brook trout. The fish were raised with our

brook trout until planted, and were as healthy and grew as rapidly as the others.”

United States Hatcheries.

Mr. Livingstone Stone, Superintendent of the United States Fisheries Station,
Cape Vincent, N. Y. author of “‘The Domesticated Trout,” says: ‘About one
albino trout appears from a million eggs that are hatched, and always from
domesticated fish. I never saw pure albinos except from the ordinary eastern
brook trout. My fish died soon after beginning to feed, and had attained the

same size that brook trout of that age reach.”

Albinos in Other States.

Correspondence with several commercial fish hatcheries in Massachusetts brings
different replies. In some cases they never heard of an albino, while others say
they have a few each year. They gave them no particular attention and they
disappeared with the others.

The Minnesota State Fish Hatchery, at St. Paul, has had remarkable success
in the propagation of these fish. In 1893 they got three albinos from the fry
hatched that year. Two of these died later and one reached maturity. Two
years later three or four were found, and two of these reached maturity. From this
beginning they now have some 25,000 eggs, about 10,000 fry, and perhaps 500
adults of all ages. The first albinos hatched came from pond fish which were
raised from wild ones. Mr. S. F. Fullerton, Executive Agent, advises me that they
fertilize the albino egg with milt of the albino male, and that the result is
pure albinos every time. A dark fish has not appeared among them in several years.
They propagate them entirely from this strain, the fish being all domesticated

and fed on liver. They make the same growth as the native brooks and are just as

THE ALBINO BROOK TROUT. 299

game; in fact, he thinks the young are more lively than those of the brook trout.
Mr. Fullerton tested their gameness and ability to secure food by throwing
minnows to Scotch, German brown spotted, rainbow, native brook and albino
trout and steelhead salmon. The albino got their minnows quicker than the
other varieties. At St. Paul they have tried experiments in crossing back, taking
the female native brook trout and the male albino, also wice versa, but they have
never been able to propagate any white ones from this experiment. They always
tone back to the original.

Commissioner Meehan, of the Department of Fisheries, State of Pennsylvania,
writes as follows: ‘‘ Several years ago a few albino trout appeared in a hatchery
at Corry four or five years in succession. One year there were about one
hundred, but in other years there were not more than half a dozen. This was at
least twelve or fifteen years ago, when the annual output of the hatchery was
about a million and one half. Since then they have not appeared at Corry,
and there has never been any albinos at the other hatcheries. They were all hatched
from impounded fish eggs, and never from wild fish. You will notice from the
above that the percentage of albinos was very small. They were all pure albinos
with pink eyes. Apparently the albino thrived as well as the ordinary trout,
except that their growth was not as rapid. We have never had albinos among
fish other than trout. We are now raising about seven millions of trout annually, and
from the fact that we find no albinos among them their rarity is indicated.”’

Hon. W. H. Venning, for twenty-two years Inspector of Fishing and Fish
Hatcheries in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, writes that he never saw an albino
trout, and that my letter asking for information was the first intimation he had
that such a fish existed.

Correspondence with many noted fishermen indicates that if albinos exist

among wild fish they are rare, as none of these gentlemen ever saw one.

dlbintsm and Color in Antmals.

Albino is a term first applied by the Portuguese to the white negroes of West
Africa, but now applied to any individual in which there is a congenital deficiency
of pigment in the skin, hair, iris and choroid of the eye. The skin is abnormally
pale, the hair is white or pale flaxen, and the iris is pink. Animals thus
affected are albinos. The absence of pigment in the iris renders the eye of an
albino sensitive and partially blind in the sunlight. Mr. Livingstone Stone thought
that his albinos were blind; but probably it was only the absence of pigment in the

iris which caused them to appear blind. Albino brown trout raised by the State

309 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

in the Caledonia Hatchery were put in outdoor ponds when they were yearlings,
where the sunlight caused their eyes to bulge out of their heads, and the fish
died in a short time.

Albinism is a condition known among al! races. and all people; hence, neither
climate nor race are its causative factors. The most widely accepted theory is that
the condition is due to the arrest of the development of the pigment layer in the
embryo. Cushing found it frequently among the Zuni and other tribes in Arizona,
and its form was not confined to man, but occurs frequently among rabbits, mice,
birds, and other lower animals as well as in plants. An albino is usually
considered a sport or freak of nature—e. g., when one of a brood of crows or
blackbirds is white—but albinism tends to become hereditary and establish itself,
as in white mice, white rabbits, and white poultry. Similarly, albino brook trout
have become established at the St. Paul Hatchery. Albinos are distinguished
from animals that are naturally white, as the snowy heron or polar bear;
also, from those that are periodically white, as the arctic fox and polar hare. Some
animals are more susceptible to albinism than others, but probably all are liable to
have this deficiency or total lack of pigment which constitutes the affection.
Among the mammals, albinos are not uncommon among our Adirondack deer,
woodchuck, hedgehog and a few others.

The opposite of albinism, melanism, occurs when there is an undue development
of coloring matter in the skin and its appendages. We refer to this condition in
people by saying, ‘‘they have a very aark complexion.” Among the animals
it is noticed in their pelage and in the plumage of birds. It occurs frequently in
some groups—e. g., squirrels and hawks; sometimes it becomes an inherent
specific character, as in the black rat (Ws rattus), which is believed to be a
permanent melanism of the white-bellied rat. The black squirrel appears as a form

of the red squirrel.

Albinism and Change of Color in Fish.

There are very noticeable differences in the color of fish caught from different
waters. These differences of color are usually caused by one or more of the
following conditions:

DeprptH cr WATER.

Deep water is darker, and the fish become darker through
adaptation to their surroundings. Similarly, shaliow water is lhghter and the fish
are lighter colored.

NaTURE OF THE Bortom.—Fish that live in bodies of water that have a
light-colored bottom have a tendency to be light colored, while those in waters

that have a dark-colored hottom azc Carker.

THE ALBINO BROOK TROUT. Tapa L

SHapE.— Fish in water that is densely shaded are darker than those living in
the open under similar conditions.

The breeding season produces periods of changes in color.

The amount of food and kind of food are said to produce changes in the
color of the fish.

Certain waters seem to be particularly adapted for trout, and in some waters a
large number of minute hydra exist which is thought to produce a greater number
and more intense coloring of the small red spots on the sides of the fish.

These changes are accounted for by an increase or decrease of the black, red,
and yellow pigment cells or chromatophores in the skin of the fish; or by rapid
contraction or expansion of the chromatophores which happen to be developed.
Black chromatophores predominate in a fsh which lives in deep water on a black
bottom. This is an example of the melanic form. Fish that live in shallow
water with light-colored bottom have the pale chromatophores predominating.
These differences in depth of water, shade, and nature of the bottom would have
no effect in producing changes in the color of albinos, as they have no chromato-
phores.

An ordinary fish can be changed in color by an experiment in an aquarium.
If the light coming from above, to an aquarium, is cut off and all light is admitted
from below, thus reversing the usual direction of the light ray, the fish will
become light on the back and dark on the belly. This would seem to indicate
tat elie Color Of msl WS —GChMS — iil joRweG WO) WMS Chireeu SistSCES Gir Ikielone, ey Ice
which has been denied. The different colors of fish are produced by different colors
of pigment in their skin, the same as different races of people are distinguished by
the different colors of their pigments. Many fish living in caves, but not all, have
lost their color and become white and limpid; but in the deep sea, where no light
comes, the fish are said to be usually pearly or black.

Dr. Gunther, in his book ‘‘Introduction to the Study of Fish,” says: ‘‘ Total
absence of chromatophores in the skin, or albinism, is very rare among fish;
much more common is incipient albinism in which the dark chromatophores
are changed into cells with a more or less intense yellow pigment. Fishes ina state
of domestication, like the Crucian carp of China, the carp, the tench, and the ide,
are particularly subject to this abnormal coloration and are known as the common
gold fish, the gold tench and the gold orfe. But it occurs also, not rarely, in fishes in
a wild state and has been observed in haddock, flounders, carp, roach and eels. The
amount of variation is greater in fish than in any of the higher class of vertebrates.
Greater in some families than in others Naturally greater in the few species

which have been domesticated.”

302 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

Besides the albino forms of brook, lake, and brown trout to which I have
referred, the United States Fish Commission has reared to adult form albino
landlocked salmon. As they did not prove productive under domestication the
experiment was abandoned.

There are some reasons why albino trout will never become common as a wild
fish. First, there are the natural enemies of fish, such as the kingfisher and blue
heron (crane), which live on fish they catch from the water. The albino being
so noticeable, on account of its color, is most likely to be caught. I have already
related a few circumstances where this has occurred. The Pennsylvania Department
of Fisheries received about two hundred albinos from the Minnesota Commission
last summer, and Commissioner Meehan says: ‘‘I am sorry to say all of them
were devoured by cranes in a single day while the employees of the hatchery were at
their dinner.’”’ On account of their color, they would be a prey of the other fish
in the same water. Their rarity is another factor. Judging from the success of
the Minnesota Commission there is no doubt but that they can be propagated,

and will be able to secure their food in competition with other fish. Their chief

value seems to he in their beauty as a fish for exhibition purposes.

Description of Colored Plates

Channel Cat

304 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

Channel Cat (/ctalurus punctatus Rafinesque).

Ictalurus punctatus JORDAN, Bull. Buffalo Soc. Nat. Hist., 95, 1876; JorpAn & GriBert, Bull. 16,
U. S. Nat. Mus., 108, 1883; JorpAan & Evermann, Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. Mus., I, 134, 1806,
pl. XXV, fig. 58, Ig00. :

This species is variously styled the channel cat, white cat, silver cat, blue
cat and spotted cat. It is found over a vast extent of country, including the
Mississippi and Ohio Valleys and the Great Lakes region. In the Eastern States
it is absent from streams tributary to the Atlantic, but occurs from Vermont
south to Georgia, westward to Montana, and southwestward to Mexico. In
Pennsylvania it is limited to the Ohio and its affluents.

The adults of this species are bluish silvery, and the young are spotted with
olive. It is one of the handsomest of the family of catfishes and an excellent
food fish. The spotted cat grows to a length of three feet and a weight of
twenty-five pounds. It is extremely variable in color and in number of fin rays, and
has consequently been described under more than twenty different names. It is
most abundant in large, clear streams. The species is less hardy than most

of the other catfishes.

Des cer ay uM

eae
= i}

roe

306 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

Red Horse (Woxostoma aurcolum LeSueur).

Catostomus aureolus DEKay, N. Y. Fauna, Fishes, 201, pl. 42 fig. 133, 1842.
Moxostoma aureolum JORDAN & GiLBert, Bull. 16, U. S. Nat. Mus., 140, 1883; Bran, Fishes
Penna., 30, 1893; Jorpan & EverRMANN, Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. Mus., I, 192, 1806.

The red horse has the additional names of golden red horse, golden sucker,
mullet, golden mullet, and lake mullet. It inhabits the Great Lakes and the
region northward, also the Ohio Valley. It is common in Lake Erie, but not in
Ohio.

This. species grows to a length of 18 inches and is one of the handsomest of the
suckers. Prof. Forbes records it from lakes of Northern Illinois, also abundantly in
the central part of that State.

Dr. Evermann, in collecting fishes of the Lake Ontario region, secured it at the
following localities: Lake Ontario, four miles off Nine Mile Point, N. Y., June 12,
1893; Lake Shore, three miles west of Oswego, July 17, 1894; mouth Salmon River,
July 25, 1894; Long Pond, Charlotte, N. Y., August 17, 1894; Sandy Creek, North
Hamlin Ne Yaa Sues zon Sonn

DeKay records the species as very common in Lake Erie. In August and
September he observed them to be full of worms. In his New York Fauna, Fishes,
p. 198, he describes a sucker or mullet under the name Oneida Sucker. This he
stated is common in Oneida Lake. The species is considered identical with
Moxostoma aureolum. His description shows a very close agreement with that of
aurcolum.

The food of the red horse consists chiefly of mollusks and insects. It is not
a choice food fish.

Eugene Smith records. this form as occurring in the vicinity of New York
City. Mention has already been made of the doubt concerning the northern
limits of the range of macrolepidotum, but for the sake of comparison the brief
description of macrolepidotum published by Jordan & Evermann is given herewith.

Head moderate, rather stout, its length four and three fifths in body; eye one
and two thirds in snout ; dorsal fin with its free edge concave; scales usually with
dusky shade at base; lower fins pale. Streams about Chesapeake and Delaware
Bays and southward to North Carolina. It seems in some respects intermediate
between JZ. aureolum and M. crassilabre,; we cannot at present identify it with

either.

ins aay

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308 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

Crappie (Pomoxis annularis Rafinesque).

Pomoxis annularis BEAN, Fishes Penna., 103, pl. 30, fig. 59, 1803; JorpDAN & EvEerRMANN, Bull.
Az, Ws S: Nat. Mus 2087) 18900) ple GV tiga 415) 1900:

Color clear silvery olive, the sides mottled with dark greenish blotches. On
the upper part of the body are traces of narrow vertical bars. The dorsal and
caudal are mottled, but the anal is usually uniform pale.

Among the many names which have been applied to the crappie are: Bachelor,
newlight, campbellite, Sac-a-lait, bridge perch, strawberry perch, chinquapin perch,
speckled perch, tin perch, goggle-eye, John demon, shad, white croppie and timber
cropple.

The crappie is a very general favorite for pond) culture, can be readily,
transported and under favorable conditions multiplies prodigiously. Its range has
been very much extended by artificial means. The best distinguishing marks
between the crappie and the calico bass are the more elongated form of the crappie,
the presence of six spines in the dorsal and the nearly uniform whitish color of the
anal. In the crappie the greatest depth of the body is usually contained two
and one half times in the total length .without the tail, while in the calico
bass the depth equals one half the length. These two species are so similar in
size and habits that they are rarely distinguished except by ichthyologists.

The crappie grows to a length of about one foot and usually weighs one pound
or less, but in a lake near St. Louis an individual weighing three pounds has
been recorded.

Crappie fishing usually begins in June and lasts till the coming of cold weather.
Large numbers of these fish are collected near Quincy, Ill., for distribution to
other waters. At Peoria, Ill., Prof. Forbes has taken them in March and April;
he has found them also in Pistakee Lake and at Ottawa. Cedar Lake, Ind., and
Kings Lake, Mo., are celebrated crappie waters. Near Covington, Ky., in private
ponds belonging to Joseph Schlosser, there are myriads of crappies as well as
other game fishes.

The crappie is a very free biter and can be caught readily with minnows or
worms. Spoon bait has been successfully used in trolling for this species. It is
recorded that two men have taken a thousand crappies in three days’ fishing with
hook and line. As the fish is gregarious, congregating in large schools, and fearless,
it can be taken in the immense numbers given. The best bait for crappie is a
small shiner. It rises well also to the artificial fly. As a food fish this is one
of the best in our inland waters, and its adaptability for life in artificial ponds

should make it a favorite with fish culturists.

310 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

Goldfish (Carasstus Ee Linneus).

Cyprinus auratus DEKay, N. Y. Fauna, Fishes, 190, 1842.
Carassius auratus JORDAN & GILBERT, Bull. 16, U. S. Nat. Mus., 253, 1883; BEAN, Fishes
Penna., 54, pli 25, fig. 43,. 1803:

The common goldfish or silverfish is a native of Asia, whence it was introduced
into Europe and from there into America, where it is now one of the commonest
aquarium fishes and is extremely abundant in many of our streams. In
Pennsylvania it abounds in the Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers.

DeKay made the following remarks about the goldfish, or golden carp, as he
Styledeit=

‘The golden carp, or goldfish, as it is more generally called, was introduced
from China into Europe in the early part of the seventeenth century, and probably —
shortly after found its way to this country. They breed freely in ponds in this
and the adjoining States. They are of no use as an article of food, but are kept
in glass vases as an ornament to the parlor or drawing room. They are said to
display an attachment to their owners and a limited obedience to their commands.”

They are introduced into lakes, ponds, fountains and reservoirs generally.
An individual was kept in a fountain at Forty-second Street and Fifth Avenue,
New York, by Patrick Walsh nine years and was then presented to the aquarium.

At Cold Spring Harbor Hatchery, L. I., several varieties were hatched from
the same lot of eggs. These included the normal form, the typical fan-tail, and
one which was so deep bodied that it could scarcely balance itself in swimming.

The goldfish in the New York Aquarium were never troubled by fungus
parasites.

‘“‘In many of our streams and ponds, the goldfish has run wild, and hundreds
of the olivaceous type will be secured to one of a red color. In the fauna of the
moraine ponds and in quarry holes, the goldfish stands first. It will breed in
foul water where only catfish and dogfish (Umbra) can be found.” Lugene Smith.

The goldfish is extremely variable in color and form. It is usually orange, or
mottled with black and orange, yet in some streams and even in pond culture,
silvery individuals are often more common than any of the mottled varieties.
The species grows to the length of twelve inches. It spawns early in the spring
and is subject to many dangers and is attacked by many enemies. The fish,

however, 1s extremely hardy, prolific, and tenacious of life.

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UZ REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

Carp (Cyprinus carpio Linneus).

Cyprinus carpio DEKay, N. Y. Fauna, Fishes, 188, 1842; JorpAN & GILBERT, Bull. 16, U. S.
Nat. Mus., 254, 1883; Bran, Fishes Penna., 55, pl. 1, colored, 1893.

The carp is a native of Asia and has been introduced into Europe and America
as a food fish, chiefly for pond culture. It thrives in all warm and temperate
parts of the United States, and reaches its best condition in open waters. In
Texas it has grown to a length of twenty-three inches in eleven months after
planting. The leather variety is most hardy for transportation. Mr. Hessel has
taken the carp in the Black and Caspian Seas; salt water seems not to be
objectionable to it, and it will live in stagnant pools, though its flesh will
be decidedly inferior in such waters. The carp hibernates in winter except in
warm latitudes, takes no food and does not grow; its increase in size in temperate
latitudes occurs only from May to August.

The spawning season begins in May and continues in some localities till
August. A carp weighing four to five pounds, according to Mr. Hessel, yields
from 400,000 to 500,000 eggs; the scale carp contains rather more than the other
varieties. During the spawning the fish frequently rise to the surface, the female
accompanied by two or three males. The female drops the eggs at intervals
during a period of some days or weeks in shallow water on aquatic plants. The
eggs adhere in lumps to plants, twigs and stones. The hatching period varies
from twelve to sixteen days.

According to Hessel the average weight of a carp at three years is from three
to three and one half pounds; with abundance of focd it will increase more
rapidly in weight. The carp continues to add to its circumference till its thirty-
fifth year, and in the southern parts of Europe Mr. Hessel has seen individuals
weighing forty pounds and measuring three and one half feet in length and two
and three fourths feet in circumference.

The carp lives principally on vegetable food, preferably the seeds of water
plants such as the water lilies, wild rice and water oats. It will eat lettuce,
cabbage, soaked barley, wheat, rice, corn, insects and their larvae, worms and
meats of various kinds. It can readily be caught with dough, grains of barley
or wheat, worms, maggots, wasp larvae and sometimes with pieces of beef or fish.

Large individuals are found in Prospect Park Lake, Brooklyn, where the
species was introduced. The food of the fish in captivity includes hard clams,
earthworms, wheat, corn, lettuce and cabbage. Its growth is remarkable; a

leather carp has fully doubled its weight in one year.

Blee Gill; Blae Sanfish

By Il REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

Blee-attl; Blae Sanfish (Lepomes pallidus Mitchill).

Labrus pallidus Mircuity, Trans. Lit. & Phil. Soc. N. Y., I, 407, 1815, near New York.

Pomotis incisor CUVIER & VALENCIENNES, Hist. Nat. Poiss., VII, 466, 1831, New Orleans;
DeKay, N. Y. Fauna, Fishes, 33, 1842 (extra limital).

Lepomis pallidus JoRDAN & GILBERT, Bull. 16, U. S. Nat. Mus., 479, 1883; Mrerex, Ann. N. Y.
Act sci, Vee sis.) 1888) Brean Hishes sPennansni2. spl aEsne flo 02 aTso3 am ORD ANG
EVERMANN, Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. Mus., 1005, 1896, pl. CLX, fig. 427, 1900.

The propriety of using Mitchill’s name paldzdus for the blue sunfish is extremely
doubtful His decision can’ be much) morer readily) referred) to a speciesmor
Enneacanthus, and the locality ‘‘near New York" does not possess this sunfish
among its native species.

The blue sunfish, blue bream, copper-nosed bream or dollardee is a very widely
diffused species and varies greatly in size, color and length of the ear-flap. It is
found in the Great Lakes and throughout the Mississippi Valley to Mexico.
East of the Alleghanies it ranges from New Jersey to Florida. In Pennsylvania
it is abundant only in the western part of the State, including Lake Erie. Dr.
Abbott has recorded it from the Delaware River. Dr. Meek says that it is found
in the Cayuga Lake basin in small numbers with the blue-spotted sunfish, Apomortzs
cyanellus, which he took near Montezuma. It is recorded also from Chautauqua
Lake by Dr. Evermann.

The blue sunfish grows to a length of nearly one foot, and individuals weighing
nearly two pounds are on record. Adults, however, average eight inches in length,
with a weight of less than one pound. The size of the individuals depends on the
habitat. In large lakes and streams it grows to a greater size than in small
bodies of water. In southern waters it attains to a larger size than in northern
waters. It lives in ponds as well as in streams and thrives in warm waters. It
is considered equal to the rock bass as a pan fish and can very readily be taken
by hook fishing.

In spirits the color is pale brown, the scales with a pale margin ; a dark blotch
on the hind part of the soft dorsal; a black opercular flap, its width and length about
equal, shorter than the eye. The living fish varies with age from light green to dark
green. The young have the sides silvery, tinged with purple and with many vertical
greenish bands, which are sometimes chain-like. The dark blotch of the soft
dorsal is often indistinct in the young. In very old individuals the belly is often

coppery red.

216 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

Moon-Eye (Ziodon COR LEO Ee SWE):

Flyodon tergisus DeKay, N. Y. Fauna, Fishes, 265, pl. 41, fig. 130; JorpDAN & GILBERT, Bull. 16,
U. S. Nat. Mus., 260, 1883.

Fliodon tergisus BEAN, Fishes Penna., 57, pl. 25, fig. 44 (named alosoides), 1893; JoRDAN &
EVERMANN, Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. Mus., I, 413, 1806, pl. LX VIII, fig. 180, 1900.

This species is called moon-eye, toothed herring and silver bass. It is found
in Canada, the Great Lakes region and the upper part of the Mississippi Valley,
being very common in large streams and lakes. It abounds in Lake Erie and the
Ohio and is seined in large numbers. DeKay observed the fish in the Alleghany
River, N. Y¥.. He recorded it also from Buffalo and Barcelona, on Lake: Eriewat
which places it is known as moon-eye, shiner and lake herring. He says it is very
indifferent food.

This species grows to a length of one foot and, like the other, though a
beautiful fish and possessed of excellent game qualities, its flesh is full of small
bones. It is a good fish for the aquarium; it will take a minnow or the artificial
fly very readily, and the utmost skill is required in its capture. Its food consists
of insects, small fishes and crustaceans.

Dr. Richardson describes this fish as a member of the minnow family, which,
he says, is known to the Canadians under the name La Quesche, The ashvis
described as having the back brilliant green, sides and abdomen with a silvery
luster. The specimens which were taken in the Richelieu, where it falls into the

St. Lawrence, were about nine or ten inches long.

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218 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

Rock Bass; Red-Eye (Ambloplites rupestris Rafinesque).

Centrarchus aeneus DEKay, N. Y. Fauna, Fishes, 27, pl. 2, fig. 4, 1842, Lake Champlain; Great
Lakes; streams of Western New York; Hudson River.

Ambloplites rupestvis BEAN, Fishes Penna., 105, color pl. 10, 1893; JorDAN & EveRMANN, Bull. 47,
U. S. Nat. Mus., 990, 1806, pl. CLVI, figs. 419, A, B, C; Mrrx, Ann. N. Y. Ac. Sci., IV,
313, 1898; EuGENE Situ, Proc. Linn. Soc. N. Y. for 1897, 33, 18908; Merarns, Bull. Am.
Mus. Nat. Hist., X, 319, 1898; Bran, 52d Ann. Rept. N. Y. State Mus., 104, 1900.

Color olive green with a brassy tinge and much dark mottling; the young are
pale or yellowish, irregularly barred and blotched with black; adults with a dark
spot at the base of each scale, the spots forming interrupted black stripes; a
dark spot on the opercle; soft dorsal, anal and caudal fins with dark mottlings;
iris golden overlaid with crimson.

The rock bass. is known under a variety of names. Among them are the
following: red-eye, red-eyed perch, goggle-eye and lake bass. It is found in Lower
Canada, Vermont and throughout the Great Lakes region, West Manitoba, and
-1t is native in Minnesota and Dakota; southward it ranges through the Mississippi
Valley to Texas.

Under circumstances favorable as to water and food supply the rock bass
grows to a length of fourteen inches and a weight of two pounds. It increases
in depth and thickness with age. The largest example we have examined is one
of two pounds weight, length fourteen inches, from the James River, Va., taken
near Richmond. Dr. William Overton reports that rock bass weighing three and
three fourths pounds have been taken in his vicinity at Stony Creek, Va.

In February and March this fish frequents the mouths of small streams, and
in summer it seeks shady places under high banks or projecting rocks. The
species is gregarious, going in large schools. It thrives where there is not much
current and is very well adapted for culture in artificial ponds. It is as common
in lakes and ponds as in the streams. Sluggish, pure dark water suits it best.

The fishing season begins in June and lasts till the approach of cold weather.
The rock bass feeds on worms, crustaceans and larvae of insects early in the
season; later its food consists of minnows and crawfish. The young feed on
insects and their larvae. The spawning season is May and June, and gravelly
shoals are resorted to for depositing the eggs.

The rock bass bites very freely and is a fair game fish and excellent for the
table. It fights vigorously, but its endurance is not great. Suitable baits are
white grubs, crickets, grasshoppers, crawfish and small minnows. Common earth-

worms are also successfully used.

Notes on Adirondack Mammals

With Special Reference to the Far-Bearers.

By Mapison GrRant.*

HE Adirondacks occupy a somewhat unique position in relation to the
faunal areas of North America and, being located at the meeting point

of two of these life zones, contain an exceptionally varied group of
animals. The earliest account of the zoology of this region is found in the
‘* Description of New Netherlands” by Arnoldus Montanus, 1691, which contains

some rather startling information and is worth quoting in full, as follows:

‘‘Lions, whose skins the Indians bring to market, are caught on a high
mountain, situated fifteen days journey to the southwest. Here also are many
pitch black bears, shy of men, but which when attacked, spring on the hunters;
they first stop the wound with a pledget of leaves, and if the hunter, meanwhile
take refuge in a tree, climb after and above him, then stick their head between
their legs and fall downward. They sleep during winter, lying six weeks on one
side and an equal time on the other, sucking their paw. A cripple bush or hollow
mountain serves them for a resting place.

“On the borders of Canada animals are now and again seen somewhat
resembling a horse; they have cloven hoofs, shaggy manes, a horn right out of
the forehead, a tail like that of the wild hog, black eyes, a stags neck and
love the gloomiest wilderness; are shy of each other so that the male never
feeds with the female except when they associate for the purposes of increase.
Then they lay aside their ferocity; as soon as the rutting season is past, they
again not only become wild, but even attack their own.

‘*South of New Netherland are found numerous elks, animals which according
to Erasmus Stella constitute a middle class between horses and deer. They
appear to deserve tne Dutch appellation (eelanden) from elende (misery) because
they die of the smallest wound however strong they may otherwise be; also
because they are frequently affected with epilepsy. They have broad branching
horns, a short tail, a shaggy neck, variable hair, according to the difference of
the season, wide and long ears, prominent lips, small teeth, a thick hide, which
cannot be easily pierced. The females separate from the males when they have

* Secretary of the New York Zoological Society.

319

320 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

«

shed their horns. Both can be easily tamed. They possess great strength of
hoof so as to strike a wolf dead at a blow. The flesh either fresh or salted,
is very nutritious, their hoofs cure the falling sickness. _

brulee game is more abundant here than deer, which browse everywhere in
large herds. When flying before wolves or hunters they oft times head towards
streams, betake themselves to the water, where they are taken in great numbers,
forwhilst across they get frightened by the echo from the mountains raised by
the hunters on the opposite bank; they dare not, consequently, approach land —

meanwhile the hunters tie branches together, by which the deer after being chased

are sometimes dragged down.” *

Bear.

Among the larger animals the bear is, perhaps, in point of popular imagination,
the most important animal in the North Woods. The variety found there differs
in no respect from the widespread type species (Ursus americanus) which extends
from Quebec to Georgia and westward to the Mississippi. At the borders of this
range it is supplanted by closely allied subspecies, into which it merges by
imperceptible degrees.

There is no reason whatever why the bear should not be permanently protected
in the Adirondacks and allowed to regain something of its former abundance.
A step in this direction was made last year (1904) by the enactment of a law
prohibiting for three months of the year the killing of this interesting animal.
Legislation of this sort is at present a novelty, but protection will ultimately be
extended during proper seasons to all animals not known to be noxious. The
black bear is an absolutely harmless animal, feeding on berries, nuts and grubs,
and only occasionally dining on flesh. In fact there is very little game that the
bear is active enough to catch.

As a feature of curiosity to visitors any live bear is worth to the State many
times the value of its fur, and if it were protected throughout the year and freed
from the annoyance of dogs there is no reason why the North Woods should not
resemble the Yellowstone National Park, where not only the black bear but even
the once dreaded grizzly now form most interesting exhibits. They can be
seen daily in numbers near the large hotels in the Park, feeding on the ‘hotel
refuse.

To accomplish such a result, however, it will be necessary to keep dogs out of
the woods, and no effort to restore game can be wholly successful unless this

is done.

*The first paragraph evidently refers to panther and bear, the second paragraph probably refers
to wapiti and possibly to caribou, and the third and fourth paragraphs clearly refer to moose and
Virginia deer.—M. G.

NOTES ON ADIRONDACK MAMMALS. 321

' In 1892 a bounty of ten dollars was placed on bear by the State of New
York, and before the repeal of this law in 1895 bounties were paid on nine
hundred and seven bears. During the autumn of 1904 it is estimated that about
one hundred and fifty bears were killed in the Adirondacks, eleven of them weighing
over three hundred pounds each, and the largest recorded turning the scales at four

hundred and twenty-eight pounds.
Pama.

The puma, panther or catamount (Felis concolor) is only recently extinct in this
State, and is identical with the variety which was found throughout the eastern
states north to the St. Lawrence, and through New England eastward to Maine.

The American puma has an immense range, from British Columbia south to
Patagonia and the Straits of Magellan, and is now being divided by naturalists
into many species and subspecies. It preys chiefly on deer, only turning to smaller
game when its accustomed food runs short. In the Yellowstone National Park
the puma (known in the West by the grandiloquent name of ‘‘mountain lion”)
has become very destructive to young elk and the wild sheep, and a systematic
effort is now being made to destroy it, or at least to reduce its numbers. The puma
is a.slinking and cowardly beast, and it is hard to account for the bloodcurdling
stories about this big cat that once passed current.

It would be interesting to record accurately the latest appearance of this
animal in New York, as the most recent authentic occurrence in Pennsylvania
was in 1871.. Rumors of puma are rife in the Adirondacks, but most panther
stories can be traced to the screech owl.

Dr. C. Hart Merriam, writing in 1886, says that he estimates that nearly one
hundred pumas have been killed in the Adirondacks since 1860. Since 1871 the
State of New York has paid bounties for the killing of ninety-nine of these
animals. Gerrit S. Miller, Jr., writing in 1899, says the animal still exists in the
wilder portions of the Adirondacks. The last bounty was paid in 1894, for a
puma killed in Herkimer County. This may well be the last of these animals

in New York.

Bison.

The bison or buffalo (Szson americanus) was once found in the State of New
York as far east as Syracuse, and may have reached the southwestern limits of
the Adirondacks a couple of centuries ago. Stragglers entered the State all
through the seventeenth century, but more exact information on this point
is greatly needed.

21

322 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

Cariboa.

Among the hoofed animals, the caribou (Rangifer caribou) occurred formerly
in abundance in northern New England, southern Quebec and the Maritime
Provinces, but never reached the Adirondacks. Probably the absence of suitable

barrens had more to do with this than any climatic cause.

Eth.

The American elk or wapiti (Cervus canadensis), on the other hand, was at
one time numerous in the Adirondacks, to which it is now very properly being
restored. It existed in the western half of the State during the early part of
the last century.

The Adirondack elk belonged to the type known as the eastern elk, which
is probably now entirely extinct. The difference, however between it and the
well-known elk of the Rocky Mountains would not be great in the eyes of an
unscientific observer.

With the permission of Major W. Austin Wadsworth, the former President
of the Forest, Fish and Game Commission of this State, a photograph is published
herewith, showing antlers of several elk killed in the Genesee Valley about 1843.
There is a definite record of an elk killed at Bolivar, in Allegany County, New
York, in 1834. The celebrated Flag Swamp elk was killed in Elk County, Penn-
sylvania, in 1867, and was probably the last of this species in the Allegheny
Mountains, unless some stragglers lingered on later in West Virginia.

The late Eli Parker, captain in the United States Regular Army, and a
full-blooded Seneca Indian, who recently died at an advanced age, told the writer
that, as a boy, he remembered clearly hearing the old men of his tribe, then
located in western New York, tell of their annual hunts to the south — Pennsylvania
—for elk, and to the east — Adirondacks —for moose.

In 1901 an effort was made to restore this animal to the Adirondacks by
liberating twenty-two elk, and in 1903 a large herd was liberated in the woods
through the liberality of the late William C. Whitney. The attempt has been
successful, and it is estimated that there are to-day fully two hundred of these
splendid creatures at large in the North Woods. If from time to time some new
stock is introduced—a few bulls would be sufficient—the elk will certainly be

reestablished.

Moose.

The moose (Alces americanus) is, of course, well known to have existed in the

Adirondacks as late as the early ’60’s and was specifically identical with the type

NOTES ON ADIRONDACK MAMMALS. 323

still inhabiting Quebec and Maine. A photograph of the only set of Adirondack
moose antlers of which the writer has knowledge is reproduced herewith by
permission of the American Museum of Natural History, where they are now
on exhibition. These antlers were the property of the late Hamilton Fish, and
belonged to a moose killed about 1855 in this State, one of the last of this species
in the Adirondacks.

The moose can easily be restored to the Adirondacks if a sufficient number —
not less than one hundred individuals —be liberated under proper precautions.
Sooner or later this will be done, and a very successful beginning has been made
through the energy of Mr. Harry V. Radford and the Game Commission of this
State.

Deer.

The deer of the Adirondacks (Odocotleus virginianus borealis) is probably as
abundant to-day as at any former period, and bids fair to permanently adapt
itself to the quasi-civilization which now prevails in the North Woods. It belongs
to the northern variety of the Virginia deer, which embraces all the members of
the genus from Pennsylvania north and east. The true type of Virginia deer
(Odocotleus virginianus) is found to the south of this subspecies.

It is a satisfaction to be able to note the entire success of the law prohibiting
the hounding of deer, and also the recent change in public sentiment regarding this
unsportsmanlike mode of hunting, in spite of the fact that the measure, when first
proposed, met with violent opposition from the guides and innkeepers. New York
was one of the last States to prohibit the use of hunting dogs, but the protection
of game is everywhere becoming increasingly popular.

About two thousand deer are killed annually in the Adirondacks, and that the
species is not deteriorating is proved by the records of weight. In 1904 not less
than thirty deer weighed, when dressed, above two hundred and up to two hundred
and fifty pounds, certainly full size for the deer of this region.

Among the smaller carnivora in the Adirondacks we find representatives of
four families.

Raccoon.

The first of these, the Procyonidae, is represented in the Adirondacks by the
raccoon, which is here found close to the northern limit of its range. The raccoon
family is widely distributed throughout South and Central America and northward
to the fiords of British Columbia. In the extreme northeast it is found on
the borders of the Adirondacks, but seldom enters the more thickly wooded

portions.

324 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

It is probable that in the Adirondacks the raccoon will flourish, as it prefers
clearings and open groves to the denser forest. In this respect the raccoon is in
sharp contrast with the marten and fisher, both of which retire before the
approach of civilization deeper and deeper into the woods.

The wolf and red fox are the representatives of the second family, the
Canidae, in the Adirondacks.

Wolf.

The Appalachian gray or timber wolf (Canis mexicanus nubtlus) was originally
very abundant in the Adirondacks and remained so down to 1871. That year a
bounty was placed on wolf scalps, and, curiously enough, this animal became
scarce. The disappearance of wolves at that time has never been satisfactorily
explained, as from that date to 1897 only ninety-five. bounties were paid. There
were said to be, in the early days, a gray and a black variety, but it is too late
now to determine this question.

Vanderdonck, writing in 1645 of the region of the lower Hudson River, says
that on account of the ravages of wolves it was almost impossible to keep sheep
in the colony. These animals find their chief food supply among the deer, and it is
quite possible that the disappearance of wolves noted in 1871 was due to a decrease
in number of the latter, as hide hunters were very active in those days. It is
interesting to note the persistence of wolves in Europe, where a considerable number
are still annually killed in Germany and France, as contrasted with their rapid
decline nearly everywhere in America. The universal habit of carrying firearms
and the use of poison in this country probably account for the difference.

That the wolf in the Adirondacks is not altogether extinct is evidenced by
the bounty records, which show that six wolves were killed in each of the years

1895, 1896 and 1897, although in the six years preceding no bounties were paid.

rox.

The Adirondack red fox is indistinguishable from the type species (Vulpes
fulvus), which extends from Minnesota to Nova Scotia and from Quebec and Maine
to North Carolina. This fox is subject to color variations, culminating in the almost
priceless pelt of the black fox, and in that of the valuable silver or cross fox.
These variations were once supposed to represent distinct species, but inasmuch
as the animals showing them have been found in the same litter, the question is
no longer open to dispute. The black and silver foxes are scarce in all countries, but
tend to increase in numbers in the north. They appear to be particularly

rare in the Adirondacks.

NOTES ON ADIRONDACK MAMMALS. 325

It is a well-known fact that the numbers of the fox, as of the lynx, fluctuate
greatly. From 1853 to 1877, inclusive, the Hudson Bay Company sold in London
260,775 red, 59,650 cross and 20,100 silver and black foxes. This will afford some

idea of the proportionate number of the several colors.

Gray, Fox.

The gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) does not reach the Adirondacks, in

fact, barely enters southern New York.

Opossam.

The Virginia opossum (Ddelphis virginiana) likewise occurs in the lower counties
of the State, but does not reach the North Woods.
In the Adirondacks the only two members of the Felidae or cat family, in addition

to the puma mentioned above, are the two lynxes.

Canada Lynx.

The Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis) is of wide distribution, and formerly
extended south into Pennsylvania, along the line of the Alleghenies. It is, however,
exceedingly rare, and in recent years has been almost unknown in the Adirondacks,
although probably not altogether extinct.

This animal, known to the Canadians as the loup cervier, which in Maine is
corrupted to ‘‘lucivee,’’ is large, powerful and savage, and is closely related
to the European lynx. It is a rabbit-killer by profession, and many of the stories
which are referred to the puma should be properly credited to this animal.

The Canada lynx apparently culminates, as far as the northeast is concerned,
both in point of size and in numbers, in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. In the
latter colony it has taken to preying on young caribou, and has greatly increased
in numbers, apparently occupying, in the economy of nature, the place of the wolf,
which has almost disappeared.

Perhaps the most interesting fact about the Canada lynx is its periodic increase
and decrease in numbers, which occur every decade. The records of the
Hudson Bay Company indicate that the catch of Canada lynx for each of the
three seasons when they are least numerous falls as low as four to five thousand skins
for the whole territory covered by the company’s posts. In the fourth year the
catch is twice as large, and the fifth year will often more than double the catch

ef the preceding year. The sixth year’s catch doubles that of the fifth, while

326 REPORT OF THE FOREST, EISH WAND! (GAME COMMISSION:

the seventh year would almost invariably witness the maximum trade in lynx
skins. The catch of the eighth year would still be good, while that of the ninth
and tenth years would show a startling decline in the numbers of lynx taken. In
twenty-five years, from 1853 to 1877, the Hudson Bay Company sold, in London,
more than half a million lynx skins, the minimum number being 4,488 in 1863

and the maximum number 76,556 in 1868.

Bay Lynx.

The bay lynx (Lynx rufus), called the wild cat or bob cat, is widely distrib-
ated from Maine to Georgia, and westward to the Mississippi Valley. It is
widespread and far from extinct. Several fine specimens have been taken within
recent years in Tuxedo Park, near New York. This lynx is rather smaller than
the preceding species, and is the chat cervier of the Canadians. They were so
numerous in the early days that in 1712 an act was passed offering a large
bounty for wild cats in Suffolk County, now the eastern end of Long Island.
It may be stated in passing that there are no true long-tailed cats in America
north and east of Texas, except the puma, and all stories of ‘‘ wild cats” may be
safely referred to this species.

Reference need only be made to three rodents, as the remaining Adirondack
species of this order are of small size and are far more numerous than all the

other mammals taken together.

Woodchack.

The northeastern woodchuck, ground hog, whistler or siffleur of the Canadians
(Arctomys monax canadensis) has a wide distribution, covering the region from
Hudson Bay and Newfoundland westward to the great plains, but is scarce except
in the cultivated portions of the Adirondacks.

There are a number of ill-defined subspecies, but the Adirondack variety
belongs to the dark race of the Hudson Bay region rather than to the Maryland

form. Its habits are too well known to call for much notice.

Beaver.

In former days the most important of the Adirondack fur-bearing animals was
the beaver (Castor canadensis), which presents no clearly defined variation in
type throughout northeastern America, although the forms in the southern states,

in®: Mexico and jon the) Pacific = Coastyanel assigned ito, subspeciicanank. alts

NOTES ON ADIRONDACK MAMMALS. 327

American distribution is from the Rio Grande in the southwest, northward, gen-
erally to the limit of tree growth. It is also found along the Colorado River
near its mouth.

The American beaver is closely related to its European congener, which still
lives in some of the more remote rivers of eastern Europe. They are found as
far south and east as the Caucasus Mountains. We have little information about
their occurrence in Siberia beyond the fact that they are found there.

It is almost impossible to estimate the part this animal played in the early
history of America. Its pelt was for a long time a standard of value, and so remains
to-day in certain districts in the far north. In the unbroken forest which extended
from Hudson Bay to Florida, the first clearings of the settlers were made by break-
ing out the beaver dams and draining their ponds. The dry mud flats thus exposed
yielded meadow hay the second year, and could soon after be tilled. Thus the
cabins of the first settlers came to be located along streams and rivers out of
supporting touch with one another when the Indian attacks came.

The abundance of beaver is subject to fluctuation, and the animals will some-
times almost disappear from an entire district. They can readily be restored to
the Adirondacks, and if left undisturbed will rapidly multiply. Several pairs
of beaver have been recently liberated in the North Woods, and if this good begin-
ning is followed up, these interesting animals and their works will again be seen
along our streams and lakes. Beaver had become very scarce in the Adirondacks
by the beginning of the nineteenth century, but the war of 1812 put a check to
hunting and trapping and allowed a great increase in the number of all the fur-
bearers. As soon as hunting was resumed after the war, beaver again disappeared,
and by 1840 were very rare. A few still linger on in the North Woods.

When too much harassed, this animal ceases to build dams and houses, and
becomes what is known as ‘bank beaver.” The writer has in recent years
found bank beaver in the waters of Maine and the Maritime Provinces, and such
few individuals of the original stock as have survived in the Adirondacks
have adopted these habits. An ordinary beaver pond usually contains only one
family, but the deserted cabins of preceding years often cause an exaggerated
idea of the number of beaver in the pond.

Some idea of the former abundance of beaver and their proportion to otter is
furnished by the statistics of the ten years following 1624, which show that
80,183 beaver skins and 7,247 otter skins were exported in those years from New
Amsterdam. In the twenty-five years from 1853 to 1877 the Hudson Bay Com-
pany sold in London nearly three million beaver skins. In these later days, however,

the annual catch is rapidly declining.

328 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

The attempt to establish beaver in the New York Zoological Park in New York
City resulted in the pond assigned to them being taken possession of by three large
individuals, who promptly destroy other beaver as fast as introduced.

When cutting wood on the shore the beaver is almost helpless, and is captured
by many animals, the lynx being probably its most dangerous enemy. The otter
also is generally credited with killing it, but this can scarcely be true, since the
beaver could be easily exterminated by this powerful and agile animal, which
could enter its houses from below water. The wolverine is sometimes called by
the Indians the beaver-killer, and it is supposed to tear open and destroy beaver
houses, but beaver could not be caught in this way, as all the cabins have exits
under water and many beaver ponds have deep tunnels or holes in the bank, for
refuge in case the house is destroyed or the water lowered by the destruction of

the dam.

Maskrat.

The muskrat or musquash (Feber ztbethicus) is of almost universal distribution
in North America, extending from the delta of the Mackenzie River as far south as
Louisiana. It thrives so well in civilization as to be a nuisance in the New York
Zoological Park. - In Prospect Park Lake, Brooklyn, a trapper is specially employed
to keep these animals in check, and the catch in 1903 amounted to over 2,000,
and in 1904 to 1,230. The fur of the muskrat is becoming commercially impor-
tant, and the Hudson Bay Company sold in London in 1901 two million skins
of this animal. This is the largest sale on record.

The muskrat is not exclusively a vegetable eater, but sometimes indulges in a
meal of flesh. It is suspected of occasionally feeding on turtles, and is known
to be fond of fresh-water mussels. It is, on the whole, an interesting animal,

harmless, except in parks, and in the Adirondacks well deserves toleration.

Porcapine.

The only remaining rodent that we need to consider is the Canadian porcupine
or quill pig (Evethizon dorsatum). Its distribution is from the northern limit of
timber south into Pennsylvania. The porcupines originated in South America
and worked north from that continent at an early date, geologically speaking,
and have become thoroughly adjusted to boreal conditions.

This animal is numerous in the Adirondacks, but the natives there feel a bitter
antipathy toward this curious and harmless creature. This hatred is probably a
relic of the old days when dogs were used for hunting deer, and when many fine

hounds were destroyed or seriously injured by the quills of porcupines. In Nova

NOTES ON ADIRONDACK MAMMALS. 329

Scotia and eastern Canada, on the other hand, it is considered almost a crime to
wantonly destroy a porcupine, as it is the only animal which a lost,and starving
man can kill with a club.

The quills of the porcupine are exceedingly penetrating, and when once
inserted in an animal will work in between the skin and flesh, and sometimes
through the sinews to the uttermost parts of its anatomy.

The puma and fisher are both credited with a fondness for porcupine meat,
and are said to pay a high price for it. The writer, however, does not believe
that either of them, unless starving, would attack this animal.

The porcupine is a bark-eater with a special fondness for the hemlock, but
will make a meal of the bark of any of the conifers. In the Bitter Root Mountains
many of the spruces were found deeply scarred at the base, where the bark had been
stripped half way round the tree. This cutting was generally credited to the
porcupine, which is also very destructive around lumber camps, as it gnaws away
the floor logs to get at the salt left from the brine of the pork barrels. It is
one of the few creatures seen by the average tourist or visitor in the North
Woods, and the present foolish persecution of it should be stopped by law.

The last and perhaps most important family ot the fur-bearing animals in the
Adirondacks is the Mustelidae. This group includes a large and varied series

of animals, ranging in size from the pigmy weasel to the otter and wolverine.

Least Weasel.

The smallest member of the family is the least weasel (Putorzus alleghentensis),
a diminutive and ferocious animal. Like most of the small carnivores it feeds on
mice, which it hunts tirelessly and with a relentless persistency which is almost

without parallel in the animal kingdom.

W easel.

The true weasel or American ermine (Pxutorzus noveboracensis), so called from its
fur turning white in the winter, is a large edition of the last species. It, too, preys
on mice and also on rats, grouse and squirrels. Its lack of agility, as in the case
of the least weasel, is more than compensated by the extraordinary pertinacity
with which it trails down its victims. This relentless chase ultimately wears out
the most active rat, and in the end the unfortunate quarry is so completely
paralyzed by fear that it almost invites the death stroke. The attack is nearly
always made at the base of the skull, where the sharp teeth of the weasel tear open
the brain case with a single stroke. In 1903, 33,883 weasel or ermine skins were sold

by the Hudson Bay Company in London. This was far above the normal catch

Oo
Go
O

REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

Shank.

The skunk (Wephitts mephitis putida) is widely distributed throughout North
America. In Texas and the southwestern states the fur of an allied species known
as the hydrophobia skunk, characterized by a narrow white stripe down the back, has
recently become quite fashionable. The fur of a common skunk is known among
furriers as ‘‘ Alaska sable.”

All the Mustelidae are provided with an offensive odor, but it is only in the
skunk that this scent is sufficiently developed to be protective. When deprived
by a simple operation of its power uf offense the skunk can be tamed and made
a most attractive and interesting pet, although it will probably not become
popular in that capacity. The strongly marked coloring of its coat serves as
certain identification and consequently is a protection against attack. The skunk
is one of the few animals which appear indifferent to the presence of man, and it
will scarcely take trouble to get out of his road. Fortunately it is nocturnal in its
habits, or it would more frequently be seen.

The reputation of the skunk is far worse than it deserves to be. This animal
is of value to the husbandman for the thoroughness with which it destroys mice
and insects, although it occasionally raids hen-roosts. Like the porcupine, the

skunk hibernates only during the severest portion of the winter.

Mink.

The Adirondack mink (Putorzus vison) belongs to the type subspecies which
extends throughout Canada westward to the Rocky Mountains, north to the Arctic
Ocean, and southward into the Adirondacks. Iteiss closely, srelavedastomseme
European and Siberian mink.

DeKay, in his natural history, suggests that there are two varieties in the
North Woods, one the mountain mink, small and black, and the other a water
mink, large and of a chestnut-red color. We have had nothing in recent times
to confirm the existence of these two types.

The mink is a restless animal, making regular trips along fixed routes on the
shores of streams or lakes. It is a fierce little beast, feeding chiefly on fish, which
it catches with great dexterity. It is fond of crayfish, and is destructive to
muskrats. Chicken roosts are often invaded by this small marauder, and many
a fisherman who has left his trout on the bank has been robbed by this
animal.

The mink has been the victim of much persecution on account of its beautiful

fur, but if given half a chance would easily recover its original numbers in the

NOTES ON ADIRONDACK MAMMALS. 331

Adirondacks. So persistent is it that several specimens are killed every year
in the New York Zoological Park. While subject to fluctuation in numbers, like

other fur-bearing animals, the mink holds its own fairly well.

Marten.

After the beaver, the most important fur-bearing animal in the Adirondacks is
the Canada pine marten or American sable (J/ustela americana), which is closely
related to the European pine marten and Siberian sable, although its coat does
not compare in beauty with the rich dark fur of the latter animal. The specimens
from the Adirondacks are much lighter in color than the furs from farther north.
In British Columbia large black skins are relatively common.

The marten is a tireless traveler and hunts in the daytime for its quarry,
chiefly red squirrels, which it runs down and captures by superior agility and
strength. The writer found marten quite numerous around Little Tupper Lake
as late as 1891, but it has been trapped almost to extinction since that time.

The enormous rise in the value of the skins of this animal has nearly resulted
in its extermination. It is usually taken by traps set on a line running sometimes
for miles, with from six to ten traps to the mile. A drag of meat is drawn
from one trap to another, and in this way an entire district can be covered
so that sooner or later nearly every marten can be caught. In the winter of 1gor
some enterprising trappers in the Bitter Root Mountains in Idaho started a marten
farm to take advantage of the increased price of fur. After a number of these
animals had been captured they were discovered to be all males. Apparently it
was the breeding season and the males alone were cruising about while the
females were hidden away.

There are known to be seasons of abundance and of scarcity of marten. Epi-
demics seem to occur every few years and greatly reduce the numbers of certain
fur-bearing animals. The most interesting case of this periodic plague is the
mysterious disease which occurs at regular intervals in the Canadian northwest
and almost exterminates the rabbits throughout an immense extent of country. For
a year or two the species appears to have entirely perished. The rabbits then
rapidly increase and in two or three years the countryside swarms with them
until the pest again appears and the cycle is repeated. The lynx, which depends
on the rabbit for its food supply, suffers and starves during the years of scarcity,
and greatly decreases in numbers. Many of the survivors migrate long distances.
When the rabbits regain their abundance the lynx follow suit and multiply.
Nothing could better demonstrate the balance of nature and the interdependence

of animal life.

332 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

Fisher.

The fisher, black cat or pekan of the Canadians ((/ustela pennantiz) is one of
the most important of the weasels. It is a large, powerful black marten and
originally was thinly distributed from the Atlantic coast to the Cascade Mountains
close to the Pacific Coast, where it was supplanted by a closely allied species. It
extended formerly from timber line in the north well into the Alleghenies
of Pennsylvania. It would be interesting to know whether this animal was ever
abundant; but, if so, it felt at a very early period the effect of encroaching
civilization. In New York it was confined to the Adirondacks as early as 1842.

In spite of its relatively large size it is extremely agile and active, and preys
largely on pine marten, which it captures in open chase. It is popularly supposed
to live on porcupines, but it is probable that the legend arose from the fact that in
the leg joints of one of the earliest specimens to find its way into the hands of the
naturalists were found embedded the quills of that animal. When pressed by
hunger the fisher undoubtedly will attack the porcupine, but under ordinary
circumstances it could get its food without such extreme danger and discomfort.

The fisher is a sworn foe to the trapper, and will follow up and destroy his
line of traps with great persistence. In this last respect it has been remarked
that the fisher ‘‘is less objectionable than the wolverine, in that it leaves the traps
where it finds them, while the other blackleg lugs them off and hides them.”

Fishers are rare throughout the north, and are seldom seen in captivity,
although at present (June, 1905) several specimens are on exhibition in the National
Zoological Park, Washington, D. C., and one in the New York Zoological Park.
It is doubtful whether this animal can be restored to the Adirondacks, but it
would do no harm to protect the few that probably linger on in the remoter parts
of the wilderness.

The Hudson Bay Company sold in London, in 1902, 3,679, and in 1903, 3,223

cat mtCD)> oO

skins of this animal.

Wolverine.

The last of the true weasels is the wolverine (Gwlo luscus), improperly called
the glutton. This is the carcajou of the French Canadians, and is called by the

>

Ojibway Indians the ‘‘quingagee,” or tough customer. The American type is
so closely related to the European form that it has not yet been described
as a separate species, although it would undoubtedly prove to be such on close
investigation.

The wolverine was originally supposed to be one of the bears, but further

investigation proved it to be nothing more than a gigantic weasel. It is one of

NOTES ON ADIRONDACK MAMMALS. 333

rarest and least known of North American animals, and about the only place where
specimens can be obtained with any certainty is in the barren grounds of northern
Canada and Alaska. The specimens from the extreme northwest have recently been
assigned to a new species. This species formerly extended south to Pennsylvania
and Colorado, and reached from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans. It probably
occurred in the Adirondacks, but was never abundant there.

Through the north country this animal has an evil reputation for robbing food
caches. No matter how deeply buried under stones or logs may be the food supply
stored up by the hunters for their return trip, if once found by the wolverine the
cache is torn apart and scattered. Things which cannot be eaten are destroyed,
and many articles actually are carried off and hidden.

Trappers have been driven out of a district by the persistence with which this
animal followed up and destroyed not only the traps and bait, but marten caught
in them. The restoration of the wolverine to the Adirondacks need not be
considered, as, aside from its impossibility, the popularity of the animal with campers
would be more than doubtful.

In the twenty-five years from 1853 to 1877, inclusive, the Hudson Bay Company
sold in London 32,975 skins of the wolverine. In 1902 and 1903, only 635 and 695

skins, respectively, were sold. Most of them came from the Mackenzie basin.

Otter.

The largest of the Mustelidae in the Adirondacks is the otter (Lutra canadensis).
The American otter is found throughout eastern America north of the Carolinas,
and is closely related to the European species. The genus itself is one of the
most widely distributed of the Mustelines, extending even into South America,
where in the waters of the Amazon is found a giant otter.

The otter is almost as well adapted to aquatic life as the seals, and in the
distantly related sea otter of the North Pacific the resemblance to the seals
becomes still more striking. Of course this resemblance does not indicate
relationship with the seals, but is merely in response to similar environment,
called by zoologists parallelism. Like the seal, the otter is an expert fisher, and
by its skill in swimming can capture even the swift trout in shallow streams.
It is also much given to feeding on ducks, which it catches by swimming under
water and seizing them by the legs.

The otter is scarcely ever at rest, and in the early days of the Adirondacks it
was not an uncommon sight to see one of these graceful animals thrust his head
above the surface of a pond or lake, turning it round until the resemblance to

a bent and gloved hand thrust above the surface of the water was most striking.

334 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

The trapping of otter in this State is now prohibited until 1906. This close
season should be extended for a further period of ten years at least if the otter is
to regain its former abundance.

This animal is so keen in avoiding traps that the difficulties of capturing it
would be much greater were it not for its habit of building slides. These slides
are used simply for amusement, but a trap placed at the end of one of them has
been the undoing of many a playful otter.

In the twenty-five years preceding 1878,. 318,140 otter skins were sold in

London by the Hudson Bay Company.

Most of the animals described above could and should be restored to their
native haunts in the Adirondacks. If alive, and brightening the somber North
Woods with their presence, they would be worth far more to the State than the
mere value of their skins.

The time is rapidly approaching in this country when game refuges will be
recognized as the only means of protecting our American fauna. Some section
of the Adirondacks embracing forest, stream and lake should be set aside for a
breeding ground for all the native animals, where they should be left absolutely
undisturbed, and no one allowed to set a trap, light a fire or enter with a gun
or dog; and above all, no foreign species should be introduced.

A few years after the establishment of such a sanctuary in the Adirondacks
the excess of animal population would supply the adjoining country, and the
interest and value of the wilderness would be greatly enhanced. It is only a
question of time when something of this sort will be done in the North Woods,
and the privilege of carrying a gun at all times and slaughtering everything in
sight will be abridged. When that day comes, the old order of things in America
will have passed and the conditions which have long prevailed in portions of

Europe will spread over the country.

The writer desires to acknowledge the skill and patience shown by Mr. Elwin R. Sanborn in

photographing the animals of the New York Zoological Park.

BLACK BEARS IN YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK.

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PUMA IN THE NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL PARK.

YORK ZOOLOGICAL PARK.

IN THE NEW

PUMé

ANTLERS OF ONE OF THE LAST MOOSE KILLED
IN THE ADIRONDACKS.

DONATED BY THE HEIRS OF THE LATE HAMILTON FISH TO THE
AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, NEW YORK CITY,
AND ON EXHIBITION THERE.

AND EE RS On EEK ice bD IN GENESEE VAY. \BOUmd, 1845.

PROPERTY OF MAJOR W. AUSTIN WADSWORTH, GENESEO, N. Y¥. LAST ELK KNOWN TO OCCUR IN THE STATE OF
NEW YORK.

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HT BY HON. GEORGE SHIRAS, 3D.

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GRAY FOXES IN THE NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL PARK.

OPOSSUM IN THE NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL PARK.

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CANADA LYNX IN THE NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL PARK.

BAY LYNX IN THE NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL PARK.

“WUVd TVOIDOTOOZ MHOA MAN AHL NI WHAVAE

MARTEN IN STEEL TRAP.

COURTESY OF JOHN M. PHILLIPS.

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COURTESY OF HON.

PORCUPINE IN THE NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL PARK.

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MARTEN IN PHILADELPHIA ZOOLOGICAL GARDEN.

COURTESY OF E. DT. SETON.

FISHER IN NATIONAL ZOOLOGICAL PARK, WASHINGTON, D. €.

COURTESY OF DR. FRANK BAKER.

FISHER IN NATIONAL ZOOLOGICAL PARK, WASHINGTON, D. GC.

COURTESY OF DR. FRANK BAKER.

WOLVERINE.

COURTESY OF J. S. EDWARDS.

WIRASIBJL.

FROM W. H. WRIGHT, SPOKANE, WASHINGTON.

WOLVERINE FROM BRITISH COLUMBIA.

IN THE NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL PARK,

WOLVERINE KILLED BY ROBERT WALCOTT IN
LABRADOR.

COURTESY OF WILLIAM B. CABOT.

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ELWIN R. SANBORN, PHOTO,

WEASEL OR AMERICAN ERMINE IN WHITE WINTER COAT.

FROM THE NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL PARK.

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The Squirrels and Other Rodents
of the Adirondacks

By FREDERICK C. PAULMIER.*

XCEPT for the comparatively few domesticated animals, which include the
k horses and cattle, belonging to the Ungulata, or grazing animals, and
the carnivorous cats and dogs, by far the greater number of those which
come into economic relations with man belong to the order Rodentia, or the
gnawing mammals. In distinction, however, from the domesticated forms, which
are used as food, or as beasts of burden, or as companions, the Rodentia are
nearly all injurious, only in a very limited degree serving man as food or furnish-
ing him with useful skins. True it is that some forms are hunted, and noted
apologists for this form of sport are not wanting. Still, when the balance is
struck, it is found that the misdeeds of some of them many times counterbalance
what value the rest of them possess.
_ Scientifically speaking, the Rodentia may be described as mammals in which
the number of teeth is reduced, the back teeth, or molars and premolars, varying in
number from four to six on each half of the jaw, and with the eye teeth, or canine
teeth, always wanting. It is in the front, or incisor teeth, however, that the greatest
modifications occur, for they are specially adapted for gnawing, and to this end
have only the front edge composed of hard enamel, while the back part is composed
of softer dentine, which, wearing away more rapidly than the harder enamel,
under the constant use that the teeth are put to, leaves a sharp, chisel-like edge
to the latter. To compensate for this wear, which would soon bring the teeth
down to the gums, these teeth, unlike other mammal teeth, grow continuously
at the base, throughout the life of the animal, at a rate which just compensates
for the loss at the tip. Should, however, as sometimes happens, one of these
front teeth become broken or lost so that its fellow in the opposite jaw has nothing
to wear against, and by that be kept short, the latter grows to an inordinate
length, usually curving around into the mouth of the animal and killing it, either
by preventing it taking food or by growing through the roof of the mouth into

the brain.

~ *Zoologist, Division of Science, N. Y. State Museum.

335

236 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

Another point characteristic of the rodent’s mouth is the peculiar manner of
growth of the hairy integument, which is continued inward behind the incisors,
and apparently prevents the wood or other hard substance the animal is gnawing, and
which is not intended for food, from getting into his throat.

The rodents are nearly all of comparatively small size, but make up for this
in their great numbers, both of species, of which there are over goo known in
the world, and of individuals, which are far more plentiful than of any other
group. They are all herbivorous, only occasionally taking to animal food, and
they obtain their food by gnawing. They are found in all sorts of habitats; some,
like the squirrels, being arboreal, and being even provided with a parachute for
taking long leaps from tree to tree; others, like the hares, are cursorial; the
kangaroo mice are agile jumpers, the mole rats are burrowers and the beavers
and water voles aquatic.

Then, too, the group is the most cosmopolitan of any, no country being without
some representative of it. This, however, is partly due to the agency of man,
for wherever he goes the domestic rats and mice follow him,

In New York State the rodent population numbers twenty-eight species, and of .
these the largest, the beaver, is now extinct. Attempts, however, are now being
made to reintroduce him into the Adirondacks, two small colonies having recently
been placed in different parts. It is to be hoped that this experiment will prove
to be successful, for the beaver is the most interesting of the rodents and everyone
knows of his tree cutting and dam building operations. Then, too, he is of
considerable interest, for his was one of the most valuable furs found in the New
World, and was the object of eager pursuit by the early settlers. Many were
the quarrels which arose, not only between individuals, but even between the
colonies, in regard to the proper delimitation of the trapping grounds. So numerous
was he in those early days that, according to Pennant, 54,670 skins were sold in
a single sale of the Hudson Bay Company. In fact, so important was he
recognized to be to the commonwealth, that the provincial seal of New Netherland
was a beaver on a shield.

The muskrat is another form which was hunted for its fur, though that is of
greatly inferior value to that of the beaver. Still, Richardson, writing in 1829,
says that between four and five hundred thousand skins were annually imported
into Great Britain from North America. At the present time it is mainly the
object of pursuit of the small boy, for it is probably the most easily trapped of
our mammals, besides being quite common in inhabited districts. They prefer
swamps and sluggish streams, and in the Adirondacks, in such places, their irregular

mound-like winter huts, composed of aquatic plants and mud, are often to be

THE SQUIRRELS AND OTHER RODENTS OF THE ADIRONDACKS, 337

found. Besides these, they have burrows in the shores of streams, and where there
are dams they sometimes do considerable damage by undermining their banks.

The woodchuck, which is about as uninteresting an animal as there is, occurs
rarely in the Adirondack woods, but is much more at home in the cultivated areas
surrounding them. Here, in the meadows or hillsides, where there is a good supply
of grass or clover, he digs his burrows, which often prove a nuisance to the farmer
with his horses.

Still another large rodent, belonging to another family; is found in the
Adirondacks. This is the Canada porcupine. This curious beast, on account of
its formidable armature of spines, has but few enemies, of which the fisher and the
panther were the chief, and since these have become rare or extinct, the porcupine
has probably increased in numbers. Fear of man, too, is apparently lacking, or
more probably he has not sufficient intelligence to appreciate what man can
do, for he often wanders into camps and explores the surroundings in search of
salt in the most familiar way. A specimen the writer met this summer had
to be assisted with the boot before he would move from the trail. In spite of his
commonness he is not often seen, as he spends most of his time high in the trees,
where he may be mistaken for a bunch of twigs or a crow’s nest. He also
possesses, aS a permanent domicile, a den, usually among the rocks.

Ranking next in size of the rodents, we find the rabbits, or hares, as they
should more properly be called, the domesticated white rabbit, which is an
English form, being the only one to which the term properly applies. Of these
there are two species found in the Adirondacks, the larger of which is known as
the varying hare or white hare. This species is divided into two subspecies,
of which one is called the northern varying hare, and is distinguished by the
fact that, while, like all of our other mammals, he has two coats during the year,
a summer and a winter one, his winter coat is a pure white, which, matching
the snow, enables him the more easily to escape his enemies. This change is
common in many of the northern mammals, and, of the New York forms, the
ermine and the least weasel adopt it. This subspecies is found in the forests
in all parts of the Adirondacks and Catskills above 1,500 feet.

The other subspecies, the southern varying hare, which replaces the former
along the southern and eastern borders, lives in a region where the snow is not
so deep or so abundant during the winter, and-as during its absence a white
coat would render him too conspicuous, he has adopted a mottled, lighter brown.
This form, according to Stone, is not holding its own very well, but has been
replaced to a great extent by the gray rabbit or cottontail, which is a smaller
and even more defenceless species than the varying hare. The cottontail occasionally

22

338 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME ‘COMMISSION:

does some damage in the orchard and garden, but his principal economic value
is in furnishing sport for the man with the gun.

We come now to the squirrels, of which there are five distinct species found
within the limits of New York State. They belong to the family Sciuridae, and
are distinguished from the other rodents by their bushy tails and by several
anatomical points, of which an important one is the nonfusion of the lower leg
bones, which takes place in the mice and their allies, and which allows a much
freer use of their legs in climbing trees, a habitat to which most of them are
partial. The five species are the red squirrel, the gray squirrel, the chipmunk and
two flying squirrels, the common southern form and the northern flying squirrel.

To the wanderer in the Adirondack forests the red squirrel is probably the
commonest mammal seen. Originally described as Sczurus hudsonicus by Erxleben,
in the light of more recent and careful research it has been found necessary to
divide the species into two subspecies, which have been described by Bangs as the
northern or Canadian red squirrel, S. 2. gymmnicus, and the southern, S. /. loquax.
Both subspecies are found in the State, the southern extending over the greater
portion of it except the Adirondacks, where it is replaced by the northern form.
The difference between the two is but slight, consisting mainly in the deeper,
redder color of the northern form, and where the two meet each other, individuals
intermediate between the two forms occur, and it is impossible to say to which
variety they belong. As there is no difference in the behavior or habits of the
two forms almost anything that may be said about the one applies to the other.

If there is any one animal to which dry, scientific terminology does not fit, it
would seem to be the red squirrel, for a merrier, happy-go-lucky scamp does
not appear to exist. Even in the deepest part of the Adirondacks, in the ever-
green forests, where the deep shade would appear to cast a gloom over the spirits
of almost anything, the wanderer will find these cheerful animals chasing through
the tree tops, or sitting on a limb, chattering and scolding at him in a most
impudent manner.

Dr. Clinton Hart Merriam, to whom we are indebted for a most interesting
account of the mammals of the Adirondacks, and whose paper has been fre-
quently drawn on in the preparation of this, sums up the character of the red squirrel
in) a’ most happy manner. Hie says: ““®he Chickaree combines “qualitiesmso
wholly at variance, so unique, so incomprehensible, and so characteristic withal,
that one scarcely knows in what light to regard him. His inquisitiveness,
audacity, inordinate assurance, and exasperating insolence, together with his
insatiable love of mischief and shameless disregard of all the ordinary customs and

civilities of life, would lead one to suppose that he was little entitled to respect;

THE SQUIRRELS AND OTHER RODENTS OF THE ADIRONDACKS. 339

and yet his intelligence, his untiring perseverance, and genuine industry, the
cunning cleverness displayed in many of his actions and the irresistible humor
with which he does everything, command for him a certain degree of admiration.
He is arrogant, impetuous, and conceited to an extreme degree, his confidence in
his own superior capabilities not infrequently costing him his life. In fact, these
contradictions in character and idiosyncrasies in disposition render him a
psychological problem of no easy solution.”

As mentioned above, he is found in all parts of the Adirondacks and at all
times. From the earliest morning till sunset he is always abroad and busy, and
even after dark, especially on moonlight nights, he may sometimes be seen,
stealing through the trees, and much more quietly than during the day. Then,
too, cold has no effect on him, for even when the mercury is at its lowest and
the snow is many feet deep, he is abroad, often tunneling through it, apparently
merely for the pleasure of the thing. | When, however, the wind blows in the heavy
storms he makes for his nest, to reappear when it becomes calmer. He is not
very particular about his choice for a nest, but makes it in a hollow tree or
branch, or sometimes in a log or in the ground. Outside of the colder regions
of the Adirondacks he usually builds outside nests. Generally this is in the top of an
evergreen, though sometimes in other trees, and is a round mass composed
of the bark of the red cedar or other soft material. In this or in the other nest,
four to six young are born in the spring. In summer, while these are still to be
cared for, the industrious squirrel is already beginning to. prepare for the coming
of the cold weather and is busily engaged in biting off the young and green
cones of the spruce and sweet balsam. In fact, even in the latter part of June,
the writer found the ground in parts of the woods near Old Forge covered with the
green cones, some of which the squirrel had apparently been sampling. Later, when
the white pine and other cones are formed, he bites those off, often doing considerable
damage in this way. All these he buries, usually a few at a time, under the leaves or
pine needles in the earth, or in the hollows of trees or limbs, and often carries
large quantities to his burrow. Later still, when the beechnuts, which form his
staple food, are ripe, he collects immense quantities of them, often, too impatient
to wait for their ripening, biting off the yet green nuts, so that they fall to the
ground, where he afterwards collects them in heaps and then stores them away,
as he does his cones. Being thus dependent upon the supply of beechnuts, his
numbers vary with their abundance. It seems to be a more or less regular rule
that, in the Adirondacks, the beechnut crop is larger every alternate year and the
number of squirrels is greatest when the mast is plentiful. Alternate years they

are much less common, and from the fact that they sometimes increase or decrease

340 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

suddenly in numbers in certain places seems to prove that the squirrels migrate
in search of more food. The fact, also, that they are sometimes met with in
considerable numbers swimming lakes and streams, and always in one direction,
seems to point in the same way.

Besides the beechnuts and acorns which he collects, he often, in more inhabited
regions, visits the farm and takes his share from the orchard, where, amid the
apples, he often does much damage. Mushrooms also he stores away, and often
visits the corncribs for additions to his supply. On these stores he feeds during
the winter and appears to have no difficulty in finding them, digging through the
snow, no matter how deep. Still he is always on the lookout for any other
things he may find, and he may often be seen in the dead of winter feeding on
the cones still hanging on the trees. Then, too, his insatiable curiosity leads
him into all sorts of places in search of stores that ‘the chipmunk has hidden
away. In the spring, when the young buds are swelling, he gets a variety of
food, biting off and eating the buds of the spruce, and often covering the ground
with the twigs he has bitten off. Hardwood trees, also, are not exempt from
him in his desire for green things, and he often does considerable damage in this way.

Then, as the spring advances, one of his worst propensities comes to light.
This is his habit of sucking the eggs and destroying the young of the insectivorous
birds. In this he is worse than any other of the bird enemies; for, unlike the
crows, jays, and the blacksnake, he continues his depredations after the eggs are
hatched. This one habit is enough to condemn the red squirrel to destruction
wherever one desires to have birds.

In return for this, however, he is preyed upon by the hawks and owls; but
they must take him unawares, for in a chase through the tree tops the squirrel has
much the advantage. Should he find one of these enemies resting anywhere near
him, he at once adopts offensive tactics, and worries the bird till it is glad to get
away. Then, too, the red squirrel occasionally falls a prey to the mink or to
the weasels, whose long, slender bodies enable them to follow the squirrels into
their holes. Besides these, the man and the small boy with the gun are always
abroad.

In spite of all these the red squirrel has held his own and in fact has taken
to the proximity of man very well, even turning some of man’s contrivances to
his own account. Thus the zig-zag rail fence is one of his delights, and as Stone
says, nothing pleases him better than to run a race with you while you are
driving along the road. Then, they like to play tag, and a pair may often be
seen chasing each other over and through all sorts of obstacles, with the utmost

recklessness. When hunted with a shotgun he soon learns its power, and after

re

THE SQUIRRELS AND OTHER RODENTS OF THE ADIRONDACKS. 341

that it is often a difficult matter to get a shot at him. In his undisturbed
haunts, however, his curiosity often gets the better of him, and when discovered
he is just as liable to sit on the branch and chatter and scold and stamp, some-
times approaching closer till he comes right up to you. Merriam tells of one that
jumped on his face while he was asleep in camp. This curiosity was the source
of considerable trouble in earlier days when there was more trapping in the
Adirondacks than there is now; for after sitting on a limb and watching the trapper
bait his traps and leave them, down would come the squirrel and spring the trap.
True, he was often caught; but that was small satisfaction to the trapper.

The red squirrel is a good swimmer, and may often be seen crossing the lakes
and streams with much of his head, back and tail out of the water. This occurs
most frequently during the periodical migrations, such as take place at Lake
George, where the chestnuts are common on the eastern side, but rare on the
western. Sometimes they even cross the widest parts of Lake Champlain.

The gray squirrel, Sczurus carolinensis leucotis Gapper, unlike the red, does not
like the dense coniferous forests of the Adirondacks, and is consequently absent,
or very rare, from the greater part of the interior. On the edges, where the hardwood
trees are, and throughout the greater part of the State, he is quite common. The
best place to study the gray squirrel is near villages or farms where he is undisturbed ;
for he is quick to perceive the advantages of civilization, and in our parks he
often becomes a most arrant beggar, dependent entirely upon the bounty of man.
still we must not judge the whole race by the degradation of the few; for,
though not equalling the red squirrel in activity or industry, he is still a pretty
good fellow.

Like the red squirrels, the gray, where he is found in the Adirondacks has his
nest in a hollow tree, while in warmer regions he builds outside nests. These
closely resemble those of the crow, being placed far up a tree, where a branch
leaves the trunk, or in a fork, and are composed of sticks, lined with a softer. bark,
and with the opening on one side. In them, three to five young are born in
April, and in a most undeveloped stage, without hair and with fast-closed eyes..
In other regions two litters are often brought forth in one season, the second coming
in September or October.

‘The staple food of the gray squirrel are the beechnuts and butternuts, which
are the commonest kinds in the region under consideration, and his abundance,
like that of all the squirrels, is dependent upon the supply of nuts. As
mentioned before, the beechnut crop is large every other year, and the number
of squirrels is greatest in the summer and fall of the following year, for the

reason that when the nuts are abundant the squirrels come from all parts, winter

342 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND’ GAME COMMISSION:

well, and in the spring bring forth their young. Then the young and the old ones
together bring the number up to its maximum. Then the nut crop fails and the
squirrels migrate, just where we do not know. Merriam finds that a good nut
year is a good one for the squirrels’ rival, the redheaded woodpecker, between
the two of which a constant warfare is waged for the possession of the beechnuts
which still hang on the winter trees, and which the woodpecker considers his
exclusive property, harassing and driving away the squirrels, who find it easier
to steal them than to dig up their own buried supplies. Gray squirrels do not
make large hoards of their nuts, but bury them one or two at a time in holes in
the ground, and they never seem at a loss to be able to find them.

At the present time the clearing away of the extensive forests which once
covered the State, and the change to an agricultural country, has greatly diminished
the natural habitat of the gray squirrel, and his numbers, we know from history,
are far less than they were 150 years ago. In 1749 they invaded Pennsylvania in
such numbers that the entire agricultural district was endangered, and it was
necessary to offer a premium of three pence a head fer them. As a result
640,000 individuals were killed, necessitating a payment of 8,o0oo pounds sterling,
a large drain on the treasury of a State at that time. Later, in 1764; we find
that in the western part of New York they were so common that Munro, in a
‘Description of the Genesee Country,” says: ‘‘ Squirrels are so numerous in some
years as considerably to injure corn; and upwards of 2,000 of them have sometimes
been killed in a day, which is occasionally appointed for that purpose by the inhab-
itants. The most common kinds of them are the black and the red; the gray
colored being very scarce.”’ On account of the necessity of combating these the
‘‘sguirrel hunts” he mentions were organized, all the inhabitants of a certain
area who could manage to get any kind of a firearm collecting together at one
place and being divided into two parties. Then, from early morn till the sun set
there was constant destruction, and then a supper, paid for by the party which
had shot the fewest squirrels.

These days are past, probably never to return, for, though we still have smal!
migrations of the squirrels, the immense hosts are gone. Now, even where the
squirrels are known to be common, we can wander all day without getting a
shot at one, for they are adepts at keeping on the other side of the tree from
you, and the tip of his tail, as he goes around, is all you.are liable to see.

From the economic point of view there is little to be said about the gray
squirrel, for now that his numbers are so depleted the damage they do is
but trifling. True, they steal corn and fruit from the farmer, but they are

guiltless of the red squirrels’ crimes against the birds.

THE SQUIKRELS AND OTHER RODENTS OF THE ADIRONDACKS. 343

In former times the black squirrel, which is nothing but a color variety of the
gray, and the two of which were often found in the same nest, was very abundant,
but now appears to be very rare. At least, in the five years of the writer’s
official experience in the State he has heard of but one live specimen.

Another large species, the fox squirrel, Sczurus ludovictanus vicinus Bangs, was
formerly found in many parts of the State and occasionally in the Adirondacks.
Bachman, in 1839, says: ‘‘In the northern part of New York it is exceedingly
rare, as I only saw two pairs during fifteen years of close observation.” Three
specimens, taken in Rensselaer county, in 1853 and 1854, are in the State Museum.
It is probably entirely extinct in the State, though occasionally found in more
southern regions, which suit them better, as they are more improvident than the
gray squirrels, and, not caring to lay up such supplies, they like regions where
there is less cold and deep snow.

The eastern chipmunk, like the red squirrel, has recently been divided into
two subspecies. Of these Zamias striatus striatus Linnaeus, the southeastern
chipmunk, which is of a richer, browner color, occurs in New York only in the
lower Hudson valley. The other, 7. s. lysterz Richardson, is of a paler yellow
color and is found abundantly throughout the State.

The chipmunk is the only eastern representative of the group of ground
squirrels, which are so much more common in the Western States. He is usually
seen chasing across the roads or trails, or around the brush heaps, which furnish
him with plenty of nooks into which he can dash when pursued, but which still
enable him to see what is going on. He is not at all fond of tree climbing
and rarely takes to them except when hard pressed, and he is then obviously ill
at ease, often preferring to come down and take his chances with his pursuers
rather than stay up. Still, with those personal peculiarities, which we so often
find in animals, some chipmunks do not appear to timind climbing to a
considerable height, and Merriam tells of one he saw making regular journeys
from the top of the beechnut trees to his nest. This, in the woods, is usually
found with its openings, for it has several, under the roots of a tree or among the
rocks. Into this he will dart when pursued, but before his tail has disappeared
he will have whisked around and his bright eyes will be peering out at you. Sit
down in front of the hole and he will sit there and watch you, occasionally
chippering and stamping, darting back at every move you may make. In the hot,
sunny pastures, where he delights to live, one of the openings is usually under a
rock and the other off in the grass. Stone has described these holes, which are
about an inch across at the surface, suddenly widen, go straight down for a little ways

-and then branch off into the galleries. There is no trace of the excavated earth near

344 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

the opening, but some little distance away we find the pile, and it seems probable
that the chipmunk, filling his cheek pouches with the excavated earth, carries it
away and deposits it there. In these galleries they lay up what, for such a little
animal, is a very large supply of food. Audubon and Bachman, in the ‘‘ Quadrupeds
of North America,” tell of what they found in a nest occupied by four chipmunks.
‘““There was about a gill of wheat and buckwheat in the nest; but in the galleries
we afterwards dug out we obtained about a quart of the beaked hazelnuts
(Corylus rostratus), nearly a peck of acorns, some grains of Indian corn, about
two quarts of buckwheat, and a very small quantity of grass seeds.” Besides
these stores, they lay up little hoards like the gray squirrel, filling their cheek
pouches, which hold an astonishing amount, full of seeds or nuts and burying
them in the ground under the leaves.

The chipmunk, like the other squirrels, is dependent for the greater part of
its food supply upon the beechnuts, and as the supply of these in the Adirondacks
varies from year to year the number of chipmunks also varies. Of course a
certain number of them are always present; but in the alternate years, when the
nut crop is going to be good, the chipmunks commence coming during September
and October. Then they lay up their winter supply, and in the spring bring
forth their young. In July of the year when there are no nuts, the number is at
its maximum, but knowing that the nut crop will fail that year, most of the
chipmunks start to leave in July and soon only a few are left. Besides the nuts, -
the chipmunk has a variety of other foods. As mentioned before, it is fond of
grain and corn, and sometimes digs up what the farmer has planted. They also
occasionally eat meat, and their cheek pouches are sometimes found filled with
insect larvae. Stone also tells of seeing them catch and eat large grasshoppers.
Then, too, they dig up roots, the tuberous ones of the dwarf ginseng and the
squirrel corn being favorites. The chipmunks at Old Forge were observed eating
the seeds of the maple, from whose papery envelops they neatly extracted them.
Both there and at North Creek their holes could be recognized by the heaps of
seeds they had stripped from the spruce cones and the naked stalks. The
chipmunk in his search for diversity of food occasionally eats birds’ eggs, but is
not nearly so great an offender in this respect as the red squirrel.

When the cold days of the late fall come the chipmunk repairs to his burrow;
but as several weeks are supposed to elapse before he enters his winter sleep, it
is probable that he spends his time laying on a sufficient supply of fat to last
him till the spring. Then in the warm, sunny days of April and May he reappears
again, but should a cold wave come on he will retire to his burrow for some

more sleep.

THE SQUIRRELS AND OTHER RODENTS OF THE ADIRONDACKS. 345

Chipmunks, in spite of the familiarity they attain when undisturbed around
the house, where they are often perfectly willing to eat out of your hand, do not
make very good cage pets, being rather too much inclined to use their sharp
teeth.

The Iroquois had an interesting legend explaining the origin of the peculiar
markings on the chipmunk’s back. It runs thus: ‘‘Once upon a time the porcupine
was appointed to be the leader of all the animals. Soon after his appointment he
called them all together and presented the question, ‘Shall we have night all the
time and darkness, or daylight with its sunshine?’ This was a very important
question and a violent discussion arose, some wishing for daylight and the sun to
rule, and others for continued night. The chipmunk wished for night and day,
weeks and months, the night to be separate from the days, so he began singing,
‘The light will come; we must have light,’ which he continued to repeat. Mean-
while the bear began singing, ‘ Night is best; we must have darkness.’ While the
chipmunk was singing, the day began to dawn. ‘Then the other party saw that
the chipmunk was prevailing, and were very angry; and their leader, the bear,
pursued the chipmunk who managed to escape uninjured, the huge paw of the
bear simply grazing his back, as he entered his hole in a hollow tree, leaving
its black imprint which the chipmunk has since retained.”” We may as well add,
““but night and day have ever continued to alternate.” *

Two varieties of flying squirrels are found in the Adirondacks, one, the common
flying squirrel, Sczwropterus volans Linnaeus, being found all around the borders, and
another, larger species, the Canadian flying squirrel, Sczwropterus sabrinus macrotis
Mearns, occurring in the higher central parts. The two species are quite distinct,
though they are often found in the same localities, where their habitats overlap.
The common flying squirrel measures something over nine inches in length, and
is drab above, with under parts pure white, while the other species is over eleven
inches long, and on the back is cinnamon brown in summer and sooty brown in
the winter, and the fur of the under parts is gray at the base.

Except for the bats, they are the most exclusively nocturnal of our mammals,
and for that reason one very rarely sees them. When, however, one is camped
in the woods in the warm fall evenings, and, lying under the trees, listens to the
many sounds coming from above, then the flying squirrel is conspicuous, and
you can hear him as he scolds and drops the shells of the beechnuts he is eating.
Then, on cloudy afternoons, he may sometimes be seen sailing from one tree to
another, but it takes a pretty dark day to bring him out, and such occasions

are rare.

*E. A. Smith. Bureau of Ethnology, 2d Rept., p. 80. 1883.

346 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

Flying squirrels are the most highly specialized of the squirrels in regard to
an arboreal life, and the folds of skin which extend between the legs enable it
to make far greater leaps than any of the other squirrels. It is, however, quite
unable to sail horizontally, so its first move is to climb some distance up a tree
and then make its leap from there. Audubon and Bachman describe most
interestingly a number they once saw: ‘‘At times one would be seen darting
from the topmost branches of a tall oak, and with wide extended membranes and |
outspread tail gliding diagonally through the air till it reached the foot of a tree
about fifty yards off, when at the moment we expected to see it strike the earth it
suddenly turned upwards and alighted on the body of the tree. It would then
run to the top and once more precipitate itself from the upper branches, and sail
back to the tree it had just left. Crowds of these little creatures joined in these
sportive gambols; there could not have been less than two hundred. Scores of ©
them would leave each tree at the same moment and cross each other, gliding
like spirits through the air, seeming to have no other object in view than to
indulge a playful propensity.”

Flying squirrels make their nests in hollow trees, often using the holes that
havé been deserted by the woodpeckers. Here, early in the spring, they bring
forth their young, and according to all accounts they make most interesting and
attractive pets. As so littie can be said of their wild life, we cannot do better
than to quote some of a description of them given by Prof. G. H. Perkins: “‘At
dusk they begin to stir. Not all at once, it would seem, do they awake, for the
material of the nest quivers and shakes for some time before the squirrel appears.
When, however, they conclude that they are all ready, out pop their heads, each
to be followed by the rest of the body, after a glance on all sides with the
glistening black eyes, and now all drowsiness has disappeared and an activity
more incessant and intense than can be described takes its place. All night long,
often with only the briefest rest now and then, these little animals are in vigorous
motion, jumping, bounding, capering, running with ever-varying movement and
astonishing energy. Everything they do is done with all their might. It would
seem to anyone watching them that the exercise of the first few minutes must
wholly exhaust their powers; but, on the contrary, the more their muscles are
used the more capable of use they seem, and great as is the energy of their -
movements at first, they usually increase in vigor and speed until after midnight
and scarcely grow less before morning. Nothing affords them so much gratifica-
tion as a large wheel which is placed inside the cage. Into this wheel they jump
whenever aught disturbs or pleases them, and even when quite hungry they often

find it necessary to take a few turns before commencing their meal, after which

THE SQUIRRELS AND OTHER RODENTS OF THE ADIRONDACKS. 347

exercise they draw themselves into a bunch with the tail over the back after the
manner of squirrels, and set briskly to work on the nut or other food which
they may have received. They are almost as fond of riding as of running and
work their passage by running till the wheel is in rapid motion and then clinging
to its wires, and so are carried around and around, the pure white of the under
side of the body contrasting prettily with the soft brownish gray of the back
and sides as each comes into view. When both are in the wheel one often rides
while the other turns the wheel, the latter bounding over the other as each turn
brings him around, and no matter how rapidly the wheel turns these movements
are executed with perfect exactness and gracefulness. Being desirous of knowing
with some degree of accuracy how rapidly the wheel moved, I made some
experiments for the purpose and found that the usual rate of revolution was from
sixty to over a hundred and twenty times a minute, and, as the wheel is forty-four
inches in circumference, when its rate is the latter of the two numbers named,
the squirrel turning it must travel four hundred and forty feet a minute, or
about five miles an hour, a distance requiring a great many steps when they are
as short as squirrels must take. The sides of the wheel are formed of spokes
radiating as in any wheel; these spokes are only five inches apart at the circum-
ference and of course constantly grow less towards the center; yet through this
narrow space which passes, when the wheel is at full speed, in the sixteenth
part of a second, they dart in and out with perfect ease. So quickly do they
move that the eye can scarcely follow them; one instant the squirrel is in the wheel
running with all his might, and the next he is seated on a shelf at the opposite

end of the cage, the wheel whirling behind him. * *

Indeed it is impossible
for them to be awkward or clumsy in any of their movements. Though usually very
quiet, they are not always displeased with noise, if it be a lively one; for instance
they drop a nut in the wheel and then as it rattles while the wheel moves they
are highly delighted, sometimes more so than some of the other listeners. * * *
Now and then the freak takes one or the other to leave the wheel altogether for
several days, and in the meantime they relieve their over-buoyant feelings by
executing a brilliant series of somersets with an agility and daring that would
excite the envy of the most skillful acrobat. They always turn backward, going
completely over and alighting almost exactly upon the spot from which they started.
Now they run a few steps before going over, and now stop and turn round and
round as if a spit ran through the center of the body, on which it turned.
* * * T once found one of them at my inkstand eagerly lapping the ink as if
he enjoyed it greatly; pretty soon, however, he left it with sneezings, sniffings

and grimaces of 2 most comical sort, but the next chance he had he tried to get

348 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

some more. Salt they eat greedily and also sugar. Beetles they are very fond
of and several birds’ eggs which I left in their way they devoured, shells and all.
* * * When the actions of an animal are so suddenly varied, so constantly
changing and of such interest in all their phases as are those of the flying
squirrel, a complete account can scarcely be given. Certainly it is not easy for
words to represent the merry, rollicking, don’t-care manner in which these flying
squirrels do everything. Such a combination of earnestness and carelessness are
seldom seen. For they are earnest about their work, and in emptying a box of
nuts they seem to feel the great importance of their undertaking and the necessity
for soberness and dignity in its execution; but yet one cannot help seeing that all
this is but assumed for the occasion, for their eyes, and indeed their whole body,
are all the time expressive of mischief, and the little rogues are never so sedate
that they do not seem to be bubbling over with fun and to be ready at a
moment’s notice to engage in any mischief that may occur to their scheming
little vheads.<) =

Like all the other squirrels, these feed on nuts, seeds and buds and appear to
have a liking for flesh, and can often be taken in traps baited with meat. From
their quick and noiseless movements, it seems probable that they can and do
prey upon the small birds which spend the night in the trees.

The northern flying squirrel is a more hardy animal than the common one,
and no amount of snow or cold is enough to drive him to his nest in the winter
nights. Like the red squirrel, his curiosity, combined with his hunger, lead him
to investigate every out-of-the-way object, and he is therefore almost as much of
a nuisance as that hardy adventurer. Even the fact that the trap is baited with
one of his captured brethren does not seem to deter him from investigating it
and getting caught.

The remainder of the New York rodents are nearly all small forms and include
the rats and mice and the lemmings. The latter are hardly to be distinguished
from the mice, and are inhabitants of cold sphagnum bogs, in which they make
their burrows, and where there is an abundance of the vegetable matter on
which they feed. They are close relations of the lemming of Norway, whose
extensive migrations in enormous numbers aré well known. There, when driven
by overcrowding and consequent lack of food, they start out, urged by some
impulse, stopping neither for towns or broad streams, devouring everything
they can which comes in their way and only end by coming to the sea, into

which they. plunge, still going onward, and are drowned. As far as we know,

* American Naturalist. Vol. 7, p. 129. 1873.

THE SQUIRRELS AND OTHER RODENTS OF THE ADIRONDACKS, 349

our American forms are not subject to such migrations. Two species are
found in New York State; but of these, one has been taken but once.

The rats and mice are more common—in fact, too common by far. Of the
former, the common or Norway rat is found everywhere in inhabited districts,
though he has failed to penetrate in very great numbers very far into the
Adirondacks. He is not a native species and according to De Kay, was introduced
by the foreign mercenaries during the Revolutionary War. Though they are
intelligent beasts, they are unattractive in appearance, and are probably as little
liked as any animal. They are of some value as scavengers, but do far more
damage, and are therefore only regarded as a nuisance.

Before them came the black rat, which was also introduced from Europe, and
which spread throughout the country and was found in many parts of this State.
This was rather more attractive in appearance than the Norway rat, but the
latter has entirely driven him out, and he is now probably extinct here. This
process has been repeated throughout the world, and the black rat now exists
only in places to which the Norway rat has not penetrated.

Like the rats, the house mouse is not a native species, but, originating in
southern Asia, they have gone with man wherever he has traveled, and now are
spread throughout the entire globe. This migration is still going on, and probably
there is no vessel that sails that does not either leave some on this side or carry
back toward their native land some specimens of the house mouse. Their habits
are too well known to need description here.

Of the species of native mice, the jumping mice are interesting little forms,
with long tails and long hind legs, with the aid of which they make astonishing
leaps, when they want to get away. There are two species of them in the State,
and the woodland jumping mouse is found throughout the Adirondacks in the
deep woods, making its nest under the laurels and hemlocks beside the brooks.

Another pretty little mouse, common in the woods, is the whitefooted mouse,
often called ths deer mouse. In their native haunts they make their nests high
up in the hollow trees or in logs, or in burrows in the earth, but it has been
quick to see the advantages of civilization, and is now often found in the houses.
Here it lives in harmony with the house mouse, taking its share of any food
that may happen to be around. In its wild state the whitefooted mouse lives
mainly on beechnuts and almost any kind of seeds, of which it stores away an
immense quantity in its nest. During the winter it feeds upon these, but the coldest
weather seems to have no effect upon it, and it may often be seen running over
the snow in search of more food. In captivty it becomes very tame and makes

a most interesting and attractive little pet. Some individuals appear to have the

¢

350 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

gift of song, with most musical, bird-like notes. It may be said also that some-
times the same ability is present in some of the house mice.

The mice which do the greatest damage, however, in the country are the
redbacked mouse and the meadow mouse. Of these, the former is the smaller
and may be recognized by its chestnut color. It prefers the woods and clearings and
the vicinity of bogs, where they make their burrows just under the surface, and their
nest under some log and pile of bark. They feed on seeds, berries, and various
kinds of roots, and, during the winter, on the bark of shrubs and trees. The
writer found a very serious, though limited, case of damage by this mouse at
Paul Smith’s, where they had been exceptionally plentiful during the winter, and
had attacked everything, including even some of the softwood trees. Within this area
they had stripped off all the bark from the larger exposed roots and from the trunk,
up to a height of about four feet. It is probable that the presence of an
abundance of food from the hotel had originally attracted them, and then, not
finding enough food in the winter, they had attacked the trees. Along the roads
near the same place, there were many dead saplings, which were apparently the
results of the work of either this species or the meadow mouse. These were
usually girdled within a foot of the ground, and the marks of their sharp teeth
could be seen on the underlying wood. They were particularly partial to the
maple and ash; but beech, alder, and wild cherry were ‘also attacked. This
meadow mouse is probably the most destructive of any; for, not liking the deep
woods, he is fond of settling down in the meadows and pastures, where he lives
upon the roots of grasses and clover. Then in the winter he attacks the young
fruit trees in the nurseries and the shrubs around the farm, girdling them and
often killing them. During the summer they live in burrows; but when the ground
becomes frozen they abandon these and make a nest of dry grass upon the
surface of the ground, with runways going off in all directions. Soon the nest
is covered with snow, but the heat from the bodies of the mice soon melts a
dome-shaped chamber over the nest and from this they tunnel through the snow
in ‘search of food, It is) then that they do the damageiito) the trees, tommtie
snow enables them to work well up the trunks and at the same time protects
them from the weather. Usually they are not sufficiently numerous to attract very
much attention to their depredations; but occasionally, though rarely, they multiply
in such numbers that the damage is very extensive. Whether this abundance is
due to migrations or simply to conditions favoring unchecked reproduction is not
known. One of these conditions is the destruction of the birds and mammals
which prey upon the mice, and Merriam has these pertinent remarks concerning

this: ‘‘The amount of food consumed by a single individual is of course compara-

THE SQUIRRELS AND OTHER RODENTS OF THE ADIRONDACKS. 351

tively insignificant, but that required to sustain the total number inhabiting a
given district is not to be ignored. And when it is borne in mind that the food
of this species consists almost exclusively of the produce of the agriculturist, the
fact becomes evident that the animal is a source of continuous pecuniary loss to
Pic mianMen we OMmibimiesrelencice. tO vthe) yearss when thei Species) isi present) in
excessive numbers, it is a low estimate to say that twenty-five mice live upon
every acre of meadow land. MHence the total number present upon an ordinarily
productive farm of two hundred acres would not be less than five thousand.
Now suppose that the owner of a farm of this size should capture and keep in
confinement five thousand meadow mice, feeding them upon their natural food grain
Ena phe Toots of erass. Would it not be strange if; in the course of (a. few,
months, he should become so alarmed at the cost in dollars and cents of keeping
such a ‘host of these ravenous creatures that he should have them all put to
death? And yet our farmers not only look on in stolid indifference while their
property and the fruits of their labors suffer, from this source, annual losses
which they can ill afford to bear, but they even help the mice to increase in
numbers and maintain supremacy over their fields! This they do in several ways,
chiefly by neglecting measures for the riddance of the mice, and, what is of vastly
more consequence, by encouraging the destruction of those birds and mammals
that habitually prey upon mice. Preeminent among these may be mentioned the
marsh and rough-legged hawks, all the smaller hawks and owls, the shrike,
the skunk, and the weasels. Thus the farmer in his shortsightedness omits no
opportunity to deprive himself of Nature’s means of holding in check the vermin
that ruin his crops.”

The following works may be consulted by anyone interested in a further study
of the group. More detailed bibliographies will be found in the papers by Miller

and Stone.

Audubon and Bachman. The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America. 1846-54.

Mearns, E. A. A Study of the Vertebrate Fauna of the Hudson Highlands. Bull. Amer. Mus.
Nat. Hist. Vol. X, p. 303. 1808.

Merriam, C. H. Trans. Linnaean Soc. New York. Vol. 1 and 2. 1882-84.

Miller, G. S., Jr. Preliminary List of New York Mammals. N. Y. State Mus. Bull. No. 29. 1899.

Stone, Witmer, and Cram, W. E. American Animals. New York. 1902.

The Wild Towl of the St. Lavaeaee
River
By J. H. Duruam.

INCE the advent of the white man into the valley of the St. Lawrence River
the region of the Thousand Islands—‘‘Les Milles Isles” of the Canadian
voyageur —has been noted as a resort for wild fowl innumerable; and as a

natural consequence it has become a veritable paradise for the sportsman, and
also that other accompanying evil, the mere ‘‘pot hunter.”

A glance at a map embracing the watershed of the upper St. Lawrence river,
that extent of country known to the Algonquin by the name ‘‘Cataraqui,”
signifying, ‘‘A land of many lakes,” and which includes that cluster of inland
island dotted lakes, rivers and creeks lying back of Kingston and Gananoque, on
the north, and the lakes and streams of Jefferson and St. Lawrence counties
on the south, will convince the most casual observer that nature here dealt her
favors to the feathered flock with no niggard hand. The constant succession of
rocky ridges, fertile valleys, wide reaches of wooded plateaus, low-lying meadows
and marshes, sedgy swamps with here and there a ‘‘salt lick,” was an ideal
range for myriads of wild fowl and herds of four-footed game.

As a matter of fact, Lake Ontario, including Bay de Quinte, was ‘‘Cataraqui”
lake; the St. Lawrence river was ‘‘Cataraqui’’ river; and the whole region on
both shores, as I have indicated above, was the paradise of the red hunter,
whether of fish, flesh or fowl.

In view, therefore, of all these natural advantages, there is little wonder that
the red tribesmen fought furiously for the possession of this ‘‘land of many
lakes,” where everything they most craved was so abundant, in variety so great,
and so easy to procure; but so it was, until the white man came, and drove the
red men from their hunting grounds, and then proceeded to destroy the game
recklessly and in some localities to. almost completely eradicate every vestige of it.

To-day, governments, through the medium of laws and special enactments,
are trying, with only partial success, to preserve some few remnants of the many
species of fish, flesh and fowl which Mother Nature distributed with lavish hand
among the ideal haunts in forest, lake and stream; and which are now almost extinct

352

J. E. STANLEY, PHOTO.

SPATGULE EATING A EISH:

nigh ais

Bcreausepyriie

J. E. STANLEY, PHOTO,

RAST EVEN |G; eA GWE Ie:

WIGS, \WVIUEID) IKON VI, Ons “BN SNS, Silo = EAN IRIBINCE 13; IRI ADIN 353

in some localities, through wanton and reckless destruction. To effect the desired
result, more stringent laws are necessary, a more rigid enforcement of those we
have, and a more thorough supervision everywhere.

The territory embraced by the Thousand Islands and the foot of Lake Ontario
is practically the game center of the region to which I have alluded; since every
species of wild fowl known to those localities will be found within its borders at
one time or another during the season. The object, therefore, of this article
is to briefly notice the different species of fowl and shore birds that yet breed
here, or make it a resort at their usual periods.

I am glad that I am able to state that the species common here are still
numerous, notwithstanding the encroachments of civilization in the way of
summer cottages upon the shores and islands of the lakes and rivers, with all the
accompanying accessories of innumerable water craft, from the great steamer
down to the steam and motor yacht, the launch and skiff, which are constantly
increasing every season among our watering places.

Indeed, no better proof is needed of the adaptability of this region to the
habits of wild fowl than the fact that, despite the difficulties and, to them,
dangers of constant encroachments upon their haunts, they instinctively return
thereto year after year to rear their young, and then fall a prey, perchance, to
the enthusiastic sportsmen; and, too often, I am sorry to say, to the greed of the
mere pot hunter.

In the following notes I have confined myself to the briefest descriptions, for

’

which I am mainly indebted to the ‘‘Color Key to North American Birds” and
“Birds of Eastern North America,” by Frank M. Chapman; and to Mr. James
E. Stanley, of Cape Vincent, N. Y., a noted taxidermist and an enthusiastic
ornithologist, for the privilege of verifying some of the descriptions by an exami-
nation of many of the exquisite specimens with which his cases are liberally
supplied.- I am also indebted to Mr. C. T. Sacket, also of Cape Vincent, for the
privilege of research through his extensive library, to me a source of great
satisfaction.

I am also indebted, in some measure, to Gurdon Trumbull’s ‘‘ Names and Por-
traits of Birds,” more especially for the scientific names, although in some instances
I have followed Mr. Chapman in that respect, because his classification seemed
LOM tO bemthemmost logical) l smakes no ‘claim, however, to any expert
knowledge of bird nomenclature; so, where the ‘‘doctors disagreed,’ I have

é

chosen —it may be neither ‘‘wisely nor well’—and I trust I am not far wrong.
I am also much indebted to “Our Feathered Game,” by that entertaining writer
and sportsman, Dwight W. Huntington.

25

354 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

Dacks (Auxseres).

I commence my descriptive list with the ducks, because the species is by far
the most numerous of any of the water fowl that frequent this locality.

Of the forty-nine species of the duck family (Azatzdae), twenty-seven are
found in this locality. By locality I mean the St. Lawrence River region. Some
of them breed here, while others remain until very late in the season. Again,
some species are numerous, while of others only an occasional specimen is
obtainable.

MeERGANSERS (MWergznae).

Three species of the Merganser family are found here. The American merganser
(Merganser americanus) is common, during the season, to all parts of the river
and lake.

The mergansers are called ducks in common parlance, though in fact they do
not seem to belong to the true ducks, only in some particulars; in others, they
differ materially. This part of the subject, however, I leave to the scientist.
As game birds they will have to be included, I suppose, among others of the
inferior class, though I suppose that if nothing better is in sight the average gunner
will not let the chance to bag one pass by. They are voracious devourers of fish.
Mr. Allan Brooks, in the March number of Recreatzon, avers that a ‘‘Sawhbill” can

”

‘“digest five pounds of fish daily.” This being admitted, it is easy to conclude.
that the merganser does not rank high as a table delicacy. In fact, as I have
had occasion to remark of another bird, it would scarcely be accounted a sin to
eat one on a Friday because of the difficulty in distinguishing whether fish
or flesh predominated.

The mergansers are all birds of beautiful plumage, the American merganser
being supezior in that respect to any of the others. ‘They are all tree breeders,
and to some extent they all breed at some point within the St. Lawrence River
region. In fact, the American merganser is essentially an inland dweller, though
not so numerous here. It is an early breeder; the young ones are very precocious,
being able to take small fish before they (the birds, not the fish) are fairly
teathered out.

Sheldrake and sawbill are names often used locally for all the mergansers
indiscriminately, though when applied to the hooded merganser the name is
usually qualified by ‘‘little”; as litttle sawhbill, little spikebill, etc. The American
merganser is described as follows: ‘‘ Head and crest black, reflecting green; upper
parts black; rump and tail coverts gray; wing white with black bai; under parts

salmon color; tail gray; bill and fcet red.”

Sees eee e
eee

+
m

c
m

THE WILD FOWL OF THE Si. LAWRENCE RIVER: 355

The red-breasted merganser (Werganser serrator), locally known as the “ Red-
breasted sawbill,’’ breeds here, and is well known to sportsmen throughout the
entire region. This bird decoys easily. It subsists entirely on fish, and therefore
is no better for table use than its congener, the American merganser.

Just here I am reminded of a recipe for cooking a merganser, which was
given me some years ago by one of our local guides, now deceased, who was so
good a camp cook that his ‘‘shore dinners”? became widely celebrated and were
eagerly sought for by our summer visitors. He used to say: ‘‘I use the ‘soup
Sronemmnccelpinw Muntnenminguiny developed) alittle istory, tom tunis ettect: ~N

’

*““way down easter” decided to take a look at the “‘far west,” which was at
that time limited by the Mississippi River. Being light in purse and withal
of a saving disposition, instead of putting money in his “‘scrip,” he put a
smoothly polished oval stone of strange and variegated markings and colors
in its place, shouldered his knapsack, and set forth on his travels toward the
setting sun.

Stopping at the old-time wayside taverns (hotels were not known in those days),
he readily, Yankee fashion, ingratiated himself, first with the landlord and his
family and then with the guests, with whom he skillfully broached such subjects
that a showing of the stone was necessary, by way of illustration. Of its virtues
he was at once secretive, yet eloquent and enthusiastic. Of course, there were
doubters; and the only thing that remained for our traveler to do to sustain
his reputation for truth and veracity was to submit to a trial of the virtues of
the stone then and there.

To this he agreed; but he said: ‘‘Gentlemen, you must understand that the
virtoos of this stun are in its flavorin’ and thickenin’ qualities. It don’t make

the hull soup of itself; there are other ingrejunts necessary, which, if I had, I

ie}

would show you in ‘“Just name ’em,” said the landlord, ‘‘and they will be

’

forthcomin’.” ‘‘A fryin’ pan, some bilin’ water, a pertater or two, a small ingun,

and a passnip ef handy; a slice or two of bread, and a spoonful or two of injun

’

meal; and a leetle salt and pepper,” enumerated the traveler.

’

The ‘‘ingrejunts” were ‘‘forthcomin’” in short order, and to them our Yankee
friend slily added a bay leaf; and when everything was properly prepared for its
reception, and as our friend remarked, the ‘‘ witchin’ time had arriv,” the ‘ stun”’
'was carefully placed in the center of the seething mass. In a few minutes it was
taken out, carefully cleaned and put away, the soup was turned out into a
dish and duly sampled by everyone present, and pronounced perfect as to ‘‘ body
and flavor.” It is needless to say that our Yankee friend had demonstrated the

’

“‘virtoos” of the “stun,” and that he consumed the bulk of the soup himself,

356 REPORT OF THE HORESD PISH) AND) GAME COMMISSION:

and departed satisfied, to repeat the demonstration at the next tavern. Reader,
you have the recipe; and should know by this time how to cook a merganser.
Description. ‘Adult male. Breast, with broad cinnamon band, streaked
with black; head feathers lengthened. Female. Crown grayish brown, washed with
rusty. Chin and throat paler; rest of underparts and speculum white; back and

tail ashy.”
Tue Hoopep MeErcanser (Lophodytes cucullatus).

This bird is also very common, being one of our best known tree breeders,
staying with us until very late before migrating.

Description. ‘‘ddult male. A large circular black and white crest. Female.
A small cinnamon crest; head, neck and breast grayish brown; back blackish;
belly white.”

By some of our local sportsmen, this bird is known as the ‘‘ hooded sheldrake.”
It is smaller than the other mergansers, and is oftener found on ponds and

sluggish streams.
Tue Matiarp (Azas boschas).

This is one of our commonest birds, breeding largely, when undisturbed, in
the marshes of the bays and among the islands. The mallard is the original
of our domesticated duck, with which it readily mates; and from the fact that
the mallard has the familiar guack of the barnyard duck there are times when
it is difficult to distinguish them. This similarity leads sometimes to ludicrous
mistakes, not to say costly ones also, on the part of amateur duck hunters,
to whom a duck is just a duck, and to whom the difference in the species is a
sealed book.

A case in point occurred not many years ago in this immediate vicinity. A
couple of young hunters, from a city which shall be nameless, went duck shooting,
armed with the most approved weapons in the way of breechloaders, shooting jackets
of the best material and latest pattern, gorgeous gamebags, and, in short, all the
paraphernalia ever invented to make the taking of wild fowl at once a pleasure,
pastime and success. They were accompanied also by a well-trained retriever.

Evidently, they had been informed by some friend, who had been here before,
of the best locality for game on which to exercise their skill; for without any
hesitation or inquiry of any kind they engaged a boatman to take them at an
early hour the next morning to a bay in a nearby Canadian island, where the
Anas boschas breeds numerously, and where in several instances it has been

known to liberally mingle its wild blood with its congener of the barnyard.

Se a

‘SGuUId ODNNOA AO LSHNO NI SHATLANL ONIddVNS

"OLOHd */

2 bi

THE WILD FOWL OF THE ST. LAWRENCE RIVER. 357

Landing his sportsmen at a suitable point, the boatman rowed away, so that
the sport might not be disturbed by his presence, and yet be where a signal
to return could easily be seen. In a little time the firing began, and soon grew
fast and furious. Afterward, the old boatman, who was a veteran of the Civil
War, said, while indulging in a brief reminiscence of the occurrence, that ‘‘from
the sound of the firing he thought that his men had formed a skirmish line and
opened fire on the Canadian garrison at Kingston.”

However, they soon made the signal agreed upon, and taking them on board he
rowed away for the hotel. They were elated with their success. Their game bags
were filled to repletion, and they had several brace each, besides. They were
elated with their wonderful success; even the eyes of the panting retriever sparkled
with pleasure. Their success had been phenomenal, and not caring to dim its
brightness by any chance of future failure, they concluded to take themselves
and trophies home on the evening train.

A dinner, such as mine host Fox always provided, with perhaps certain
accompaniments usually printed on the back of the bill of fare, only added to
their elation. They repeated again and again to a circle of envious admirers just
how they did it, the pith of which, as told by the chief narrator, was: ‘‘ A big
flock of these mailards—that’s what they call ’em, isn’t it?—came swimming
around the point and we let them have it right and left; and, by George,
gentlemen, we got all but one; all but one, gentlemen, for a fact.”

Just then, an old farmer and his son and hired man, who lived over on the
island, came in and after complying with an invitation to share in the liquids,
turned to inspect the game. But why prolong the painful scene? The hunters,
now become the hunted, paid for the mallards, and something over, and were
allowed to retain them. The old farmer remarked suggestively that he thought
likely he could have another flock ready by next year. Full of newly acquired
knowledge and other things, those hunters went home on the next train; and
whether or not their friends ever learned their mistake as to mallards, the deponent
saith not.

This is not the only case of the kind by any means, and similar mistakes are
liable to occur again.

The common method employed here for shooting mallards is over decoys; and
among all the species which frequent this region the mallard is undoubtedly
the favorite with a great majority of hunters.

Another incident, related to me by Mr. James E. Stanley, shows what may be
accomplished by an amateur hunter whose knowledge of the game he seeks is

practically ‘‘ nil.”

358 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

Mr. Stanley had placed a fine lot of decoys in Mud Creek, a couple of miles
or so from the village of Cape Vincent. Himself and Mr. Henry Morrison, one
of our enthusiastic local gunners, had placed themselves in the proper positions to
await the incoming of the expected game, when they were startled by an unex-
pected fusillade from a clump of undergrowth not more than thirty feet from
the decoys, and yet more startled to see the split, mangled and disfigured decoys
floating recklessly about in badly disheveled, duckly dignity. It would be hard
to imagine a more astonished individual than was the unlucky amateur when
Mr. Stanley pounced upon him with an outflow of language not only emphatic but
lurid. The fellow was so completely dumbfounded that he could only exclaim:
‘““Great Scott! ain’t them ducks nothin’ but wood?” An undeniable compliment
to Mr. Stanley’s skill as a decoy maker. In consideration of his dense ignorance,
Mr. Stanley “‘let him down easy.” And he went.away, a “wiser” i not @
sadder man.

Description. ‘‘Adult male. Head green; breast chestnut; a white neck ring;
speculum purple bordered by black and white; under surface of wing pure white.
Female. Above blackish and buffy; below rusty buff mottled with dusky grayish
brown.”

Other species of this family common here are the black duck (Azas obscura),
also a home breeder.

The black duck closely resembles the mallard in its habits, and the ‘‘ quack”
of the mallard, the black duck, and that of the barnyard fowl are so nearly alike
that one might easily be mistaken for the other. Mr. Stanley has a pair bred
from the black duck and the mallard, and now proposes to continue the new
strain in order to see the result. His opinion is that they will “breed back;”
and he is waiting with no little curiosity as to the outcome. A Wolf Island
farmer tells me of an instance in which eggs of the domestic duck, the mallard
and the black duck were found in the same nest not more than a rod from the
water’s edge.

The black duck is an exceedingly cautious bird, and not easy to take. Owing
to the nocturnal habits of the species, some of our local hunters formerly
indulged in night shooting, but with no marked result, other than to drive the
birds from their feeding grounds.

Description. “Adults. Speculum bluish purple, tipped with black; no white
in the wing; wing lining white; crown without paler margins; throat usually
without markings; legs ‘olivaceous’ brown; bill greenish black or olive green.”

The gadwall (Anas strepara), which is not so common here, often goes by the

ce ’

name of the ‘‘ gray duck,” and is often confounded with the widgeon. In fact,

WaIMNIAVS VY ONIIVG WIliaL SOvisson

OLOHd S\HINVLS “af

THE WILD FOWL OF THE ST. LAWRENCE RIVER. 359

some of our local. hunters insist that the gadwall and widgeon are the same bird.
It breeds in our marshes, but not in great numbers.

Description. ‘‘Adult male. Wing coverts chestnut; under wing coverts and
axillars white; breast ringed with white. Female. Head and throat like male;
back fuscous and buffy; breast and sides ochraceous, thickly spotted with blackish;
speculum ashy gray and white.”

The widgeon (Anas americana). By some of our gunners this bird is known
as the ‘‘green-headed widgeon,’” or ‘‘greenhead,” and also the “‘bald pate.”
Owing to its extreme wariness it is not only hard to take, but it often succeeds
in frightening other birds away with its peculiar alarm signal, a sort of whistle.

Description. ‘‘Adult male. . Head and neck reddish brown; crown buif; sides
with wavy white and black lines. Adult female. WHead and throat rusty, finely
streaked and barred with black; breast and sides rusty; speculum blackish.”

Two species of teal are local breeders also; the green-winged teal (Anas
carolinensus) and the blue-winged teal (Azas discors). The latter is also locally
known as the ‘‘white-faced teal.” These are the smallest of the wild fowl that
visit this region, or that breed here. They are much sought after, as they are
considered superior to the canvas back for eating. This question of suitableness
for table use is, after all, a relative one. It depends wholly upon the quality and
kind of food the birds consume. Those that feed upon the wild celery of the
South, or fatten upon the wild rice found in so many localities, are superior in
flavor to those that feed upon inferior foods. Generally speaking, however, teal
are excellent table birds, inferior to none.

The blue-winged teal are among the earliest to visit us, arriving here early in
September. Many remain to nest in our marshes, unless too often disturbed.
They are rapid flyers, and rise from the water quickly. The usual method of
taking them here is with decoys, or shooting over points.

DescripTion. ‘“‘ Adult male of the green-winged teal. Wing coverts gray,
tipped with buff or white, a white crescent in front of wing; speculum green,
bordered by black, tipped with white. Female. Wings same as male, throat and
sides of neck white, finely spotted with black; breast and sides rusty, marked
with black. Adult male of the blue-winged teal. Blue wing coverts, and white
cheek patch. Female. Resembles female green-winged teal, but has wing
coverts blue, with speculum greenish brown.”’

The canvas back (Athya valisneria). Though not by any means as common
here as some other species, it visits us in considerable numbers and is often
bagged. The usual method of taking them in the St. Lawrence region is by shooting

over decoys, or from points as they pass from one feeding ground to another.

360 REPORD OF THE, HOREST, wisi AN DN GAME COMNVEISSION:

Description. ‘‘Adult male. Head and whole neck dull reddish brown.
Female. Head and neck rusty grayish brown; back grayish brown finely barred
with black and white.”

The canvas back is one of the largest of the duck family, and is also a handsome
bird, qualities which, combined with its excellent table qualities, have given to
this species the distinguished name, ‘‘King of Ducks.” It arrives here quite
early in the fall, and remains until there is no longer any open water to be seen.

Dwight W. Huntington, in his admirable volume on ‘‘Our Feathered Game,”
says: ‘‘ The canvas back is distinctly an American bird. No other ducks resemble
it excepting the red-head duck, and the pochard of Europe.” This fact accounts
for the opinion expressed by an enthusiastic southerner in an after-dinner speech
that: ‘‘Sah, the only bird that should be adopted as the emblem, sah, of these
United States is the canvas back of the Chesapeake, sah.”

The red head (Athya americana). By many of our epicures, this bird is
thought to be much superior to the canvas back for table use, and hence they
are much sought after. These birds usually arrive here late in March, or certainly
by the first of April, and now that spring shooting is prohibited, they will
remain until late in the spring, and no doubt many will breed here. The method
of taking them is the same as employed.for the canvas back.

Description. ‘‘Adult male. Head and upper neck entirely a bright rufous;
lower neck, breast and back of the neck and upper back black; the rest of the
back and scapulars finely barred with wavy black and white lines of equal width;
wing coverts brownish gray; upper tail coverts black; belly white, lower part more
or less barred with black. Female. Throat white; back grayish brown without
fine bars; speculum gray.”

The American scaup or bluebill (Athya maria).

Description. ‘‘ Adult male. WHead glossed with greenish; sides without distinct
black bars. Female. Feathers about base of bill white; breast and back rusty
grayish brown; speculum white.”

The lesser scaup, or little bluebill (Athya affints).

Description. ‘‘Adult male. Head glossed with purplish; sides with distinct
black bars. Female. Similar to female of American scaup.” This bird is common
and is often taken among the islands and in the bays.

As indicated, there are two distinct species of the scaup showing no appreciable
difference except in size. They have several names, but the most common seems
to be the ‘‘big bluebill” and the ‘‘little bluebill.”. Though these birds are often
mistaken one for the other, so far as I have been able to learn it is the lesser

scaup or little bluebill that is oftenest seen here.

PINTAIL DUCK
UPPER FIGURE MALE, LOWER FIGURE FEMALE

DHE WILD) HOWL OR Dink Si. LAWRENCE RIVER: 201

The ring-necked scaup (Athya collaris), though partial to our lakes and ponds,
is not so often met with along the river. With the exception of a chestnut
collar or neck ring, this species does not differ materially in its markings from
the other Athyae.

Another species, the pintail (Dafila acuta), known also as the ‘‘piketail”’ and
E Sprietall sissesomerimes: foundsalheres) though by) mo) means common. lt as
distinguished principally by its central tail feathers, which are black and about
seven and a half inches in length.

The pintail arrives here usually in September, but sometimes it is not seen
until October. When the teal put in an appearance the pintail may be looked for.
Huntington speaks of a remarkable performance of this bird, that of drumming like
the snipe, arising high in the air, and then falling suddenly, producing a loud drum-
ming sound by the action of the wings. It frequents our marshes with the mallard,
and is often shot over decoys at the same time. It is one of our best table birds.

A favorite bird here, because of its superior table qualities, is the shoveller
(Spatula clypeata), often known to our sportsmen as the ‘‘red-breasted shoveller.”
For table use it also is considered by many far superior to the canvas back.

In plumage it is one of the most beautiful birds that visit us; and hence I
indulge in a description of an adult male, as given by Mr. Gurdon Trumbull:
‘““Head and upper neck of a very dark greenish tone with purple reflections;
lower neck and breast white; belly and flanks rich chestnut brown; front part of
wing conspicuously blue, of light shade but vivid; back of this blue, a green wing
mark or speculum, bordered with white and black; feathers striped with white
sweeping backward from inner region of wings; back dusky brown; rump above
and below tail black with greenish gloss; at either end of tail a white patch.”
Though not especially numerous, enough of these birds are seen from time to
time to keep the epicurean sportsman on the guwz vive, in the hope of securing a
brace or two for his game bag.

One of our home breeders, conceded to be the most beautiful of our water
fowls, and scarcely inferior to any for table use, is the wood duck (Azr sponsa),
also called the ‘‘summer duck.” I refrain from attempting a description of this
beautiful bird, because mere words can give no adequate idea of its gorgeous
plumage; and, moreover, it is so well known that description is superflous. Only
a colored plate could give an appreciable idea at the best. Mr. Huntington says:
‘“The wood duck is the most beautiful duck in the world.”

Linnaeus named this bird sfonsa, the bride; but that seems rather inconsistent,
since it is the bridegroom that appears in gorgeous raiment, while the bride is a

plain little body, very modestly attired.

362 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME ‘COMMISSION:

There was a time, and that not long ago, when it looked as though this
species would become extinct; indeed, in some localities where they were numerous
a few years ago there is now hardly one to be found. Notably is this the case
along the wooded shores of Kent’s or Mud Creek in the town of Cape Vincent,
Jefferson County. There the species has been pretty thoroughly obliterated; and
unless the law against spring shooting is promptly and thoroughly enforced, we
may bid farewell to the wood duck in that locality. Hon. Elon R. Brown, when
he procured the enactment of the law against spring shooting in Jefferson County,
performed a meritorious and most creditable act; and now, if the officers to
whom the enforcement of the law is entrusted will do their duty promptly and
effectively, great good may be accomplished. It is a source of regret that the
provisions of the law were not extended to other counties, especially those
embraced in the lake and river region.

It may be considered somewhat out of place to make a suggestion here; but
I hope that it is not wholly inappropriate. In view of the fact that the area of
cleared land is constantly increasing, and in the same ratio the wooded area
diminishing, so also are the nesting places of many of our home breeders, such
as the wood duck and other tree fowl, becoming fewer and more difficult of
access to the birds. In proportion as suitable nesting places grow less the broods
fall off; and these causes, in connection with corpulent game bags filled to
repletion by greedy hunters, soon result in ridding us entirely of these species.

My suggestion is, that a law should be passed limiting the number of ducks
and shore birds to be taken at any one time to not more than a dozen. Anglers
are Jimited to taking a certain number of bass at any one time. Why not
extend the law to fowl? Bass are a hundred times more numerous than our game
fowl, and yet I have seen as many ducks brought in, the spoil of a single gun,
as the angler was allowed bass as the trophy of a single rod. The true sportsman
ought to be satisfied with half a dozen brace of ducks, while the pot hunter should
be legislated out of business entirely. What really ought to be done, is the
enactment of a law prohibiting the killing of any of our home breeding birds, ducks
especially, for a term, say, of five years. At the end of that period duck shooting
would be a pleasant pastime, and there would be some chance that now and then
a choice morsel might reach our tables.

My attention has just now been called to another fact which may be very
properly considered by our lawmakers, and that is, that one of the greatest enemies
of the wood duck in this locality is the pickerel, so called here, but properly the
pike. These fish are classed among game fish in our waters, a bit of the most

inconsistent legislation on our statutes. The pickerel destroys more bass spawn,

+

THE WILD FOWL OF THE ST. LAWRENCE: RIVER. 262

except perhaps the eel, than does any other of the finny tribe; and besides its sins in
that direction it is doing no end of damage in the destruction of young ducklings.
Pickerel are to our wood duck and other home breeders what carp have proved
to be elsewhere.

The law should relegate pickerel to the grade of food fish and turn them over
to the netter. By so doing a double benefit would be achieved. There would
soon be a notable increase of bass and also of our home breeding ducks, while
there would be, in addition, a marked increase in fish food. It seems like folly to
protect a fish by law that no true angler would think of keeping should he catch
one. }

- Another tree breeder, the American golden eye, or whistler (Clangula amert-
cana), is also common on the St. Lawrence, returning here from the north in
autumn. The golden eye is never seen in large flocks; often single or in pairs.
It is a rapid diver and as difficult to shoot as a loon. The flesh is not especially
desirable. JI quote again from Huntington: ‘‘ The Indians call it a ‘spirit duck.’
On the Yukon they stuff the skin to make a toy for the children.”

In Neltje Blanchan’s book, ‘‘ Birds that Hunt and are Hunted,” the following
story is credited to Allan Brooks: ‘‘The Indians of the Frazer River valley tell
a story of two men in one of their tribes who had a dispute as to how the whistler
made the noise, one claiming that it was produced by the wings, the other, that
ait was vocal or made through the nostrils. Others joined in the dispute which
resulted in the death of the majority of the warriors, leaving the question
unsettled.”

Description. ‘‘Adult male. Head greenish; circular white patch at base of
bill. Female. Head and throat brown; breast and back gray, a white throat ring;
belly and speculum white.”

Barrows’ golden eye (Clangula tslandica). This bird is by no means common
here, though specimens have been taken and mounted.

’ Description. ‘‘Adult male. Head purplish blue; white patch at base of bill
‘twice as high as wide. Female. Same as the American golden eye.”

The buffle head (Charitonella albeola) is one of our local tree breeders, and
has, in common with others of its class, suffered from spring shooting and pickerel.

Description. ‘‘Adult male. Head blue, purple and green; a white band from
eye to eye across the nape. Female. A whitish patch on either side of the head;
throat and upper parts grayish brown; belly and speculum white.”

The ruddy duck (Erismatura rubida) is one of our most common species. It
breeds in the marshes along the bays of the St. Lawrence, among the islands, and

also on the shores of our inland lakes. This duck is a veritable gormand, and is

364 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION:

known locally as the ‘‘butter ball,” and by some as the ‘‘deaf duck,” though
why, it is not so, easy to see, as it never shows any signs of defective hearing,
as many a hunter can readily testify.

Description. ‘‘ddult male. Cheeks white; cap black; back reddish brown; tail
feathers narrow and stiff; bill short. Female. A whitish streak through dusty
cheeks; back grayish brown, with fine buffy bars; belly silvery whitish.”

The ‘‘old squaw” (Clangula hyemalis) is plentiful throughout the St. Lawrence
and lake region, large numbers wintering on Lake Ontario. Locally it is known
to our Canadian neighbors as the ‘‘cock-a-wee,” and the local names of ‘‘ John
Conolly””’ and ‘‘ John Hollenbeck” are common. When a boy the writer was taught
to call this bird the ‘‘south, south southerly,’ words which its cry closely imitated.

Description. ‘‘Adult male. Central tail feathers much lengthened; in winter,
crown, nape, throat and neck all around white; in summer, black with rusty
markings on back. Female. In winter, cheeks, neck all around and under parts
white; breast and sides of neck dusty. In summer, crown, cheeks and nape blackish;
throat and breast dusky; a whitish patch back of eye.”

- The harlequin (Azstrzonicus histrionicus) has been taken here, but it is very scarce.

Descriprion. ‘Adult male. Back and breast slaty blue; head darker. Female.
Front half of cheeks and spot over ears whitish; above blackish brown; below
dusky and whitish.”

The American eider (Somateria dressert) is the only individual of that species
ever found here. It is not numerous at any time, though several are taken
every autumn. It comes to us very late, and its stay is limited to two or three
weeks at the most.

DescripTion. ‘Adult male. Crown black with a white wedge. female.
Brownish black above, margined with rusty and buff; below dusky finely margined
with buff; bare spaces on either side of feathers of culmen rounded at the base
(posteriorly).”

The American scoter (Ozdemta americana) is common enough in this locality,
though no hunter will go out of his way to kill one. They are exceedingly
poor eating, their flesh being very strong and fishy, so much so that to eat

one in Lent would hardly violate any church rule. Locally they are known as

¢ ’

‘“niggers”’ and ‘‘ironclads.’
Description. “Adult male. Wholly black; bill black, yellow at base. Female.
Brownish above, lighter below; no white on wings or sides of the head.”
The white-winged scoter (Ozdemza deglandz) is also found here, but for the same
reason. it is in no) @reater demand as ai table bird” than=its) relative, the

American scoter.

“LSHN GNV (NHH-GNW YO) LOOD

‘OLOHd ‘ABINVIS “a “Lf

=i

-

THE WILD FOWL OF THE ST. LAWRENCE RIVER. 305

Description. ‘‘Adult male. Black, a white spot about the eye; bill orange,
black at base. Female. Dusky brown above; lighter below.” This species has
also ‘‘a white patch on the wing; feathers extending forward along the sides

and top of the bill nearly to the nostrils.”

Geese.
Order Anseres. Family Axnatzdae.

Of these, there is but a single species. that may be said to frequent the
St. Lawrence river, or the islands and bays at the foot of Lake Ontario; it is
the Hutchins goose (Canadensis hutchinsi1).

This species is smaller than the common wild goose (Sranta canadensis), but it
is marked almost identically the same, and hence I do not deem it necessary to
append a description.

Occasionally a specimen of the common brant (Branta bernicla) is taken here,
but they are by no means common. They are highly esteemed for table use, but
it is very seldom that the hunter is enabled to gratify his palate with a taste of

this delicious goose.
Shore Birds (Limzcolae).

Of this order, two families, snipes (Scolopacidae) and plovers (Charadridae)
with a single individual of the Aprizidae, the turnstone, are all that are repre-
sented in this region. In mentioning each individual species I have condensed
its description as much as possible, confining it to adults entirely. With this
explanation, the reader will have no difficulty in the application. Because of
their brevity, I have borrowed the descriptions from Chapman’s ‘Color Key
to North American Birds.”

The shore birds closely follow the geese and ducks in their northward migra-
tion, their stay here being very short. Some of them breed here, and now that
the law has designated a close season for them, it is hoped that their numbers
will increase. They return from the north late in the summer, but are rarely
disturbed now by our local sportsmen, nor are they sufficiently numerous to

’

attract the professional or the “ market hog.” I am told by old-time sportsmen
that in the early days of snipe and plover shooting in the St. Lawrence River
region it was not an uncommon thing to bag a hundred Wilson plover in a day
on the shore of any one of our inland lakes, and that it was no difficult matter

to take half as many woodcock in the same time.

366 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

The day of such sport here is passed; though it is hoped that conditions may
improve to some extent, even though environments are less favorable to our

wild fowl.

PLovers (Charadridae).

There are five species of the plover family, two at least, and probably three,
of which breed here.

The American golden plover (Charadrius dominicus) is one of the most common,
following close after the snipe in the spring. In this region they may be looked
for early in May; and by the last of that month they have left us for their
breeding grounds in the far north.

They return to us, as a rule, in September, ‘often in quite large flocks, but are
rarely disturbed now by our local gunners, who usually have ‘‘something to do,”
as one expressed it, “besides hunting jack snipe.”’ Sportsmen who come here at
the proper time in the fall usually meet with good success, unless they are
expecting to secure large numbers. In such cases they are likely to be disap-
pointed; while he whose desires are moderate is quite likely to enjoy a fair
modicum of sport. :

Marxines. ‘‘ Above, conspicuously spotted with yellow, below, black; sides of
breast white; no hind toe; axillars dusky.”

The bartramian sandpiper (Lartramia longicauda), also known locally as the
‘‘upland plover,’ is a home breeder, and is found more especially on the higher
points and ridges at the foot of Lake Ontario, and around our inland lakes.
Though very difficult to capture, it is much sought after by sportsmen. © This
bird is decidedly musical, its song being a long, sweet, melodious whistle.

Though strictly a sandpiper, I have placed this bird among the plovers, because
to the sportsman it is the upland plover, and is likely to remain so. While to the
local dweller it is sometimes known by some other name, the upland plover is its
_ prevailing designation. Then, too, its habits are not those of the sandpiper,
as it does not frequent either our inland lakes, ponds or rivers; nor does its flesh
have the fishy taste so often found in other sandpipers, because its food is chiefly
insects. As a table bird it is considered among the very. best by those well
qualified to judge. I am sorry to say, however, that the sportsman who expects
to bag many of these birds in a day’s shooting in this region will be sadly
disappointed. First, they are very scarce, and, second, they are very shy and
hard to get.

Markincs. ‘‘Outer primary barred black and white; above black, ochraceous,
and brownish gray, breast and sides with dusky arrowheads, throat and belly

whitish.”

J. E. STANLEY, PHOTO,

LEAST BITTERN AND NEST.

THE, WILD FCWL OF THE ST. LAWRENCE RIVER. 367

The black-bellied plover (Charadrius squatarola), known also as the ‘‘lapwing”
“or ‘Swiss plover,” is a frequenter here, arriving at the same time with the
golden plover, on its way north, returning usually in September. They are by
no means numerous in this region at any time; but when found it is usually
about the sandy shores of our inland lakes, and on similar shores around the
islands in the St. Lawrence.

Marxkines. ‘* Hind toe present but small; above, black and white, no yellowish;
below, black.”

The Wilson plover (Ochthrodromus wilsonius) is found here, one of its best-
known local breeding places being along the shores of Mud Creek in the town of
Cape Vincent, though it no doubt breeds at numerous other places near the river.

Marxines. ‘‘No black on hind neck. One black breast, and crown band;
some rusty about the head.”

Though not common, the turnstone (Avrenarza tnterpres), known also as the

)

“red-legged plover,” is frequently seen and sometimes killed, but not often.
The ring-tailed marlin (Lzmosa fedoa) is occasionally taken here.
The dowitcher (MWacrorhamphus griseus) is occasionally taken. ‘This bird is

’

also known as the ‘‘red-breasted snipe” and by some hunters who come here the
““New York godwit.”

Marxines. ‘‘Rump, tail under wing coverts and axillars barred black and
white; above, black margined with rusty; rump white; below, reddish brown
spotted and barred with black.”

Wilson snipe (Gallinago delicata) breeds here in abundance, and is much sought
after by our sportsmen. Many of our local hunters call this the “‘jack snipe.”
In fact, jack snipe is really the only name one hears for this species, unless it
may be just ‘‘snipe.”- It usually arrives here when the ice is leaving the river.
A few nest here; but when the weather begins to grow warm they nearly all
take their flight northward, breeding beyond the northmost boundary of the United
States. The snipe bores in the mud and soft earth for its food, and the hunter,
if he sees no evidences of boring tor worms, may be sure that there have been
neither snipe nor woodcock ahead of him.

There is seemingly nothing more uncertain than the arrival and departure of
this bird. _Usually they arrive from the north the last of September; but no matter
how soon a sharp frost occurs they are away as suddenly as they came, leaving
scarcely a strageler behind. |

Huntington gives one 1eason for the disappearance of snipe from many locatities,

which I am inclined to think is in a great degree applicable to this region. He

368 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

says: ‘‘ There is a reason for the absolute disappearance of these birds from many
places, to be found in the draining of the lands.”

From the fact that their feeding grounds are low meadows and bog lands, easily
bored for worms, it is evident that drainage would destroy them for feeding
purposes, and therefore they are driven to other haunts for subsistence. I have
known snipe to bore into the fresh-turned earth where the great breaking plow
with its two yoke of oxen had made deep furrows through a boggy swale. While
the plowmen were at dinner up at the house, scores of snipe were gathering
luscious earthworms from the newly turned black soil of the bog down in the field.
There is good reason to suppose that with some additional protection snipe may
become much more numerous than now. ;

Marxines. ‘‘ Throat and belly white or whitish; breast rusty buff indistinctly
streaked; sides barred; above, streaked black and: cream buff; tail black and

rusty; outer feathers barred black and white.”

Tue Woopcockx (Phzlohela minor).

This bird easily takes first place among the waders. Because what he has
said of this bird is so well said, I have taken the liberty of quoting largely from
Mr. Dwight W. Huntington’s admirable chapter, devoted to the woodcock. He
says: ‘‘No American game bird is more highly prized by shooters than the
woodcock. Dr. Coues observes: ‘This is tie game bird after all, say what you
please of snipe, quail or goose;’ and Gurdon Trumbull adds, ‘Yes, Doctor, either
im ther feldsor onmtoast am

It is easily distinguished from the other game birds. ‘‘ The general color is a
rufous gray, effectively marked above with black; its head is larger than that
of the snipe or partridge (bob white), and its eyes are set well back and high to
enable it to see when boring in the mud with its long bill. The legs and bill
are of a gray flesh color; the bill is about two and three quarter inches long;
twice the length of the head.” In extent of wings the woodcock will measure
about eighteen inches, and a full grown bird will weigh from seven and one half
to ten ounces according to its condition.

While the general haunt of the woodcock is boggy and low-lying woodland,
he is often found in the hillside forests, and not infrequently at the summit of
the hill.

The woodcock arrives on the St. Lawrence River usually about the first of
April, and many breed in its vicinity. In some places, however, where only

a few years ago they were numerous there is scarcely one to be found. There is a

‘S@uld DNAOA HALIM LSHN GNV YUSAUNS GA1IIad-Gald

*OLOHd ‘ADINVIS ta *f

DHE WilLD POWLE OF DHE Sil. LAWRENCE RIVER: 369

strip of woodland in the town of Cape Vincent, Jefferson county, where, Mr. Stanley
tells me, a pair of woodcock have bred for several years.

ce

His explanation of the scarcity of woodcock is, first, the ‘‘game hog’ hunter
who used to frequent this section as long as there was anything left to shoot;
and now, the robbing of their nests by vermin and the destruction of their young
by hawks and other predatory fowl. Not long since Mr. Stanley shot a large
hawk just as it had eaten about half the flesh from a partridge. On another
occasion while preparing a night hawk for setting up he found in its crop a
couple of young yellow legs, so that he is convinced that similar depredations on
the young woodcock are one of the causes that prevents a more rapid increase of
this very desirable bird.

Their food is principally earthworms, though insects, common in damp and
spongy woods, are readily devoured. It is said that a woodcock will devour more
than its weight of worms in a single night. It has certainly been, demonstrated
by actual experiment that it is a gormandizer of no mean capacity.

Bearing in mind the many obstacles which prevent the increase of this fowl, it
seems to me that the law should lend its aid to any reasonable extent necessary
to prevent its total extermination. The present law says: ‘‘ Woodcock shall not
be taken from December first to September fifteenth, both inclusive. No person
shall take more than thirty-six woodcock in an open season.”

The length of the close season is not so objectionable, though it would. have
been better had it been a month longer. I would move to amend the law,
however, by striking out the word ‘‘thirty” in the compound ‘‘thirty-six,”’ as
the least the Legislature ought to do.

If, however, our lawmakers were disposed to really do what ought to be done,
I would move to amend by striking out all but the enacting clause and substituting:
Woodcock shall not be taken, killed, had in possession, nor sold within the State
nor carried without the State for a period of ten years after the passage of this
act, under a penalty of one hundred dollars for each and every offense upon
conviction thereof. Upon conviction the second time for either of the above
offenses, a fine of two hundred dollars and an imprisonment at hard labor for one
year, or both, at the discretion of the court. ‘This act to take effect immediately.

From the fact that none of them are sufficiently numerous at any time to
attract attention, or to offer any great inducement to the hunter, I have made
only a brief allusion to the remaining shore birds which are found throughout
this region in greater or less numbers, in proportion to their facilities for

obtaining food, or for breeding unmolested.

24

3709 REPORT (OF THE FOREST, Fish AND (GAME, COMMISSION:

With regard to cranes, rails; gallinules, etc., the Paludicolae, I have followed
the same plan, and for a similar reason I have indulged, also, in but little more
than brief mention of the bitterns, loons, grebes, gulls and terns. |

It seems quite probable that under proper protection our shore birds will
increase to a considerable extent in some of the more sparsely settled localities —
sufficiently so, at least, to afford the sportsman of moderate desires a fair bag in a
day’s shooting.

The greater yellow legs (Zotanus melanoleucus) is abundant in every part of
the St. Lawrence region, and so is its congener ‘‘ yellow legs” (Zotanus flavipes), the
latter being smaller in size.

Markines. ‘‘No rusty; upper tail coverts mostly white; tail barred with
black and white or gray; above, black margined with whitish; below, white
and black.”

The long-billed curlew (umentus longirostris) is common here, and so also is
the Hudsonian curlew (Vumentus hudsonicus). Both species are plenty in their
season, every marsh having its contingent. Occasionally, a specimen of the
Eskimo curlew (Mumentus borealis) is taken, but not often.

The killdeer (Oxyechus voctferus) is too common the country over and too
well known to make a written description at all necessary.

The sand-hill crane (Grus mexicana) is common to the entire St. Lawrence valley.

The king rail (Rallus elegans) abounds here, together with the Carolina rail
(Porzana carolina).

The Florida gallinule (Gallinula galeata), known also as the ‘‘American
gallinule,” is a frequenter of the entire Thousand Island region. By some of our
sportsmen this species is known as the ‘‘ water chicken,” and by others, as
the ‘‘water rail.” The most common local name, however, for this bird is the
PommtrG aye mses

Occasionally, a specimen of the pomarine jaeger (Stercorarius pomarius) is taken
in this locality, but not often. .Mr. James E. Stanley has a very fine specimen
in his collection.

The American coot (/ulica americana) is common all along the St. Lawrence river.

BITTERNS.

Two of the bittern family are common to our swamps and marshes—the
American bittern (Botaurus lentiginosus), locally called a ‘‘schytepoke,” and the

least bittern (Ardetta exzlis).

J. E. STANLEY, PHOTO.

PIED-BILLED GREBE WATCHING ITS NEST.

‘, PHOTO,

J. E. STANLEY

ON ITS NEST.

A LOON

THE WILD FOWL OF THE ST. LAWRENCE RIVER. 27

Loons (Gavzzdae).

Two species of the loon family are found in this vicinity—the loon (Gavza
zmber) and the black-throated loon (Gavia arcticus). The latter species is very
like the former in its markings, but is a smaller bird. The loon is one of the
commonest sights to the traveler on the St. Lawrence, and to amateur sportsmen

a source of never-ending interest because of the difficulty in securing a specimen.

GREBES (Podzczpidac).

The pied-billed grebe (Podilymbus podiceps) breeds readily in the marshes and
is very common especially along the upper St. Lawrence. This bird is locally
known as the ‘‘hell-diver.”

The horned grebe (Colymbus auritus), known also as the ‘‘hooded grebe,’ is

also a home breeder, but is less common than the pied-billed grebe.

GuLits AND TERNS (Larzdae).

The American herring gull (Larus argentatus) breeds throughout the St.
Lawrence region, and is common to both river and lake.

The laughing gull (Larus atricilla) is often seen and oftener heard; but it is
by no means as numerous as the species just mentioned. ‘The same may be said
of the Bonaparte gull (Larus philadelphia). Neither of these is known to breed in
this vicinity.

The common tern (Sterna hirundo) breeds in our marshes and is very common
during the season. This is the case, also, with the black tern (//ydrochelidon
NUZVA SUTINAMENSIS).

The kittiwake (Rzssa tridactyla) and the Iceland gull (Larus leucopterus) are
numerous during the summer and autumn.

There was a time here when the gulls and terns were shot in large numbers,
their plumage being in great demand for millinery decoration; but of late these
birds remain practically undisturbed.

It is quite likely that in this article ] have omitted some names which should
- have been inserted in order to make the list more complete. If so, I have left
something to be supplied by some one who will write for the next report. I can
only say that I have done the best I could under the circumstances. My chief
regret lies in the fact that I am not better qualified to do full justice to a subject

of so much interest.

372 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

As an appropriate ending to this article I append the following letter, which
speaks for itself. The writer’s opportunities for gathering facts, and his well-known
habit of close observation, especially upon a matter in which he takes so much

interest, give great weight to his statements and cannot fail to interest the reader.

Watertown, N. Y., March 17, 1905.

FrienD DurHAM:— Your inquiry regarding the breeding of wild fowl in this
county is one that interests me very much. From reports that have come to
me, as president of the Sportsmen’s Association, and from my own _ personal
observation, the results of stopping spring shooting in Jefferson County have far
exceeded the expectations of its most ardent supporters.

The wood duck and the blue-wing teal are nesting here in larger numbers
each year. These birds are the first to leave us in the fall; and since the opening
season was extended to September fifteenth very few of them have been killed,
which may account for your belief that they do not nest here to any great extent.

The increase of the black duck, or dusky mallard, has been marvelous, reports
showing that it nests in all sections of the county and in places where it was
never known to nest before. Not only have the marsh ducks nested here, but
the divers also— but to a lesser extent. I have undoubted proof that the whistler,
shelldrake, broad-bill, red-head, in fact nearly every known duck which frequents
our waters, have remained and nested, and also the English snipe.

I would suggest a limit of twenty-five ducks to one gun for one day; that the
season open September first instead of September fifteenth; a better enforcement
of the game law during the summer on the lake and the St. Lawrence Reserva-
tion both as to the size and limit of black bass, and the wanton slaughter of
unpledged wild fowl by visiting sportsmen.

Very truly yours,
Wie nicer @ mass
President Jefferson County Sportsmen's Association.

I desire to call especial attention to the half-tone illustrations, from photo-
graphs by J. E. Stanley, Jr., of Cape Vincent, N. Y., some of which were achieved
under difficulties which no one but an enthusiast like himself would have over-
come. The pictures themselves show that they could not have been easily
obtained, and are, therefore, of necessity, rare and consequently valuable. Some of
these pictures have taken valuable prizes in contests where photographs of a similar

character were exhibited.

A Forest Working Plan

For

Townships 5, 6 and 41,

Totten and Crossfield Parchase,
Hamilton Coanty,

New Work State Forest Preserve.

BY
Ralph S. Hosmer, Fieta Assistant, and
Eagene S. Brace, Lamberman,
Bereae of Forestry, United States Department of Agricatterc.

373

LaSalle ae apse arsed ee ae een : oie palm eae
De ars aan her). rea 2

Z

MAP OF
TOWNSHIPS 5.6.40 AND Al,
TOTTEN & CROSSFIELD
PURCHASE
HAMILTON COUNTY
INS VG

LISGIEND

Contourinterval 20 feet
Datum is mean sea level

‘Yrails represented thus:
Roads

Township lines

‘Town + cae
RESERVES,

Water Front

Surimit Watershed

Burns

MERCHANTABLE AREA

Spnice land
Swamp

Private Lands

White
Aveaswithin «-----.-.... Township 5 is Pine Land

LUMBERING
Compartinent lines and numbers -————— —— ped
Natural and available timber outlets
Available branch railroads proposed

Dams, mill-siles, storage areas ete. by black symbols:

. 6 , cutover .

& Ry

oO
- “Ch AB ay
A

J Wieeys >
ee Lyi For
Laka

Bagte Epsed abe

Caseqte
Ponte

Compiled and drawn
from
U.S.GEOLOGICAL SURVEY MAPS
and
RECONNOISSANCE
by

HS. MEEKHAM

LUMBERING DATA
by
E.S.BRUCE.

Scale of Miles

| eee |

TERRE

- Comments

eyed

INTRODUCTION.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE TRACT.
Area.
Topography.
Rock and soil.
The watersheds.
Raquette River system.
Moose River system.
The Fulton Chain.
Cedar River system.
Description of the townships.
Township 5.
Township 6.
Township 41.
LAND CLASSIFICATION.
THE FOREST.
General description.
Forest types.
Spruce land.
Swamp.
Upper spruce slope.
Forest description by townships.
Township 5.
Township 6.
Township 41.
THE RESERVES.
Water front reserve.
Summit reserve.
FIRE.
PRIVATE PRESERVES.
Township 5.
Township 6.
Township 41.
375

376 REPORT: OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

THE ESTIMATE.
Compartments.
Merchantable area.
Volume tables.
Yield tables.
Future yield.
SPECIES RECOMMENDED TO BE LUMBERED.
PROPOSED DIAMETER LIMIT.
REMAINING SPECIES.

ee epee

INTRODUCTION.
NATURAL OUTLETS FOR TIMBER.
DIVISION OF TOWNSHIPS INTO COMPARTMENTS.
Shallow Lake Compartment.
Seventh and Eighth Lakes and Brown’s Tract Pond Compartment.
South Inlet Compartment.
Bear Pond Compartment.
Cedar River Compartment.
Silver Run Compartment.
Sumner Stream Compartment.
Pear Pond and Red River Compartment.
Fourth Lake Compartment.
Big Moose Compartment.
SALE OF STUMPAGE BY THE STATE.
EFFECT OF THE ADVISED IMPROVEMENTS UPON STUMPAGE VALUE.
RULES GOVERNING LUMBERING OPERATIONS.
MARKING TIMBER.
METHOD OF CUTTING.
CUTTING HEIGHT OF STUMP.
DIAMETER LIMIT AT TOP END.
FELLING TIMBER AND CUTTING ROADS. :
USE OF TIMBER FOR BUILDING SKIDWAYS, CORDUROYS AND BRIDGES.
LOPPING TOPS.
OUTLETTING ROADS TO LAKES.
SCALE RULE ADVISED.
METHOD OF SCALING.
RULES TO BE EMBODIED IN A LUMBERING CONTRACT.
INSPECTION.

NAMES OF TREES MENTIONED IN WORKING PLAN.

A Forest Working Plan

For Townships 5, 6 and 41, Totten and Crossfield Parchase,
. Hamilton County, New York.

ey /ave eo loam le

Introdaction.

HE object of this report is to present a definite and comprehensive plan by

y which a certain part of the Adirondack Forest Preserve in New York

may be managed in accordance with the principles of practical forestry.

It sets forth the methods which should be followed in removing the timber now

merchantable, in order that repeated crops may be harvested and the general
productive condition of the forest not only maintained but improved.

This working plan is the result of a continuation of the work carried on in the
Adirondack Forest Preserve by the Bureau of Forestry during the summer of 1900,
in response to a request made by the Forest, Fish and Game Commission of
New York to the United States Department of Agriculture for cooperation in the
study of the Adirondack Forest Preserve. In accordance with that request, which
followed an appropriation from the Legislature, a forest working plan was prepared
for Township 40, Totten and Crossfield Purchase. This was published during the
spring of 1901 as a bulletin of the Bureau of Forestry.*

In order that the study begun on Township 40 might be extended, the
Legislature of 1901 voted an appropriation of $3,500, through the means of which,
and in accordance with the terms contained in Circular 21 of the Bureau of
Forestry, this working plan for Townships 5, 6, and 41 was made.

These three townships, together with Township 40, containing, in all, nearly
100,000 acres, form one of the largest and most compact blocks of State land
within the proposed Adirondack Park. The forest problems presented on all
four townships are the same, and when taken together these townships form a
better unit for economical administration than if managed separately.

Therefore the present working plan must be considered as a supplement to

that for Township 40, in which may be found facts and figures relating to the

* Bulletin No. 30, “‘A Forest Working Plan for Township 40,’ by Ralph S. Hosmer and
Eugene S. Bruce, Washington, D. C., 1901.

SHY

378 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

three other townships of the block, together with recommendations for forest
management within them.

For this, and for the further reason that it has been found advisable in a
number of cases to discuss the problems presented without reference to township
lines, there are frequent references in the following pages to Township 4o.
Especially is this the case in regard to certain watersheds, parts of which are
in more than one of the four townships. This working plan for Townships 5, 6,
and 41, however, can stand alone, although in the actual working out of the
problems presented on the whole block it would undoubtedly be used in close

conjunction with that for Township 4o.

General Description of the Block.

Townships 5, 6, 40, and 41 form a roughly rectangular block on the western
side of Hamilton County in the west-central section of the Adirondack Park.
The county line between Hamilton and Herkimer counties cuts off the northwest
corner of Township 41, which is the only part of this township not owned by
the State. Townships 40 and 41, with the exception just noted, are situated
wholly in the town of Long Lake. Township 5 lies partly in the town of
Morehouse and partly in Arietta, while Township 6 is also in two towns, Arietta
and Lake Pleasant, the southeast corner of Township 6 lying in the latter.*

The lines of Townships 5, 6, and 41, like those of Township 4o, run N. 63° E.
and N. 27° W., the former being referred to as north and south lines, the latter
as the east and west. The lines of Townships 6 and 4o are approximately 6% by
6 miles in length, while those of Townships 5 and 41 are 7% by 5%, the longer

distances in each case being the east and west lines.

AREA.

The area of Townships 5, 6, and 41, including private holdings, is as follows:

Acres.
‘ROWMSMIPT TG Oe in uleti der Wile ge 0 thom Shuey isting iee aTE 212 eT OLO
RO wanis bipii'O! ry sey, ie ak Sake lg toes ay el mcrae we atone 2 ak ON OSKO
ROWS DUD pm ci, es WAP Las OG. conn oer Mies leaps Sacra eweali sot ne Meme Seren DASH RTL
Total 72,842

This area together with that of Township 40— 25,660 acres—gives a total for
the four townships of 98,502 acres.
*It may be noted that the township in the Adirondacks is distinct from the town. The

township refers solely to the subdivision of the land as originally allotted, while the towns are the
political divisions. A town may consist of a number of townships or parts of townships.

A FOREST WORKING PLAN.

Oo
Si
\O

TopPpoGRAPHY.

The block is characterized by generally broken topography. Long ridges,
trending generally east and west, extend partly or entirely across each of the

townships, making, with the lesser hills, a number of watersheds.

The slopes of the ridges are usually steep—sin some places precipitous. They
are for the most part covered with forest, although on a few of the exposed and
wind-swept summits the vegetation is reduced to shrubby growth or gives place
to bare rocks.

Many of the broader valleys contain ponds, which are gradually being
transformed into swampy land by the growth of moss and other vegetation.
This development is illustrated by the open pond, the one in which the sphagnum
moss has begun to encroach, the quaking bog, the haymarsh, with its fringe of

tamaracks, and the swamp, thickly studded with balsams.

Rock AND SOIL.

The prevailing rock on these townships is granitic in character. It is overlaid
more or less deeply by a covering of glacial drift and in the swamps and low
valleys by alluvial deposits. Throughout the forest there is a fairly deep layer

of humus. The mineral soil, when exposed, is usually a sandy gravel.

THe WATERSHEDS.

The streams draining the three townships form parts of four important
drainage systems: The Raquette River, the Moose River, the Fulton Chain and the
Cedar River.

The extreme northeastern corner of Township 41 is tributary to the Shingle
Shanty Brook on Township 39, a stream belonging to the Beaver River watershed.
Only a small area is so inclined, and from this the timber could easily be hauled
back into the Big Moose watershed. It will not therefore be considered further.

RaQuETTE River SystemM.— The Raquette River System is the most important
on the block. In it are included all the streams tributary to Raquette Lake,
which is, in turn, drained by the Raquette River, flowing north into the
St. Lawrence. There are five principal streams in this system on Townships 5,
6, and at.

The most important of these is South Inlet. This empties into South Bay of

Raquette Lake, draining a good share of Township 6 and part of Township 5.

380 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

Mohegan Lake also flows into South Inlet, as do a number of small streams
from the hills in the central part of Township 5.

Next in importance is Sucker Brook, which gives the name to the large bay in
the northern part of Raquette Lake. This stream drains Shallow and Queer
Lakes, Pelcher Pond, and the Haymarsh Ponds, all on Township 41. Its water-
shed covers all the southern third of that township.

Another stream is the Brown’s Tract Inlet, emptying into Raquette Lake at its
western end. This drains parts of Townships 5 and 41 and receives the waters
from the Brown’s Tract Ponds and the streams flowing into them.

The fourth stream is Beaver Brook, flowing into Beaver Bay and draining the
small valley in the southeastern part of Township 41, much of which is open
marsh.

The remaining stream is the Bear Pond Brook on Township 6, which flows
into the Marion River at a point on the Utowana Carry.

Mocse River System.— The second principal drainage area is the Moose River
System. This includes the chain of lakes making the North Branch of the Moose
River and composed of First and Second Lakes—now called respectively Lake
Rondaxe and Dart’s Lake—and Big Moose Lake. The water from : Constable
Pond, with its tributaries, Chubb and Pigeon Ponds, empties into the South Bay
of Big Moose; Russian Lake into East Bay; while into Inlet Bay flow the most
important brooks draining the northern part of the township. The characteristic
features of the valleys of each of these streams are the balsam swamps through
which they flow, and the steep hills on either side of the U-shaped valleys.

Tue Fuirron CuHain.— The greater part of the Fulton Chain watershed on the
block is on Township 5, which contains the upper part of Seventh and the whole
of Eighth Lake. The tributary brooks are short and usually nameless, with the
exception of the Seventh Lake Inlet, which drains a valley of considerable size
in the center of the township. To this watershed also belong Eagle Creek (a small
brook in the southwest corner of Township 41 flowing into Fourth Lake) and the
stream draining the little valley just north of Black Bear Mountain and lying
partly in Township 5 and partly in Township 41. This brook also flows into
Fourth Lake.

The streams tributary to the South Branch of Moose River are in the southwest
corners of Townships 5 and 6. They are Red River; Benedict Creek, which drains
Bear Pond on the Nivins Lot; Sumner Stream, the outlet of Lake Kora; and the
North Branch of Silver Run, draining the valley lying between Bradley and

Wakeley Mountains.

A FOREST WORKING PLAN. 381

Crepar RIveR SystemM.— The remaining system is represented by a small brook
in the extreme southeast corner of Township 6, which flows into Cedar River, a
branch of the Hudson. This section has been cut over and is of relatively small
importance, but is interesting as belonging to the Hudson River Drainage Basin.

Following is a brief description of each of the three townships:

TOWNSHIP 5.

Township 5 is bounded on the north by Townships 41 and 40; on the east by
Townships 6 and 4; and on the south and west by Township 4, Totten and Cross-
field Purchase, and Townships 3 and 4 of the Moose River Tract.

In common with the remainder of the block the topography of Township 5 is
mountainous. There are several ranges of hills without continuous ridges as on the
other townships, but broken up into irregular groups. The summits of a number
of these hills have elevations of over 2,200 feet. The highest point on the town-
ship is 2,580 feet.

In the northern third of Township 5 le Eighth Lake, a portion of Seventh
Lake, and the Brown’s Tract Ponds, a scarcely perceptible divide separating the
two watersheds. The drainage from the high ridges in the center of the town-
ship, and from the southeastern part, is mainly through brooks flowing into the
South Bay of Raquette Lake, while the water from the southwestern corner is

carried to the South Branch of the Moose River through several streams.

TOWNSHIP 6.

Township 6 les to the southeast of Township 4o and is further bounded
by Townships 34, 33, 7, 4 and 5, all of the Totten and Crossfield Purchase. It is
approximately of the same size as Township 40, the boundary lines being six and
one half by six miles in length. The dominant features in the topography
are the hills of irregular shape in the northern half of the township and the
much higher ridges within and bordering its south edge. The highest point in
the township is the summit of the Blue Ridge, which reaches an elevation
of 3,460 feet.

The water on Township 6 goes into each of the three principal watersheds.
The largest area is that tributary to the South Bay of Raquette Lake. Its main
stream is South Inlet. The rest of the water finding its way into South Bay
flows through Death Brook which drains the northern side of the hills facing
Raquette Lake.

382 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

Another and smaller area is tributary to the South Branch of the Moose River
into which flows Sumner Stream, which drains Lake Kora and the country
immediately adjacent thereto, and the North Branch of Silver Run which flows
from the high valley lying between the ridges of Bradley and Wakeley Mountains
in the extreme southwestern corner of the township.

A third area in the southeastern corner of the townsnip is drained by a stream
which finds its way into the Cedar River and eventually into the Hudson. The
portion of Township 6 lying in this watershed was cut over some twenty years

ago in connection with lumbering then in progress on Township 7.

TowNSHIP 41.

Township 41 is the most westerly of the block made up of Townships 5, 6, 40.
and 41. It is bounded on the north and east by Townships 42, 39 and 4o; on the
south by Township 5 (all in the Totten and Crossfield Purchase), and on the west
by Township 8, in the John Brown’s Tract. The Herkimer-Hamilton County line
crosses the northwest corner of this township.

In topography Township 41 is decidedly mountainous. The northern part is
characterized by long, high ridges traversing the township from east to west and
alternating with U-shaped valleys through which flow the brooks, many of them
bordered with balsam swamp. The streams in this half of the township are
tributary to Big Moose Lake. The largest of them drains the Twin Sisters Ponds
and South Pond on Township 39, emptying into Inlet Bay at the northeast end
‘of Big Moose Lake. It is navigable by guide boats for a short distance only
above its mouth, but a good trail follows it across the township. ‘Toward the
western side of the township are a number of ponds which lie among the hills.
These also are all tributary to Big Moose Lake.

In the south half of the township is a fairly broad valley containing Shallow
Lake, Pelcher Pond, and Queer Lake. This water is all tributary to Raquette
Lake and flows into it through Sucker Brook. Only short stretches of this stream
are navigable by guide boats.

There are also three other minor watersheds in the south part of Township 41.
Beaver Brook, which flows into Raquette Lake; a small part of the Lower Brown’s
Tract Pond, also tributary to Raquette Lake through the Brown’s Tract Inlet; and
Eagle Creek, in the southwest corner. This stream flows into Fourth Lake,
but all the timber on its watershed could easily be brought back into the Brown’s
Tract Valley.

A FOREST WORKING PLAN. 383

Land Classification.

The total area of each of the three townships is divided into several classes of
land—the merchantable area, consisting of the spruce land and the swamp types
combined, the water front and the summit reserves, the burned-over land, and
the private holdings. In the following table is given the acreage of each of the

several classes of land in each of the three townships:

TABLE IV.—AREAS—TOWNSHIPS 5, 6, and 41.

Reserves, Merchantable Area.

|
Burned-over Water 5 i S F Private Total,
TOWNSHIP. land. Foot ummit. pruce land. Swamp. Total. elaine ailtommenips
No. Acres. Acres. Acres. Acres. Acres. Acres. Acres. Acres,
963 1,758 397 12, 691 4, 462 17,153 2,835 | 23,106
14 986 I, 411 15, 208 6, 164 21, 462 2,746 26, 6190
41 26 1,962 I, 270 14, 206 5,653 19, 850 ee PB UNG)
I, 003 4, 706 3,078 42,195 16, 279 58, 474 5,581 | 72,842

The Forest.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION.

The forest on the three townships is of the general spruce and hardwood
type common to the Adirondack region. While similar to that on Township 4o,
the forest on each of the other three townships in the block possesses certain
individual characteristics, due mainly to the topography. .

Red spruce is everywhere the commercially important tree. In mixture with
it are found balsam, hemlock, arborvitae, white cedar, yellow birch, sugar maple,
and beech, together with scattering individuals of other valuable species, the most
important of which are white pine and black cherry. As is the case on Township
40, the forest on these townships has, with the exception of a few very limited
areas, never been cut over. Together the four townships form the best continuous
body of existing original forest in the Forest Preserve, if not in the whole
Adirondack region.

Forest Types.
Four types of forest were distinguished—spruce land, swamp, upper spruce

slope, and pine land. The spruce land and swamp types are commercially the

384 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

important ones. The upper spruce slope type embraces the higher portions of
the hills and ridges and no lumbering was recommended for it, the land being set
apart as ‘Summit Reserve,” and so named upon the map. The pine land type
is small in area and is found only upon Township 5, but is important as an
additional asset to be obtained from the township.

Spruce Lanp.— The spruce land type covers the well-drained portions of three
townships, embracing practically all the land above the swamp except the tops of
the higher hills, which, as stated, are set apart as summit reserves. Spruce land
is characterized by a mixed forest of spruce and hardwoods. The predominant
trees are red spruce, yellow birch, sugar maple, beech, balsam and hemlock, with a
scattering of ash, black cherry, basswood and elm, and, on the lower portions,
occasionally a white pine.

Spruce land is commercially the most important type, forming about seventy
per cent of the merchantable area in each of the three townships. On some of
the slopes, especially in Township 41, are stands of pure spruce of large size and
excellent quality. The most favorable situation for this species seems to be a
southwestern slope of moderate steepness. The greater part.of the balsam on the
spruce land type is found on the lower part of the slopes near the streams, while
the hardwoods do best midway on the slopes of the higher ridges or on the
well-drained, rolling land near the lakes. On the higher slopes more exposed to
the wind the spruce differs somewhat from that at lower levels. The trees are
shorter and the limbs farther down the trunk, rendering them of less commercial
value than those from which long, straight, clear boles can be obtained.

The forest floor over the greater part of the spruce land type is covered by a
fairly deep layer of humus. On the surface of the ground is a covering of leaf
litter and duff, above which in many places is an undergrowth of witch hobble
and the two low maples—the striped maple or moose wood and the mountain or
spotted maple.

The first growth to come in on the burned-over areas, most of which fall
within the limits of spruce land, consists of the aspens, wild cherry, and paper
birch. Under these trees the spruce and balsam spring up, eventually forming a
pure stand of conifers, or, with the broadleaf trees, a mixed forest.

Swamp.— The swamp type includes the low-lying land bordering many of the
streams and some of the lakes. It differs from spruce land in the proportion of
spruce in mixture with other trees. On the swamp the balsam plays a very
important part in the mixture. Here also is found the greater part of the white

pine.

Seat ees

be »

ee oe mt
‘ se

1903

ECHTEL, PHOTO.

A. KN

M STAND

MEDIU

LOWER SPRUCE SLOPE.

ee a eh

od

nis

Pe ne vn
ify

pe Aa eh

aoe eine RT a

Reet wee

1903

KNECHTEL, PHOTO.

A.

MEDIUM STAND.

WIPIPIBIR SiPRUCIE, SILO,

a cy

2

A FOREST WORKING PLAN. _ - 385

Both the spruce and the pine do best in the swamp type on little hills or
knolls rising above the general elevation of the typical swamp, but which are
‘not large enough in area to be segregated from the remainder of the type.
On such knolls are found also what little birch, sugar maple, and beech the type
contains.

Taken as a whole the typical swamp conditions may be said to be characterized
by the absence of birch, beech, and sugar maple, and the presence of large
quantities of balsam growing on low-lying flats, with occasional knolls on
which are found the spruce and pine. The other typical trees of the swamp type
are the tamarack, the arborvite, and the red maple. Scattering white and black
ash are also found on the better-drained portion.

UpprpER SPRUCE SLopE.— The third type, upper spruce slope, embraces the
higher slopes of the mountains and principal hills. It has been set apart as
one of the reserves and will be discussed in detail under that heading.

In the following is given a description of the forest upon each township.

TOWNSHIP 5.

The forest on Township 5 is a mixed one of conifers and broadleaf trees.
Each of the three forest types is represented, but spruce land is the most important,
covering 74 per cent of the merchantable area and 63 per cent of the total area.
- On many small areas may be found good stands of spruce, but taken as a whole
the number of trees per acre is not as large nor are the trees themselves of as
good size as those on the other townships. The proportion of hardwoods, too, is
greater. While there has been no organized lumbering on Township 5, a belt
of spruce timber, to be used for bridges, fencing, etc., was cut across the town-
ship at. the time of the construction of the Uncas Road. The removal of this
timber, which was among the best on the township, makes the forest on Township 5
less valuable than that on the rest of the block.

The spruce land type on Township 5 contains large mixed stands of hardwoods
and spruce in which the proportion of spruce is considerably less than the average
for the whole township.

The swamp on Township 5 occurs mainly near the Brown’s Tract Inlet in
small bodies adjacent to Seventh and Eighth Lakes and in larger belts in the south
part of the township. Here the stand is largely composed of balsam. This type
covers twenty-six per cent of the merchantable area and twenty-two per cent of
the total area of the township.

The upper spruce slope of summit reserve on Township 5 is smaller in area than
25

3286 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

on either of the other townships, making only two per cent of the total area.
It occurs on the crest of the high hills where several summits have been reserved.

There is an area lying in the watershed of Benedict Creek in the southwestern
corner of Township 5 on which there is a considerable stand of original white
pine. It is the northern extension of a large pine forest which formerly covered
the upper part of the valley of the South Branch of Moose River. This type
includes portions of both the spruce land and the swamp types, although most of
it lies within the limits of the swamp. For the purpose of estimating this stand
the portion of the township on which there were enough pine trees to constitute
a merchantable quantity was set aside as pine land. The area is outlined on the
accompanying map by a line made up of black crosses. This type covers 786

acres of State land and 211 acres of Lot a of the Nivins Tract.

TABLE I.— MERCHANTABLE STAND— TOWNSHIP 5.

Trees 10 inches and over in diameter breasthigh on 943 acres.

Average Percentage _ Average Maximum

SPECIES. number of of diameter diameter

trees per acre. | each species. breasthigh. breasthigh.

Inches. Inches,
Sprucesucn yn a) cee cane gH. San aD Nee EE oye 24.37 33.09 13.6 32
Mellowambinelit ia sete ice tunes) Was ober m in eas Gimbiac vats 14.73 20.00 16.4 40
BECO his ters et Rie Scania eae a) te amen Se eae II.50 15.62 Ts 31
Sugar maple sz] 9.74 14.9 40
Balsam . 7.00 9.51 eS 32
Hemlock 4.00 5-43 Wi 38
Softiamiap] Crit lols aon tices hs arepaipeee eee ence unten Sa ont Tey 2.42 15.5 35
Ge dais 5 eget et ye ee Bids ae ni ey ge Oe eee 1.59 2.16 13.4 31
Bilackevais nese ike NaH Seana kal op Ona a eer, Baker ies a oe me .46 103353} 28
WWiliites pity else eer \ ee ere: el rte MPa Meet t uns 238 marr 20.6 50
ID eaduisp nite ka) eee oor ace ech ait NI hal eke ore 2 .30 16.0 28
RW Vilait he ais Inline eerie emits sel et alae pacias aae pe Rates B2iI 20 Bash 28
BasSwiOOdinesine” Mole yar eae) Mie aon ams Uae ype tele .20 Ay 16.7 34
Blagkvchentyn soca case Uke cts eGo ee rene .18 .24 14.2 28
AGS TE ae pinetele gaa mani nk RS rae omy On eT TAR -05 .07 13.5 | 19
WWilarte mbit clnc iret rato Mees taremnirre orem teat Oyen ae casein .04 05 TZU 28
EROTICA ape cen tk eras eran Pat er tn ee a .02 .03 Il.0 13
Tamarack ao sco ye Ge ea ees eA Scien gee ch tame Nie .O1 .O1 Tole 15

AUIS ECTS Se Una ee ye ben atone Mea ie TSU, Vino een 73.64 100.00 14.4

A FOREST WORKING PLAN. Axo!

TOWNSHIP 6.

Township 6 is the only township in the block where any considerable portion
of the forest has been lumbered. In the southeast corner is an area of some 2,700
acres lying in the watershed of the small stream tributary to Cedar River and
shown on the accompanying map by a dotted black line. This was cut over about
twenty years ago when the adjoining tract, Township 7, was lumbered. On this
area there is now a fair stand of young spruce and balsam which will some
day be of commercial importance.

Another cut-over area consists of about 180 acres tributary to the Marion
River. The lumbering operations on both these tracts were carried on while the
township was in private ownership.

The forest on Township 6 is better in character than that on Township 5.
There is a larger proportion of spruce in the mixture than on either of the other
townships, although the number of spruce trees per acre, ten inches and over in
diameter breasthigh, is less than on Township 41. The broadleaf trees on Town-
ship 6 are also better in quality than are those on the other townships, which fact
is of importance in view of the greater accessibility of a considerable portion of
this township.

The spruce land type covers all the higher part of Township 6, constituting
seventy-one per cent of the merchantable area and sixty-four per cent of the total
area of the township.

The swamp on Township 6 lies mainly in the valley of the Shedd Lake Inlet,
where the forest is made up of balsam, red spruce and black spruce. The balsam
does not make as dense a stand in the swamp on Township 6 as it does on
Township 41, and there are more open places. In addition to the areas just
mentioned, there are small bodies of swamp in the vicinity of Bear and Slim
Ponds and adjoining the open marsh near the Township 4o line. The swamp on
Township 6 makes up twenty-nine per cent of the merchantable area and twenty-
Six peEUcent ok the total area:

The upper spruce slope type on Township 6 includes six per cent of the total
area of the township. Within its limits falls the ridge of Estelle Mountain, where
- all the crest has been set aside as a summit reserve. The boundary lines of this
reserve have been drawn more with the idea of protecting the side of the moun-
tain seen from South Bay than with reference to the contour lines, although most
of the portion set aside lies above the 2,300-foot contour. The summit of the

Blue Ridge forms another large portion of the reserve. The other bodies of

388 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

summit reserve in Township 6 embrace the summits of Bradley Mountain and
of the several nameless hills scattered throughout the township.
The total number of valuation surveys run in the merchantable area in Town-

ship 6 was 1,240. The data compiled from these surveys appear in Table II.

TABLE II. —MERCHANTABLE STAND—TOWNSHIP 6.

Trees 10 inches and over in diameter breasthigh on 1,240 acres.

Average Percentage Average Maximum

SPECIES. number of of diameter diameter

trees per acre, | each species. breasthigh. | breasthigh.

Inches. Inches.
SPRUICe ares ty terse” cl RE Seay ae Ghee itram ech Scie dis 26.82 44.43 137 sane 31
Veellowiabinelane spay tyes, rojas eed) sl ees eon Meme 14.18 _ 23-49 16.5 44
Balsam . 7.88 13.07 12,5 26
Sugar maple 4.09 6.78 MiG 33
Beech 3.05 5.05 TS eyr 28
Hemlock ™n Se asain 2.42 4.01 17.6 43
Sottimaplen: ease gh arse seu atte een ae eae TesTsS 1.90 TG 26
Cedar. ds pose Mae emir ake ce Pome gl ng eer aa 23 .38 032) 28
Deaduispuuce, ee sieht ce PON ete ac eee min mare 23 38 15.6 30
WWilnites pine jiran olan Vayu lcta ured icy. 8 ea a oaela cy Soe mur ma ait} moe 24.2 33
Black cherty tise Lp anes ee Cede eae .08 ag 13.0 27
Blackwvash sie ao sites) Saas. Seam aout late) tel tS SE ts .05 .08 12.2 19
Rammilanac ki Seno Presi Smee etree) Gunny Ura aaa OI .02 12.3 18
Basswood). @M = iShe a ee) et: ta 4 wg ee lanes .O1 .02 13.05 17
WihitenaShe is fey Vattescas sana ries ai kev ea msi OI .02 133555 25
Wilnitede lint) See Grecian ea Vecsey sch Su tomeeeacRn eas OL .02 13.5 25
Other shardwoOodsma any -ag lr sons ott. ico ate) pete cree OI .02 030 & 24
AILS SPECIES ey Mivernn cue ine Mani eneeeny een asi rane 60.36 100.00 15.6 Waa

TOWNSHIP 41.

The forest on Township 41 contains the three forest types. The spruce land
type covers a greater proportion of the area than the swamp, making up sixty-
one per cent of the total area and seventy-two per cent of the merchantable
area. It embraces all the higher portions of the township lying between the
upper limit of the swamp and the lower line of the summit reserve. The char-

acteristic of this type is well-drained soil on which is found a mixed forest of

1903

A. KNECHTEL, PHOTO.

WHITE CEDAR.

N AND CROSSFIELD PURCHASE.
TWO INCHES IN DIAMETER, THREE FEET FROM THE GROUND.

N TO THIRTY-

NG FROM FOURTEE

TREES RANGI

TOWNSHIP 5, TOTTE

BUG POND,

19°S

PHOTO.

’

A, KNECHTEL

M LAND.

BOTTO

MLOCK AND YELLOW BIRCH.

AGES:

A FOREST WORKING PLAN. 389

spruce and hardwoods. The best of the spruce on Township 41 occurs on the
southwest slope of the long ridges, especially in the northern part of the township.
On the hills in the center of the township the broadleaf trees are more in evidence,
while on the lower slopes a larger percentage of balsam comes into the mixture.
The stand of spruce on Township 41 is heavier than on either of the other
townships or that on Township 40. On spruce land in Township 41 the spruce
makes up nearly half of the forest, the percentage in mixture for trees ten inches
and over being forty-one. Next in importance comes the yellow birch, followed
closely by beech, the percentage in mixture of these species being respectively
twenty and nineteen. Sugar maple, hemlock, and balsam, with a scattering of
white pine, cedar and black cherry, make up the remainder of the forest.

The swamp type on Township 41 occurs mainly in the bottoms of the U-shaped
valleys and on the lower slopes of the ridges, especially in the northern part of
the township and on the low-lying land along the Sucker Brook. It makes
twenty-eight per cent of the merchantable area and twenty-four per cent of the
total area of the township. It is characterized in this township by the abundance
of balsam, the stand of this species being in many cases pure and having a
density so great that one can only with difficulty penetrate the thickets. The
percentage in mixture of balsam is twenty-eight. There is forty per cent of
spruce, the average number of trees per acre being twenty-three. Two areas
of open marsh occur in the swamp type on Township 41; one of these surrounds
Haymarsh Pond, the other is in the lower part of Sucker Brook valley.

Near the Haymarsh Ponds there is a fair stand of young tamarack which is
spreading out into the open marsh. This species is a very intolerant tree which
grows only where it can have every advantage of light. It has become charac-
teristic of the swamp because of its ability to live in wet situations.

Upper spruce slope, or, as it appears on the map, the summit reserve, occurs
along the tops of the ridges, for the most part above the 2,300-foot contour line,
although there are instances where the reserve line comes as low as 2,200 feet
and others where the spruce land runs up as high as 2,400 feet. It covers five

and one half per cent of the total area of the township.

390 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

TABLE II]. MERCHANTABLE STAND — TOWNSHIP 41.

Trees 10 inches and over in diameter breasthigh on 929 acres.

Average Percentage Average Maximum

SPECIES. number of of diameter diameter

trees per acre.| each species. breasthigh. breasthigh,

Inches. Inches.
Spruce cau ay Sir 2 VAM tee een ARRIGO ea or can A Rear sadaibe 20.75 40.75 14.1 33
Mello wabinels sy x87 erthors oa Ve Gane ee eina aia reed acti 14.47 19.82 14.7 46
Beech y ite ttiads Cleat to piers ie aie ee le cera Ae I1.19 15.33 13.8 28
BrallSalaa ices fey ce ope a PAR oe a ero eues Deas ee ange Fae 7.08 9.70 12.0 29
Sugarasiniap lei qiaaicct ue umetnol pee Ser cata Egan aaa! 4.04 ONT 7 ELAR Bil
lemloCkann tiene gate a. Peis eer tak lst Bauer Fae 2.91 3.90 16.2 43
SOP Mma le ty aes igteing sr ulnar eater oan ale en eneee 1.57 2.15 mous 27
Geta ran Mita ot RS eke ace ure) ea ame rat a eee .46 63 12.6 25
Byeadisprtice maniac cree sacel noe arart is ooh rae ees taretmOrIL .28 38 16.1 31
WitE@ ITE, Cos 9 AT ors Ream A wren sh alta tS ane 21 .29 28.5 45
Bae kesaslieaargu hh Gr Walesa: ie os aot cee ae et wt age 05 .07 13.5 20
Mamianacle: listens Gis” OOP ia we ne 26 ue eur tn tk arate i. 04 £05 11.4 16
Black: chientya sarc ecn i eee ite NMI cnigts Pec eiberecen es dir .02 .03 13.5 33
Other thardwoodssue > Oeeteee ec eee .03 .04 14.8 22

APIS PECTES Hoh aes dheaicend apuheton locate eatin n Nee 73.00 100.00 14.1

The Reserves.

In accordance with the policy adopted on Township 40, certain areas have
been set aside on Townships 5, 6 and 41 on which it is recommended that no
lumbering be done. ‘These reserves are of two sorts, the water front reserve
and the summit reserve. The location and extent of these areas is shown on the
accompanying map.

WatTER FronT RESERVE.

The water front reserve consists of a strip at least two hundred feet in width
around all the lakes and ponds and bordering some of the main streams. The
purpose of this reserve is to protect the belt of forest adjacent to the lakes,
which adds so much to the attractiveness of this region. This strip has been
carefully plotted on the map and is believed to be of sufficient width to shut out
from the view of persons passing on the lake any sight of the lumbering in

the woods.

A FOREST WORKING PLAN. 39!

Summit RESERVE.

The summit reserve includes that portion of the hills and higher ridges which
are prominent in the landscape, and which, if lumbered, might present an
unsightly appearance.

The summit reserve was treated as a forest type and under the name of
upper spruce slope has already been described for each township. The forest
on this portion of the tract is of inferior quality. Because of its exposed situa-
tion the timber growing at this elevation is, for the most part, short and some-
what limby, as well as being inaccessible. While it is perfectly possible to
remove the trees from these situations, the cost of lumbering such places very
nearly covers the value to be received, so that as a business proposition there is
no great objection to leaving them uncut, especially as by so doing another
point, important on a forest preserve tract, the preservation of the beauty of the
forest, 1s gained.. For these reasons it is strongly advised that no lumbering
be done on this type.

lege:

Taken as a whole, the four townships of the block have been remarkably free
from damage by fire.

Township 5 has suffered most, there having been in this township several
fires covering considerable areas. The largest of these is in the Red River
valley, where almost seven hundred acres were burned over about twenty years
ago. This burn marks the eastern extension of a very large fire which occurred
on the lower portion of the Red River and the South Branch of the Moose
River:

Next in importance is the burned area on the carry between Seventh and
Eighth Lakes, which is somewhat more recent than that on the Red River.
There are, also, a few acres of burned land on the hill at the other end of
Eighth Lake.

The most recent fire of importance on Township 5 was that which denuded
the summit of Black Bear Mountain. This fire occurred during the autumn of
1899 and forms the subject of a part of the report of the Superintendent
of Forests for the following year.*

Other burns on Township 5 are those on the shore of Seventh Lake adjoining

Township 3, a smaller area bordering the Township 4o line, which, with two

* Preliminary Report to Fifth Annual Report of the Commissioners of the Fisheries, Game and
Forest. Albany, N. Y., 1900. Pages 61, 68 and 60.

392 REPORT OF THE BOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

other little patches on the hill above, were started by construction gangs during
the building of Raquette Lake Railway, and one more in the extreme southwestern
part of the township, lying near the point where the town line between Arietta
and Morehouse crosses the south line of the township. The total number of
acres burned over on Township 5 is 963.2, which is 4.75 per cent of the total area
of the township.

Township 6 has been the most fortunate, the only burned area of at all recent
date on this township being the small patch on the northern slope of the Blue
Ridge, which covers 14.4 acres. This burned area dates back some twenty to
twenty-five years and is now growing up with a dense stand of young spruce,
balsam, and paper birch. In the total area of the township the burned-over land
is only 0.06 per cent.

In Township 41 only a few small areas have been burned over, the total
amounting in all to less than 30 acres. The largest of these little patches covers
one of the points jutting into Shallow Lake. The others are the small areas on
the ridges south of Sucker Brook valley, and the still smaller one on the lower
of the Twin Sisters Ponds. The total burned area in this township is 25.6 acres,
which is o.11 per cent of the total area of the township.

On Township 4o the burned-over land amounted to one per cent of the
forested area.

With the exception of those near the Raquette Lake Railway and on Black
Bear Mountain, none of the fires were of recent date, and most of the burned-
over area is now growing up to a fairly dense stand of forest trees. In some
cases only the preliminary stage of birch and poplar has been reached, but
almost everywhere the spruce and balsam will in time work their way in under
these species.

In this connection it may be noted that the locomotives on the Raquette
Lake Railway are oil-burning. This is a distinct improvement, so far as the
danger from forest fire is concerned, over the type commonly used on
the railroads penetrating the Adirondack region. The reason why this type of
locomotive is used on this road is that in granting the charter it was stipulated
that the railroad be allowed to cross the lands of the Forest Preserve only on

the condition that oil be used as fuel.

A FOREST WORKING: PLAN. 393

Private Preserves.

On the three townships now under consideration are a number of private
preserves. The title to these lands was either held before the remainder of the
townships became State property or was acquired in. such a way as to be

recognized by the State.

TOWNSHIP 5.

Township 5 contains three areas of private land. The largest is the tract
containing Mohegan Lake, which is owned by Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan. This
preserve contains 1,568 acres. In the southeastern part of Township 5 is a part
of the Hon. Timothy L. Woodruff’s preserve around Lake Kora. The portion
lying in Township 5 contains 155 acres.

The other private holdings on Township 5, recognized by the State, are the
narrow strip making the right of way along the Raquette Lake Railway, certain
holdings along the shores of the Seventh Lake, which are included in the water
front reserve, and Lot 4 of the Nivins Tract.

The southwest. quarter of Township 5 was originally subdivided into five lots,
which together with a similar subdivision in Township 4 constitute the Nivins
Tract. Four of the lots in Township 5 now belong to the State. The title of
the other lot, No. 4, still rests with private owners.

During the summer of 1901 there seemed to be good reason for believing that
this lot would soon be acquired by the State, rounding out the State’s holdings
in this township. For this reason, although Lot No. 4 was still privately owned,
an estimate of the standing timber on it was made, which is given in tables that

follow later in this report.

TowNsHIP 6.

Township 6 was acquired by the State in 1896 through purchase from Mr.
W. W. Durant. When the property was turned over, certain portions of the
township were reserved. These are the private preserve around Sagamore Lake,
owned by Mr. A. G. Vanderbilt; the tract about Lake Kora, on which is
~**Kamp Kill Kare,” owned by Mr. Timothy L. Woodruff, and two smaller lots,
known respectively as the C. P. Huntington wood lot, and Lot No. 37, sometimes
called the ‘‘ Mill Lot.” These are the only lands on the township of which the

State recognizes the private ownership.

304 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.
TOWNSHIP 4I.

There are no private claims recognized by the State on the portion of Town-
ship 41 lying within Hamilton County, except the troo-foot right of way of
the railroad across one corner of it. That part of Township 41 in Herkimer
County is owned by Mr. Aaron Lloyd.

Several camps have been erected on the township, but all are on State land,
notably the one at Shallow Lake, consisting of two log cabins which in igor
were in a fair state of repair. There are open lean-to camps at the Lower
Brown’s Tract Pond and at Queer Lake, and the remains of others at Haymarsh
Pond, Palisade Camp, Twin Sisters Ponds, and elsewhere. The Sucker Brook
highway, built by Mr. Durant in 1897 and 1898, crosses part of the township,
but having been abandoned since the railroad was completed it has now fallen
into a state of disrepair. There are a number of good trails on the township
which could be much improved by a little labor, were there a resident game

protector or forest warden.

The Estimate.
COMPARTMENTS.

To facilitate the estimate of the standing timber the three townships were
divided into a number of compartments. These compartments consist of portions
of the principal watersheds already described. The boundary lines of the com-
partments follow the natural divisions, except in one or two cases where from
the nature of the topography it would be possible by a short, uphill haul to save
a long distance in getting the logs to a shipping point. The compartment
boundaries are shown on the accompanying map by broken red lines, and are
designated by roman numerals, also in red. There are on the three townships

ten compartments, which bear the following names:

I Shallow Wake.
II. Seventh and Eighth Lakes and Brown’s Tract Ponds.
It Southwminilet:
IV. Bear Pond in Township 6.
Wo Cedar iRiver,
WAL Sulzer IXibboy
VII. Sumner Stream.
Wii Red sRaver:
De] Hountha wake:
X. Big Moose Lake.

A FOREST WORKING PLAN. 395

Following is a brief description of each compartment :

CoMPARTMENT I. The Shallow Lake Compartment lies wholly in Township
41, occupying a broad belt across the lower center of the township. It com-
prises the valley of Sucker Brook. ‘Tributary to this compartment is also the
land about Cascade Lake, whose waters go out through the Moose River.
Beaver Brook, in the southeastern part of Township 41, is included in this

compartment. This stream empties into Beaver Bay in Raquette Lake.

ComPaRTMENT II includes the southern edge of Township 41, the northern
half of Township 5, except that portion falling into Compartment IX, and the
northwestern corner of Township 6. It is made up of three watersheds, but on
account of the low divides between them it is possible to haul all the logs from
this compartment into Raquette Lake. The most important of the watersheds
in the compartment is that containing Seventh and Eighth Lakes. Next is the
Brown’s Tract Inlet, draining the Brown’s Tract Ponds. The third is that of
Eagle Creek, in the southwestern corner of Township 41. This stream flows into
Fourth Lake.

ComparRTMENT III lies in both Townships 5 and 6 and embraces all the streams
tributary to South Bay of Raquette Lake. The most important valley in this
watershed is that of South Inlet, in the northwestern corner of Township 6.
The remaining part of Township 6 tributary to South Bay fronts on or is near
the lake.

ComMPARTMENT IV lies wholly in Township 6. It consists of the watershed of
Bear Brook, which empties into Marion River just below Utowana Lake.

CoMPARTMENT V is in the southeastern corner of Township 6 and covers the
area draining into the Cedar River.

CoMPARTMENT VI lies in the southwestern corner of Township 6 and is the
valley of the north branch of Silver Run, a tributary of the South Branch of
Moose River.

ComMPARTMENT VII is also in the southwestern part of Township 6. A very little
of the southeastern corner of Township 5 also comes into it. This compartment
contains the headwaters of the Sumner Stream, which drains Lake Kora on the
Woodruff Preserve.

CompaRTMENT VIII is altogether in Township 5, and consists of the upper
part of the valleys of Benedict Creek and of Red River. Both these streams
empty into the South Branch of Moose. River. The greater part of Lot 4, Nivins
Tract, is tributary to Benedict Creek.

396 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

ComMPARTMENT IX is the small valley just north of Black Bear Mountain,
lying partly in Township 5 and partly in Township 41. Its waters flow into
Fourth Lake.

CoMPARTMENT X includes practically the northern half of Township 41. With
the exception of the extreme northeastern corner, where a few acres are tribu-
tary to Shingle Shanty Brook, all of this compartment slopes toward Big Moose

Lake.
MERCHANTABLE AREA.

The merchantable area, as has been stated, is made up of the spruce land
and the swamp types combined. The following table shows for each compart-
ment in each township the number of acres of merchantable area. In the last
column the acreage of the merchantable area is shown by compartments irrespec-

tive of township lines.

TABLE V.—TOTAL MERCHANTABLE AREA IN EACH COMPARTMENT.
Townships 5, 6 and 41.

COMPARTMENT. ; Township s. | Township 6. | Township qr. | Total area.
Acres, _ Acres. Acres. Acres.
Mee an ui hae a whic Nani tay at eer Acame a Nr a A mieanza| icc raiuica Baie: 6, 960 6, 960
SD Tay omer Veer re ae rin ae Ie ea eeces OR eee 10, 376 122 1, 869 12, 367
STATA hte GR es ao te Nae Myc on fea nn iar 4, 405 12, 156 Mae 16, 561
TW ese ae etn ole Te Se ae at Gaiden tee Deora | ei ean 3, 609 se ite 3, 609
AVN MMMM (abt gel tad arts Te, ehadlay 2a eS apeatee eden sll MEE COMee tr 2,779 or ere 2,779
TG ee ey eB esa a eee UN tt eae eerecevl et rents tes me I, 332 sithicheats TRB S2)
VAT ah eset nga deca tome Ure Sti ineer dE veel (TL Siren eae 54 I, 464 salalee 1,518
aN ATH AT Noa ie Ak ete crete eae Macias ay eel cee eee rena Se Le ee 2,072 ee ea Leet! 2,072
TENGE nM only eae Bae heros Forces nets) Mc eten yg Canty ace 246 peer ae 48 204
DR ae fe RNR i raat GUC iS Wee) od OUiRNee enc rae a tay | [Rees gO ane See as 10, 982 10, 982
Motaly ee eration se vials Monies cue meat 17,153 21, 462 19, 859 58, 474

VOLUME TABLES.

In the computation of the present yield of merchantable timber on Townships
5, 6 and 41, the volume tables prepared in connection with the working plan for
Township 40 (Bulletin No. 30, page 23) Were used, with the exception of those

for white pine and for hemlock. These were computed during the autumn of

A FOREST WORKING PLAN. 397
Igor on the tract of the Hon. William C. Whitney, Township 23, Totten and
Crossfield Purchase, Hamilton County, and on the Rockefeller Tract, Townships
16 and 17, Macomb’s Purchase, Great Tract, No. 1, Franklin County,'571 white
pine and 1,445 hemlock trees being analyzed. The volume tables for white pine

and hemlock follow:

TABLE VI.—MERCHANTABLE VOLUME PER, TREE IN STANDARDS BY
IDIOMUUCIS) ISMONILAS,,

Beers White Pine. Hemlock. Eee se White Pine. Hemlock.
Inches. Standards. Standards. Inches, Standards. Standards.
10 OHS 0.02 26 4.7 2.13
II 6 .03 27 ee 2.38
12 i .05 28 5.7 2.69
13 9 .08 | 29 6.2 3.00
14 1.0 5tD 30 6.8 3.34
15 Te) .18 31 7.4 3.67
16 1.4 .25 32 7.9 4.04
17 7 34 33 8.5 4.41
18 2.0 .46 34 g.1 4.79
19 2.2 59 35 9.7 5.19
20 Ans 76 30 10.3 5.61
21 2.9 04 37 10.9 6.04
22 Bee 1.16 ‘ 38 II.4 6.45
23 3.8 1.36 30 12.0 6.86
24 3.0 1.61 40 12.6 7.27
25 4.3 1.85

YIELD TABLES.

Present YIELD.— The following tables show the present yield of merchant-
able timber for the eight commercially important trees growing on Townships 5,
6 and 41. They were compiled from the valuation surveys taken on the three
townships in the following manner: The data from the surveys run in a given
compartment show, when compiled, the average number of trees per acre of each
species in each diameter class. By the use of volume tables the average yield
per acre can be determined. The total yield for the compartment is then got
by multiplying the yield for the average acre by the total number of acres in

the compartment.

398 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

In the yield tables the results are given in standards by the Standard Rule
for the conifers and for the broadleaf trees. In the tables the yield is shown to
diameter limits of ten, twelve and fourteen inches diameter breasthigh for the
soft woods and fifteen, seventeen and nineteen for the hardwoods.

The following table gives in markets by the Standard Rule the present yield
of spruce on Township 5 to limits of ten, twelve and fourteen inches diameter
breasthigh. The table shows, also, the total present yield and the average yield
per acre on each compartment in the township for spruce land and swamp,

separately and combined.

DABIE Ville — SRW CH — PRES HIN ihe Wi) OMAN SMa R ss
Merchantable Yield in Markets by Standard Rule.

CurTTiNnG To a Limit oF Cuttine To a Limit or | Curtine To a Limit oF
to INCHES IN 12 INCHES IN 14 INCHES IN
DriaAMETER BrEASTHIGH. | DiaMETER BREASTHIGH. | DIAMETER BREASTHIGH.
NUMBER OF = ri
PARTMENT a a
On é Average Average Average
vield Total yield. yield Total yield. yield Total yield.
per acre, per acre. per acre.
| Acres. ——Standards.———, ——Standards. ———Standards.—_—_,
lee | ( 8,586 | 24.35 | 200,069.10 | 20.32 | 174,467.52 | 17.49 | 150, 169.14
TTS Tis er sehr ont | Sprac | 2,760 | 27.04 | 74,630.40 | 22.23 | 61,354.80 | 17.65 | 48,714.00
\VAleeie | Land | 1,099 | 20.41 | 32,321.59) | 24.45 | 26,870.55 | 19.52 | 21,452.48
Xt J l 246 | 25.58 6,292.68 | 20.12 4,949.52 | 14.87 3,658.02
Aone 5 ole Bh gl) Come. || BS o2O) | B22, BNBA77 || Ai sCo || ZI, OA2340) |) W705, || 229, O09 302
Tele 1,790 |- 22.00. || 30, 380.00) | 17.21 || 30,805.00 | 13.26) | 23573540
Te lt 35645, 10! 70. |" 17,)59036)| 74271) 11, 050e15: |enan7aull w7azogeso
Swamp 4
Vallee | 54 Soe apa
Vail Sits eae racine) L Oy), ||, W7/OA |) 1d), HOD)710) |) 0 GOS; II, 335.45 8.15 7,929, 95
WR tal a eg ceca re haar as 4,462 | 16.48 | 73,539.50 | 12.12 | 54,100.50 8.84 | 39,462.65
TAP reais tacepeare bares | {| 10,376 ' 23.094 | 248,449.10 | 19-78 | 205,273.42 | 16.76 | 173,904.54
[ie eee aSeuice A A05) ||) 20.033) -925.220).70) || TO.04) |= 735.313)05))||2 126.83) | 50s Skleso
Land }
NAL (epee 54 Ay Sat soak gehsetOnl tk Scie se Ae eo) eee ee
IVSTSTHTES A tresurstacueerceans | Swamp | 2,072 | 23.59 | 48,882.05 | 18.44 | 38,206.00 | 14.18 | 29,382.43
Tere ios area) ( 246 | 25.58 6,292.68 | 20.12 4,949.52 | 14.87 3, 658.02
Motallys Wee le ces ie NTIS ml 22 OStesOSnSSeeGOn MORON sein 742nCOm|meuStis Onl 20 ASOn ZO

A FOREST WORKING PLAN.

399

The following table gives in markets by Standard Rule the present yield of

spruce on Township 6 to limits of ten, twelve and fourteen inches diameter

breasthigh. The table shows, also, the total present yield and the average yield

per acre on each compartment in the township for spruce land and swamp,

-separately and combined.

TABLE VIII.—SPRUCE— PRESENT YIELD—TOWNSHIP 6.
Merchantable Yield in Markets by Standard Rule.

Curtine To a Limit oF
to INCHES IN

DIAMETER BREASTHIGH.

Curttinc To a Limit oF
12 INCHES IN
D1iaMETER BREASTHIGH.

Cuttine To a Limit oF
14 INCHES IN
DIAMETER BREASTHIGH.

NUMBER OF ir
ype. Area,

COMPARTMENT. eee Abeee eae
yield Total yield. yield Total yield. yield Total yield.

per acre. per acre. per acre.
Ac.es. -——— Standards. ——_, -—— Standards. ——Standards. —
Il a [ 84 | 16.79 1, 403.64 | 13.52 I, 130.28 | 10.88 907.57
Ill .| | | 8,490 | 26.23 | 222,682.21 | 21.72 | 184,304.11 | 16.83 | 142,870.97
IV x Spruce | 25587 | 33.30 | 86,140.44 | 29.05 | 75,146.54 | 23.98 || 62,031.46
V a | Land | i Oni | An8F | 35,201.72 || 17.10) 273. 1@ |) wit |) WO, 1ad.o1
War : | | I, 332 | 43.30 | 57,804.16 | 38.26 | 50,969.97 | 31.88 | 42,470.54
VII |] t TTL | ASF | so, G0 G7 || A2r07 || AS Aui@ | u7O0 || At,@r7 5A
Total 15,298 | 28.36 | 433, 776.84 | 23.83 | 364,555.40 | 18.85 | 288, 432.02
Il |) [ 38 | 19.30 736.82 | 15.31 581.78 | 11.69 444.22
Ill § | | 3,006, | 19.30 | 71,075.08 | 15.31 | 56,120.34 | 11.69) 42,850.86
IV . ; Swamp: 1,022 | 17.75 18,140.50 | 14.26] 14,579.42 | 10.79 | 11,031.70
V : | | 1,168 | 14.10] 16,468.80 | 10.02 11,703.36 6.40 7,475.20
VII WW L 270 | 15.88 4,287.60 | 11.38 3, 072.60 7.02 1,895.40
Total 6,164 | 17.96.) 110,709.70 | 13.96 | 86,057.50 | 10.33 | 63,697.38
To all 22 eS 2,140.46 | 14.03 ity FLAGS |) Ui .Os T3570
JOU ; | Spruce 12, 156 | 24.17 | 203,758.19 | 19.79 | 240,514.45 | 15-28 | 185, 730.83
IV ; Land 3,609 | 28.90 | 104,280.94 | 24.86 | 80,725.96 | 20.24 | 73,063.16
Vv : | he P77 Ou eons Onl aes OAS Ci ELA RON ES Ona Ge S5 9.57 | 26,600.14

wam

va . | Z| 1,332 | 43.30 | 57,804.16 | 38.26 | 50,969.97 | 31.88 | 42,470.54
VII ma | TA O40 | 28270) S45 S20n27,) |) 1Os30 28, 330n008)) 15059) 221012204
Total 21,462 | 25.36 | 544,486.54 | 21.00 | 450,612.99 | 16.41 | 352,129.40

400

REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

The following table gives in markets by Standard Rule the present yield of

spruce on Township 41 to limits of ten, twelve, and fourteen inches diameter

breasthigh.

The table shows, also, the total present yield and the average yield

per acre on. each compartment in the township for spruce land and swamp,

separately and combined.

TABLE IX.—SPRUCE— PRESENT YIELD —TOWNSHIP

Merchantable Yield in Markets by Standard Rule.

Al.

NUMBER OF
COMPARTMENT.

al
IX

Total

II

Total

II
IX

Total

Type.

CurtinG To a Limit oF
to INCHES IN
DIAMETER BREASTHIGH.

CuttinG To A LimiT oF
12 INCHES IN
DIAMETER BREASTHIGH.

CuttTinG To a Limit oF
14 INCHES IN

DIAMETER BREASTHIGH.

Area,
Average Average Average
yield Total yield. yield Total yield. yield Tota. yield,
per acre. per acre. per acre.

Acres, -———Standards, —-— ——— Standards. ——, -——Standards.—_,
5,430 | 34.22 | 185,814.60 | 29.20 | 158,556.00 | 23.40 | 126,510.00
1,306 | 24.22 | 33,084.53 | 20.47 | 27,962.02 | 16.35 | 22,334.10
48 | 32.38 I, 554.24 | 23.66 TIS HOM el 7AOn 845.28
7,302 | 39.92 | 293,801.04 | 34.77 | 255,976.74 | 31.74 | 233, 669.88
14,206 | 36.20 | 514,344.41 | 31.22 | 443,630.44 | 26.99 | 383, 368.26
14.5301] 10.19)! 20, 3600-70) |) 14.80 |) 225781 -70)|| 10286 2,845.80
502 | 19.40 9, 738.80 | 15.20 7,630.40 | 11.80 5, 923.60
3,621 | 24.68 | 89,366.28 | 20.37 | 73,759.77 | 15.95 | 57,754.95
5,653 | 22.73 | 128,465.78 | 18.43 | 104,171.87 | 11.77 | 66,524.35
6,960 | 30.92 | 215,175.30 | 26.05 | 181,337.70 | 18.59 | 129, 364.80
T(O00H| 22200 42 O23 532) OROATIN B551502.42) |) L512 sez oues revo)
48 | 32.38 1,554.24 | 23.66 I, 135.68 | 17.60 845.28
10,982 | 34.02 | 383,257.32 | 30.03 | 320,736.51 | 26.54 | 201, 424.83

19,859 | 32.37 | 642,810.18 | 27.58 | 547,802.31 |- 22.65 | 449, 892.61

A FOREST WORKING

PLAN.

401

The following tabie gives in markets by Standard Rule the present yield of

balsam on Township 5 to limits of ten, twelve and fourteen inches diameter

breasthigh.

The table shows, also, the total present yield and the average yield

per acre on each compartment in the township for spruce land and swamp,

separately and combined.

Merchantable Yield in Markets by Standard Rule.

TABLE X.—BALSAM—PRESENT YIELD—TOWNSHIP 5.

NUMBER OF
COMPARTMENT.

ibe:
alli
WAOUE

Total

Tile:
Tes
Val:
AVAlSTae

Total

elie
STH
Wil.
AVploT IOS
1OXGre

Total

Type.

Spruce

|

ant

CurrinG To a Limir oF
to INCHES IN
DIAMETER BREASTHIGH.

Csrrinc To a Limit oF
12 INCHES IN
DriaMETER BREASTHIGH.

Cuttine To A Limit oF
14 INCHES IN
DiaMETER BREASTHIGH.

Area.
Average Average Average
yield Total yield. yield Total yield. yield Total yield,
per acre. per acre. per acre.

Acres, ——Standards. — -——Standards,-—_._ | ——— Standards. ———
8, 586 2.48 | 21,203.28 1.43 12, 277.908 0.59 5,005.74
2, 760 2.03 5, 602.80 1.03 2,842.80 39 1,076.40
1, 099 2.02 2, 219.098 ea Tees Se) 571.48

246

12, 6901 AO) |) Ao, i i),09 1.30 | 16,404.53 0.53 6, 713.62
I, 790 | 10.27 18, 383.30 5.24 9, 379.60 2.07 3, 705.30
THOUS ELONS Onl ne IOVS 10) 513 8, 438.85 1.92 3,158.40

54
973 7.69 8, 455-37 Baur 3, 026.03 1.02 992.46
4,462 | 9.84] 43,913.77 | 4.67| 20,844.48 | 1.76] 7,856.16
10, 376 3.82 | 30,676.58 2.08 | 21,657.58 0.84 8,771.04
4,405 Seis 22,677.90 2.50 IT, 281.65 96 4, 234.80
54 .

2,072 5.15 10,675.35 epee 4, 409.78 75 I, 503.94
246

75s 4.26 | 73,029.83 2.18 | 375340. 01 0.85 | 14,569.78

26

402

REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND! GAME COMMISSION.

The following table gives in markets by Standard Rule the present yield of

balsam on Township 6 to limits of ten, twelve and fourteen inches diameter

breasthigh.

The table shows, also, the total present yield and the average yield

per acre on each compartment in the township for spruce land and swamp,

separately and combined.

TABLE XI.— BALSAM— PRESENT YIELD— TOWNSHIP 6.
Merchantable Yield in Markets by Standard Rule.

CurtinG To A Limit oF
to INCHES IN
DIAMETER BREASTHIGH.

CurtinG To A Limit or.
12 INCHES IN
DiaMeETER BREASTHIGH.

Curttine To a Limir oF
14 INCHES IN
D1aMETER BREASTHIGH.

NUMBER OF ae
MENT ype. Area.
GOMES ; Average Average Average
yield Total yield. yield Total yield. yield Total yield.
per acre. per acre. per acre.
Acres. -——— Standards. —, ———Standards.——— | ———Standards.
II fe 84 0.63 52.92 0.33 2772
|
Taras | 8, 490 N77 a eee Motes O Aa eee 25 OO) 0.48 | 4,075.20
z || i
NY) ‘| Spruce || 25587 | 2.04] 7,605.78 | 1.36) 3,518.32 -52| 1,345.24
Vv || Land | 1,611 | 2.74 AN ATAG TAU ste 27, 2,045.07 .32 BlSes2
VI : | I, 332 4.31 5,740.92 ii 2, 357.04 61 | 812.52
| | } . =
VII all) 1, 194 ETT 3, 307.38 1.36 T, 623.84 34 405.96
Total 15, 208 2.02 | 44,638.44 WLAD |) Dit; Flo0)- (010) 0.47 7,154.44
II {hh ( 38 |
Ill : | | 3, 666 8.69 | 31, 857-54 3.84 14,077.44 22 4,472.52
lV : } Swamp 4 1,022 7.84 8,012.48 3.76 3, 842.72 1.36 | I, 399.92
V ; | | I, 168 8.38 Q, 787.84 3.32 3,877.76 Sf 899. 36
VII .|J U 270 5.65 1, 525.50 2.44 658.80 79 213.30
Total 6, 164 8hs0) |S sies3esO 3.64 | 22,456.72 1.13 | 6,985.10
|
Il i) f 122 0.43 52.92 0.23 27.72 53 ge ae
Ill .. | Sonne | 12, 156 4.50 | 55,374.04 2.16 | 26, 303.04 0.70 8,547.72
TV : | Land 3, 609 4.33 15, 618.26 2.04 7, 301.04 76 27a ceo
V | and || 2,779"| 6.62 | 18,391.98 | 2.66 |. 7,383.73 65 | 1,799.88
VI i ee 1,332 |, 4.38 |) 45, 740.02 | 1.77 | 2,357.04.) 01 | Buz; 52
NSO aes eree Werte (i) || 1,464 3.30 4, 832.88 1.56 2, 282.64 42 619.26
Total 21, 462 4.66 | 100,011.80 213) AS; 71500 0.68 | 14,514.54

)

G

A POREST WORKING PLAN. 403

The following table gives in markets by Standard Rule the present yield of
balsam on Township 41 to limits of ten, twelve and fourteen inches diameter
breasthigh. The table shows, also, the total present yield and the average yield
per acre on each compartment in the township for spruce land and swamp,

separately and combined.

TABLE XII.— BALSAM — PRESENT YIELD—TOWNSHIP 41.
Merchantable Yield in Markets by Standard Rule.

| Currinc To A Limiror | Currinc To a Limit or | CutTINnG To a Limit oF
ro INCHES IN | 12 INCHES IN f | 14 INCHES IN
£ DIAMETER BrREASTHIGH. D:aMETER BREASTHIGH. | DiaMETER BREASTHIGH.
STORIES OF Type. Area. iP
COMPARTMENT. | |
Average Average | Average |
yield | Total yield. yield Total yield. yield | Total yield.
per acre. | per acre. | | per acre.
| | Acres. | ——Standards. |} ——Standards.—— ————Standards.
| |
I : 5,430 | 1.75 Q. 502.50 0.93 5,049.90 | 0.41 | 2,226.30
Mees || Spruce a 1,306 1.92 2, 622.72 De24y| eis Gog C4ulh | e577 | 778.62
c 4
[xX Wand! 48 ;
| | | |
x ate ieeyasO2n ime 2enarlnnS O07 44) uae) Q;, 055.20 57 | 4, 196.34
Its
FRG taeeee mein al era 200 1.95 | 27, 732-66 iil 15,799.00} 0.51 7,201 .26
Tt | (| I, 530 6.590 | 10,082.7¢ 2.89 | 4,421.70 | 1.09 1,667.70
Il ‘Swamp | 502 7-52 3, 775-04 | 3-87 1,042.74) 1-47 737-94
Reese { BR OD Ten OAM EA IS Ayn ee Omnor me 22 TOONS2I ae 2nRO 8.653.209
| | | |
Morale ee “eae .| 5;053 | 9.92) 56,006.18 5-05 | 28,524.06 T:97 | 11,058.08
:
, c | aor S 5
I F | Sannee | 6. 960 | 2.81 19, 585.20 1.36 9,471.60 | 0.56 3,804.00
II -}1 Land 4} T, 869] 3:42 6, 307-76 1.95 636.58 | 80 Ti, 516250
ile \ | |
IX jj and || 48
| | Swamp | |
xX J i” Ul} 10, 982 5-26 | 57,755.88 2.84 | 31,215:78 T.17 | 12,849.63

Pelco taliee Ah scan 19, 859 4222, |. 83, 738.84.| 2.23 | 44,323.96 0.92. 18,260.19

404 REPORT OF THE FPORESDT, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION,

The following table gives in markets by Standard Rule the present yield of
white pine on Township 5 to limits of ten, twelve and fourteen inches diameter
breasthigh. The table shows, also, the total present yield and the average yield
per acre on each compartment in the township for spruce land and swamp,

separately and combined.

TABLE XIII.—WHITE PINE— PRESENT YIELD—TOWNSHIP 5.
Merchantable Yield in Markets by Standard Rule.

CuttinG To a Limit oF Curttinc to a Limit or _| Cuttine To a Limit oF
to INCHES IN 12 INCHES IN 14 INCHES IN
DriaMeTeR BreasTHIGH. | DIAMETER BREASTHiGH. | DIAMETER BREASTHIGH,
NUMBER OF
i. Type. Area, :
COMPARTMENT. eee reeves Faas
yield Total yield. yield Total yield. yield Total yield.
per acre. per acre. per acre,
Acres. -—-—Standards. ——, Standards.——_,_ | ———Standards.
NT ay lll 8, 586 0.08 686.88 0.08 686.88 0.07 | 601.02
HOTT || Spruce | 2, 760 IS 414.00 a8 358.80 Bite 358.80
sya st deang | 1, 099
1X J | 246
Motal a0 wees ee | RTeNGOUM AZOnOO I, 100.88 | 0.08 1,045.68 | 0.08 950.82
Tel ee | (| 1, 790 1.22 2, 183.80 1.18 PET a 20M mane O 2,076.40
TET ceny ip estes | 1,645 1.28 2, 105.60 1:23 2)023..35 1.10 1,809 50°
Swamp |
WAQL | ' 54
WAI J 973 ie
| . =
Total ter etal sco 4, 462 0.96 4, 289.40 0.93 Ap B55 5353 ||) Oatsy/ 3, 885.90
meh tl (} 10,376 0.28 2,870.68 0.27 2,799.08 0.26 2,677.42
Toler _ | Spruce | 4, 405 57 2, 519.60 54 2,382.15| -49 | 2, 168.30
|| “Land: |
Vallee alt 1 if Wil ohn ted Mise mmr ae rere pane lame maysiye cinerea) memoey |
| and | |
INA ee eae tir / Swamp | 2,072
oxen | 246 |
AO ta)l ene | aoe |e ne 0.31 5,390.28 0.30 55 181.23 | 0.28 4,845.72
| : |

A FOREST WORKING PLAN.

405

The following table gives in markets by Standard Rule the present yield of

white pine on Township 6 to limits of ten, twelve and fourteen inches diameter

breasthigh.

The table shows, also, the total present yield and the average yield

per acre on each compartment in the township for spruce land and swamp,

separately and combined.

TABLE XIV.—WHITE PINE— PRESENT YIELD — TOWNSHIP 6.
Merchantable Yield in Markets by Standard Rule.

Curttine To a Limit oF
to INCHES IN

DIAMETER BREASTHIGH.

CurrinG to A Limit oF
12 INCHES IN
DiaMETER BREASTHIGH.

Cuttine To A Limit oF
14 INCHES IN
DIAMETER BREASTHIGH,

NUMBER OF
MPARTMENT Type. ae
oy eet Average Average Average
yield Total yield. yield Total yield. yield Total yield.
per acre. Per acre. per acre.
Acres. ——— Standards ——_, | ———Standards,——— | ———Standards.——,
Il “| | 84 alba
Ill : | | 8, 490 0.03 679.20 0.05 679.20 0.08 679.20
IV : | Spruce | 2, 587 .39 I, 008.93 38 983.06 . 36 | 931.32
V | | Land | 1, 611
VI : | | Wp KP OI MighoZ Oli 13.32
VII = ( I, 194 00 71.04 06 71.64 -04 | 47.76
Total 15, 298 0.12 1, 773.09 0.11 | 1, 747.22 0.11 1,658.28
II i] 38
Ill ; | | 3, 666 2.00 7) 332.00 1.99 7, 205.34 1.95 7,148.70
TV A eos I, 022 1.00 1,022.00 1.00 1,022.00 -O7 991.34
Wi é | | 1, 168
VII |) | 270
Total 6, 164 1.30 8, 354.00 eS 8, 317.34 1 og? 8, 140.04
| |
II H | ( 122 | |
Ill : | Sorricenlt 12, 156 0.66 8, 011.20 0.66 | °7,074.54 0.64 77.827).90
IV || Land | 3, 609 50 2,030.93 56 | 2,005.06 53 1,922.66
V F and | 2,779 |
é | |
VI 2 i | Tee -O1 13.32 OI Tee,
VII ala l T, 464 05 | 71.64 .05 71.64 .03 47.76
|
Total 21, 462 0.47 10, 127.09 0.47 | 10,064.56 0.46 9, 798. 32

406

IRIIOVRAID Oe AIST MOINIVS IS IGUSEl AGN ID) GyauNile, COMMISSION.

The following table gives in markets by Standard Rule the present yield of

white pine on Township 4: to limits of ten, twelve and fourteen inches diameter

breasthigh.

per acre on each compartment in the township for

separately and combined..

“Merchantable Yield in Markets by Standard Rule.

The table shows, also, the total present yield and the average yield

spruce land and swamp, -

BUSES DV — \NASULIUD, JIN lea SITIN WT NIOSIOIO) — WOMANS SNe Zr,

CurtinG To A Limit oF Curtine To A Limit oF Guna To A Limit oF
ro INCHES IN 12 INCHES IN 14 INCHES IN
Diameter BreasruicH. | DIAMETER BREASTHIGH. | DiAMETER BREASTHIGH.
ee OF. Type. Area,
Ce Average Average Average
yield Total yield. yield Total yield. yield |, Total yield.
per acre. per acre. per acre.
/
Acres. ——— Standards. —— Standards,-—__. | ——— Standards. —_
i f GHAZoO | Os iz 760.20 (opaes 705.90 0.11 597.30
Il i Spruce | 17300) | OS 109.28 08 109.28 08 109.28
IX i Land | 48) |
x ) ll! > 7,362 Ont 2,018.42 -Al 3, 018.42 -41 3,018.42
Moral | 14,206 | 0.27 3, 887.90 0.27 3, 833.60 0.26 3, 725-00
|
I : ( 1,530 | 6.23 0, 531.90 6.13 9, 378.90 6.06 9,271 80
10 : | Swamp | 502 | .80 401.60 .69 346.38 1625s ened
| z ;
xX | ue BOZia sus IT, 514.78 3.16 IT, 442.36 2 eee ZO lene
| zZ
Total 5.653 |) 3:79 21, 448.28 3.74 | 21,107.64 3.69 | 20, 844235
i ali) Sp (| 6, 960 1.48 10, 292.10 1.45 | 10,084.80 1.42 9, 869.10
| ruce | |
Il : | Tend H 18604 ewe27al 510.88 24 455.66 22 20452
L | | E
1X ; | and | 48 | |
x |; Swamp | 10,982 | 1.32 | 14,533.20 12) ea AOOnT7S SO || ely AO) 7/8
Total | 19, 859 | 1.28 | 25,336.18 TA2On eS 7 OO 24 1:24 | 24,560.35

A FOREST \WORIKING PLAN.

407

The following table gives in markets by Standard Rule the present yield of

hemlock on Township 5 to Jimits of ten, twelve and fourteen inches diameter

breasthigh. The table shows, also, the total present yield and the average yield

per acre on each compartment in the township for spruce land and swamp,

separately and combined.

TABLE XV1.— HEMLOCK —PRESENT YIELD—TOWNSHIP 5.
Merchantable Yield in Markets by Standard Rule.

NUMBER OF

Curtinc To A Limit oF
to INCHES IN
Diameter BREASTHIGH.

Currine to a Limit oF
12 INCHES IN

DraMeETER BREASTHIGH.

Curtine To A Limit oF
14 INCHES IN
DIAMETER BREASTHIGH.

COMPARTMENT ype: nae
MS eee Average Average Average
yield Total yield. yield Total yield. yield Total yield.
per acre. per acre. per acre.
Acres. —-—Standards. —-—-Standards,———._ | ———Standards. —-_,
lpia |} 8, 586 8.88 | 76, 243.68 8.61 73,925.46 8.01 | 68,773.86
IOUE : | Spruce | 2, 760 3.74 | LO, 322.40 3.62 9,991.20 3.39 9, 306.40
; fi |
VIL ‘|| Land | 1,099) | 3.70 | 4,066.30 | 3.59 3,945.40 || 93-45 |) 35,701 -55
TOG iy) l 246 FROM UO 6.25 es ey50 5.25 I, 201.50
|
Total 12, 691 7.28 | 92, 364.22 7.08 | 89; 300).57 5.66 | 83,223.31
plier: \] ( 1, 790 5.05 9, 039.50 4.58 8, 189.20 3.07 7, 100.30
ee il | TOAD ents tO) 1,957.55 1.05 1, 891.75 WA JEU 1, 825.05
+ Swamp |
Vale. : | | 5A
WIIL . [J U 973 | 1.60 1,550.80 | 1.49 1,449.77 |* 1-49 | 1,449.77
Total 4, 462 2.80 | 12,553.05 2.58 LS COZ 2eBw lls so2sO2
Tole it) 10, 376 8.22 | 85,283.18 7.91 | 82,114.66 7.31 | 75,880.16
iTeIuIges Spruce 4,405 2.79 12, 279.95 2.70 II, 882.95 2ESAe Wie Olas 5
valle || Land | er
E and |
VALI Be Swamp | 2,072 Pi git 5, 623.10 2.60 5, 395-18 | QC om lens eAlese
1oXeS { 246 7.04 T, 731.84 On2ou eet Seyn5O 525 || 2 Hy AO), FO
|
Total 17, 153 6.12 | 104,918.07 5.88 | 100,930.29 5-44 | 93,505.33

408

REPORT OR WEvh SMO RE Sit) Eye ils vAUN sD) GAME COMMISSION.

The following table gives in markets by Standard Rule the present yield of

hemlock on Township 6 to limits of ten, twelve and fourteen inches diameter

breasthigh.

The table shows, also, the total present yield and the average yield

per acre on each compartment in the township for spruce land and swamp,

separately and combined.

TABLE XVII.— HEMLOCK —PRESENT YIELD— TOWNSHIP 6.
Merchantable Yield in Markets by Standard Rule.

Currine To a Limit oF
to INCHES IN

D1aMETER BREASTHIGH.

Curtine To A Limit oF

12 INCHES IN
DiaMeTER BREASTHIGH.

Cuttine To a Limir oF
14 INCHES, IN
DIAMETER BREASTHIGH.

NUMBER OF
OMPARTMENT Type ree °
eo; ran Average Average Average
yield Total yield. yield Total yield. yield - | Total yield.
per acre. per acre. per acre,
| Acres. ——Standards.——_, ——Standards,—_, ——Standards. ——,
II : | 8&4 8.11 678.00 7.85 656.26 7.66 640.38
III ll | &, 490 On 7 || SOKO) 6.51 55, 269.90 1G |) G25 20 3}..50)
IV : | Sonece | 2, 587 7.04 18, 212.48 6.89 17, 824.43 6.65 | 17,203.55
V || Land | I, 611 24 386.64 2 338.31 7) 273.87
|
VI | | I, 332 1.18 TSO 1.16 TSA5e 12 1.14 1,518.48
VII lj | I, 194 127 I, 516.38 122 1, 456.68 Tey, T, 396.98
Total 15, 298 5.19 | 70,418.06 5.04 | 77,090.70 4.79 | 73,246.76
II | (| 38
III ‘| | | F666 6 25G6" |v ONs8aieol | ion Nis qtor Stolle ier mmewnarmag
IV ali Swamp } I, 022 DT 2, 769.62 2.64 2, 608.08 2.41 2, 463.02
|
Vv : | | I, 168 .07 81.76 .07 81.76 05 58.40
VII aly L 270 AB; 99.90 BBY 99.90 ¥a77 99.90
Total 6, 164 2.00 12, 3360.24 1.93 II, 898.10 1.74.) 10,723.18
Il zB | 122 5.56 678.00 5.38 656.26 ees 640.38
Ill : | Spruce! 12, 156 5.47 | 66,437.76 5.29 | 64,288.26 4.96 | 60,315.36
IV : | Tearnd | 3, 609 FOL) 20982210 5.69) |! 20; 1522551 5.45 | 10,665.57
c 1
V | and | 2,779 m7 468.40 as 420.07 is SB2127
VI | ame 1, 332 1.18 TS ZO 1.16 1,545.12 I.14 T, 518.48
VII | 1, 464 1.10 1,616.28 1.06 1,550.58 1.02 T, 496.88
Total 21, 462 4.28 | 91,754.30 4.15 | 88,988.80 3.91 | 83,969.04

A FOREST WORKING PLAN.

409

The following table gives in markets by Standard Rule the present yield of

hemlock on Township 4r to limits of ten, twelve and fourteen inches diameter

breasthigh.

The table shows, also, the total present yield and the average yield

per acre on each compartment in the township for spruce land and swamp,

separately and combined.

TABLE XVIII.— HEMLOCK — PRESENT YIELD— TOWNSHIP 41.
Merchantable Yield in Markets by Standard Rule.

CurtinG To a Limit oF Curtine To A Limit or | Cutrine To a Limit oF
to INCHES IN 12 INCHES IN 14 INCHES IN
DIAMETER BREASTHIGH. | DIAMETER BREASTHIGH. | DIAMETER BREASTHIGH.
NUMBER OF 7p
§ or ype. Area,
COME SEMEN ET. Average Average Average
yield Total yield. yield Total yield. yield Total yield.
per acre. per acre. per acre.
Acres. —— Standards. ——Standards, —— ——— Standards.——_,
I ail | 5:430 | 7.19 | 39,041.70 | 6.79 | 36,869.70) 6.25 | 34,037.50
Il || Spruce |] 1,366 | 7.72| 10,545.52 | 6.06] 9,507.36] 6.09] 8,318.04
IX i Land | 48 | 16.50 792.00 | 15.81 758.88 | 14.25 684.00
X: | ( TB | B92 || 2p FIOLOA 3.54 | 26,061.48 3.32 | 24,441.84
Total 14, 206 A EE OSRCO 5-15 | 73,107.42 | 4.74 67, 382.28
|
IL | | I, 530 D7 3, 320.10 1.85 2, 830.50 1.52 2, 325.60
II | Swamp j 502 2.74 I, 375-48 2.44 1, 224.88 27) 1, 089.34
x 3, 621 reno 4, 236.57 1.09 3,946.89 1.02 3, 693.42
|
Total -|- 5,653 1.58 8,932.15 1.42 8, 002.27 1.26 7, 108.30
| | |
I -| | Spranee 6, 960 6.09 2, 361.80 5.70 | 39, 700.20 ee ees ON 2 OBO
II -|| Land || 1, 869 6.38 | II, 921.00 Ae ON Benen 5.03 9, 408.28
TX | | and | 48 | 16.50 792.00 | 15.81 758.88 | 14.25 684.00
|| Swamp
xX |) || 10, 982 2A Soy sie O23 eam 2784) 9 30;0082 37, 2.56 | 28,135.26
|
Total | 19, 859 4.37.| 86,698.01 4.09 | 81, 199.69 3.75 | 74,490.64

410

REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

The following table gives in board feet by old Scribner Rule the present yield

of yellow birch on Township 5 to limits of fifteen, seventeen and nineteen inches

diameter breasthigh.

The table shows, also, the total present yield and the average

yield per acre on each compartment in the township for spruce land and swamp,

separately and combined.

TABLE XIX.— BIRCH — PRESENT YIELD — TOWNSHIP 5.
Merchantable Yield in Board Feet by

Old Scribner Rule.

CutrinG To A Limit oF
r5 INCHES IN
DIAMETER BREASTHIGH.

Curtine To a Limit oF
17 INCHES IN
DraMETER BREASTHIGH.

Curtine To a Limit oF

19 INCHES:IN
DIAMETER BREASTHIGH,

NUMBER OF
Type. Area,
Cea anaiag Average Average Average
yield Total yield. yield Total yield. yicld Total yield.
per acre. per acre. per acre.
Acres. -——— Board feet.——— | ——— Board feet.—-— |——— Board feet.——,
It : 8,586 | 2,431 | 20,872,566 | 2,202 | 18,906,372 | 1,910 | 16, 309, 260
(Ieee é | Spruce | 2,760| 2,872 7,926,720 | 2,614 | 7,214,640 | 2,314 | 6,386,640
ATEN Land | 1,099 | 2,667 | 2,931,033 | 2,431 | 2,671,669 | 2,083 | 2,280, 217
xXolee a LI 246 | 1,985 A88, 310 | 1,747 420,702) 1m, 513 372, 198
, | |
Total A 125 601 2,539 | 32; 218, 629 2,303 | 20, 222, 443 2,005 | 25,447, 315
iit. 1 ( 1,790 | 1,280] 2,291,200 | 1, 037 1, 856, 230 798 | 1,428, 420
THe. | | 1,645 | 1,258 | 2,069,410 | 1,029 | 1,692, 705 786 | 1,292,970
|| Swamp |
Value | 54
VT si l 973 | 1,043 | 1,014,839 816 793, 568 501 487,473
Total 4,462 | 1,205-| -5, 375,449 973 | 4,342, 503 719 | 3, 208, 863
Tele 1 ( 10, 376 | 2,232 | 23,163,766 | 2,001 | 20, 762,602 | 1,718 | 17, 827, 680
Ill ‘ Spruce 4,405 | 2,200 9, 996, 130 2, 022 8,907,345 | 1,743 | 7,670, 610
N\VAlsline { Land ] 54.
VIII a I, 90 872672 465, 237 | 1,340 | 2,776,690
come | 2,072 | 1,904 | 3,945,872 | 1,672 | 3,465,237 | 1,340 | 2,776,
1X. A [ 246 | 1,085 488, 310 | 1,747 429, 762 | 1,513 372; 198
|
Total 17,153 | 2,192 | 37,594,078 |. 1,957-| 33,504,946 | 1,671 | 28,656, 178

A FOREST, WORKING PAN:

AIT

The following table gives in board feet by old Scribner Rule the present yield

of yellow birch on Township 6 to limits of fifteen, seventeen and nineteen inches,

diameter breasthigh.

The table shows, also, the total present yield and the

average yield per acre on each compartment in the township for spruce land.

and swamp, separately and combined.

TABLE XX:=BIRCH —PRESENT YIELD— TOWNSHIP 6.
Merchantable Yield in Board Feet by Old Scribner Rule.

Currine To A Limit oF Currinc ro a Limit or | Currmne To a Limit oF
15 INCHES IN 17 INCHES IN 19 INCHES IN
; DIAMETER BreastTHiGH. | DiaMETER BREASTHIGH. | DIAMETER BREASTHIGH,
NUMBER OF aie x
COMPARTMENT ab ae
= ay Average Average Average
yield Total yield. yield Total yield. yield Total yield.
per acre. per acre. per acre.
Acres. Board feet.—— ——— Board feet.—— |——— Board feet.———
Il 1 (| 84 280 23) 520) | 247 20, 748 226 18, 984
: |
NER ceen sea st) | 8,490 | 2,475 | 21,012,750 | 2,226 | 18, 898, 740 1, 883 | 15,986, 670
IV || Spruce || 2,587 | 2,416 | 6,251,092 | 2,159 | 5,585,333 | 1,812 | 4,687,644
V .|[ Land | | 1,611 | 3,494 | 5)628,834 || 3,132 | 5,045,652 | 2,695 | 4,341,645
VI | | | | 1,332 2,204 | 3,015,648 | 1,982 | 2,640,024 | 1,615 | 2,151,180
~ WATE | ( TLOAN en Oke 2, 500,328 | 2,655 3,170, 070 | 2, 243 | 2,678, 142
| |
Total 15,208 | 2,584 | 30,528,172 | 2,311 | 35,300,567 | 1,952 | 20, 864, 265
ian | | | 38 Sartor:
III | | 3, 666 947 | 3,471, 702 746 | 2, 734,836 516 | 1,891,656
Ag a ee 1, 022 729 745,038 542 553,924 ALIN 5271352
V el | | | 1, 168 794 917; 392 676 789, 508 493 575, 824
VII J {| 270 750 202, 500 486 131, 220 314 84, 780
Total malts 6, 164 | 866 | 5, 336,632 683 | 4,209, 548 500 | 3,070, 612
Il / | 122 193 23,520 170 20, 748 150 18, 984
IIL || Spruce || 12,156 | 2,014 | 24, 484,452 | 1,780) 21,633,576 | 1,470 | 17,878,320
TV | Land | 3,609 | 1,938 | 6,996,130 | 1,701 | 6,139,257 | 1,445 | 5,214,996
V a ne || 2779 | 2.355 | 6,546,226 | 2,100) 5,835,220 | 1,770) 4,917,469
| Swainp | |
V1 : | t | | 1,332 | 2,264 | 3,015,648 | 1,982 | 2,640,024 | 1,615 | 2, 151, 180
ee \Vplelt | U I, 464 |) 2,505 3, 798, 828 | 2,255 3, 301, 290 | 1,887 | 2; 762,922
Total 21,462 | 2,090 | 44,864,804 | 1,844 | 390,570,115 | 1,535 | 32,943,877

412

REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

The following table gives in board feet by old Scribner Rule the present

yield of yellow birch on Township 41 to limits of fifteen, seventeen and nineteen

inches diameter breasthigh.

The table shows, also, the total present yield and

the average yield per acre in each compartment in the township for spruce

land and swamp, separately and combined.

TABLE XXI.— BIRCH —PRESENT YIELD— TOWNSHIP 41.
Merchantable Yield in Board Feet by Old Scribner Rule.

NUMBER OF
COMPARTMENT.

II
IX

Total

ol

Total

dt
IX

Total

CuttinG To A Limit oF
15 INCHES IN

DIAMETER BREASTHIGH.

Currine to a Limit oF
17 INCHES IN
DraMETER BREASTHIGH.

Curtine To a Limit oF
_ 1g INCHES IN
DIAMETER BREASTHIGH.

Type. Area, {

Average Average Average
yield Total yield. yield Total yield. yield | Total yield.

per acre. per acre, per acre.
| | Acres. ———Board feet.—-— -———Board feet.-—-, Board feet,
a (} 5,430 | 2,663 | 14,450,090 | 1,249 | 6,782,070 898 | 4,876, 140
: | Spruce | 15.300) 0,077) 2, 2003782) | 19476) |) 2.016, 2160 e253) ia lesOS

[ j

| Land | 48 | 2,266 108, 768 | 2, 187 | 104,976 | 1,688 81, 024
.| | l| 7,362 | 2,931 | 21,578,022 | 2,675 | 19,603,350 | 2,318 | 17,005, 116
14, 206 | 2,706 | 38, 427, 662 | 2,013 | 28,596,612 | 1,671 | 23, 733, 878
i | I, 530 817 | 1,250,010 653 | 999, 090 | 527 806, 310
-_ Swamp + 502 999 501, 408 823 | 413,146 | 680 341, 360
| L| 3,621 864 | 3,128,544 718 | 2,599, 878 548 | 1,984, 308
Fle 5,653 | 863 | 4,880,052] 710| 4,012,114 | 554 | 3,130,078

|
pial Goeree | 6,960 | 2,260 | 15,710,100 | 1,118 | 7, 781, 160 816 | 5, 682, 450
| Land || 1,869] 1,494 | 2,792,280 | 1,300 | 2,420, 362 1,098 | 2,052,958
; and | 48 | 2,266 108, 768 | 2, 187 104,976 | 1,688 81,024
Peas {| 10,982 |-2,250 | 24,706,566 | 2,030 | 22,293,228 | 1,735 | 19,049, 424
I 19,859 | 2, 181 | 43,317,714 | 1,642 | 2, 608, 726-| 1,353 | 26, 865,856

A FOREST WORKING PLAN.

413

The following table gives in board feet by old Scribner Rule the present

vield of sugar maple on Township 5 to limits of fifteen, seventeen and nineteen

inches diameter breasthigh.

The table shows, also, the total present yield and

the average yield per acre on each compartment in the township for spruce land

and swamp, separately and combined.

TABLE XXII.—SUGAR MAPLE— PRESENT YIELD—TOWNSHIP 5.

Merchantable Yield in Board Feet by Old Scribner Rule.

NUMBER OF

Cuttine To a Limit oF
15 INCHES IN
DIAMETER BREASTHIGH.

Curtinc To a Limit or
17 INCHES IN
DrIaMETER BREASTHIGH.

Cuttine To A Limit oF
19 INCHES IN
D1aMETER BREASTHIGH.

a Area.
COMPAS AWE NIRS Average Average Average |
yield Total yield. yield Total yield. yield Total yield.
per acre. per acre. per acre.
Acres. | oad feet. | Board feet. —— Board feet.
sieer | 8,586 | 998 | 8,568,828 802 | 6,885,972 509°| 5,143,014
Ieitlierdeees Soba <a 2, 760 928 | 2,561, 280 741 2,045, 160 567 | I, 564, 920
WAU I, 099 | 438 ASI, 362 299 328, 601 182 | 200, 018
TOXEE: | 246 373 Olesen e le | 42, 066 43 | 10, 578
Total i 12, 691 922 | 11, 703, 228 733 | 9; 301,799 545 | 6,918, 530
| |
fee Wier errea cog | I, 790 150 268, 500 104 | 186, 160 | 57 | 102, 030
i1uloiaee | 1, 645 107 176, O15 | 84 133, 180 | 7m Te NS
| |
VIL: 54 | nah | :
av aleTg | 073 12 11,676 | 7 6, 811
otal ae 4, 462 102 456, 191 | 74 Beientsil 55 | 225,405
IW hy | 2@; 370 852 | 8, 837, 328 | 682 | 7,072,132 505 | 5,245,044
HIRI pain la see | 4, 405 G20 257375 205; | 495 | 2,183,240 383 | 1,688, 205
lor |
Nala 2 oa | 54 |
RVs Tolle: | 2,072 | 238 493, 038 114 335, 412 97 | 200, 018
exer al 246 B73 QI, 758 | 17 42, 066 43 | 10, 578
| | | | |
17,153 709 | 12,150,419 | 562 | 9,632,950

ew 5s li

416 | 7,143,935
|

414

REPORT OF | THE BOREST, HISH “AND! GAME COMMISSION.

The following table gives in board feet by old Scribner Rule the present yield

of sugar maple on Township 6 to limits of fifteen, seventeen and nineteen inches

diameter breasthigh.

The table shows, also, the total. present yield: and the

average yleld pcr acre on each compartment in the township for spruce land and

swamp, separately and combined.

TABLE XXIII.—~SUGAR MAPLE— PRESENT YIELD'— TOWNSHIP 6.
Merchantable Yield in Board Feet by Old Scribner Rule.

CurrinG to A Limit oF
15 INCHES IN
Dr1aMETER BREASTHIGH.

CutTinG To A Limit oF
17 INCHES IN
DiaMETER BREASTHIGH.

Curtine To a Limit oF
19 INCHES IN
DIAMETER BREASTHIGH.

NUMBER OF 7
‘: ype. Area,
So Average Average Average
yield Total yield. yield Total yield. yield Total yield.
per acre. per acre. per acre.
Acres, -—-Board Feet. -———Board Feet.--—— -——Board Feet._—,
II : | { 84 247 20, 748 205 17; 220 205 17, 220
motel a | 8, 490 769 | 6,528, 810 630 | 5, 348, 700 482 | 4,092, 180
1 Spruce || 2 587 692 | 1,790,204 574 | 1,484,938 458 | 1,184, 846
0 z
Vv Land ||| 1,611 425 684, 675 351 565, 461 268 431, 748
Wil i | 1, 332 376 500, 832 209 308, 268 216 287, 712
Vil J 1,194 | 1,024 | 1,222,656 832 993, 408 576 687, 744
Total 15, 298 703 | 10,747,925 576 | 8,807,995 838 | 6,701,450
II 2) ( 38
Ill i | | 3, 666 47 172, 302 37 135, 632 ey, ~ 98, 780
! |
IV ' ges] I, 022 80 81, 760 58 59, 276 25 35,770
V ; | I, 168
VII al) 270 30 9, 720 21 5,670
Total 6, 164 43 263, 782 33 200, 578 22 134,552
Il L 122 170 20, 748 141 17, 220 T41 17, 220
Ill : | Spruce 12, 156 HS Ley O7OU,suk2 451 | 5,484, 342 345 | 4, 101, 162
IV : | earl | 3, 609 519 1,871, 964 428 | 1,544,214 338 |. 1, 220, 616
V y | and | 2,779 246 684, 675 203 565, 461 155 431, 748
VI : | Swamp | 1, 332 376 500, 832 299 398, 268 216 287, 712
Vat : lla 404! 842 | 1, 232,376 682 999, 078 469 687, 744
Total 21, 462 513 II, O11, 707 420 | 9,008,583 | 319 | 6,836, 202

A FOREST WORKING PLAN.

415

The following table gives in board feet by old Scribner Rule the present

yield of sugar maple on Township 41 to limits of fifteen, seventeen and nineteen

inches diameter breasthigh.

The table shows, also, the total present yield and

the average yield per acre on each compartment in the township for spruce

land and swamp, separately and combined.

TABLE XXIV.—SUGAR MAPLE— PRESENT, YIELD — TOWNSHIP 41.
Merchantable Yield in Board Feet by Old Scribner Rule.

Cuttine To A Limit oF Currine ro A Limit or | Currine To a Limir oF
15 INCHES IN 17 INCHES IN 1g INCHESIN ,
DIAMETER BrEASTHIGH. | DIAMETER BREASTHIGH. | DIAMETER BREASTHIGH.
NUME=ZR OF 7
a ype. Area,
EN: Average Average Average
yield Total yield. yield Total yield. yield Total yield.
per acre. per acre. | per acre.
ar Acres. ———-Board feet.—— ——Board feet. | -—-——Board feet.———
I ah f 5,430 701 3, 806, 430 540 | 2,932,200 410 | 2, 226, 300
II -| Spruce T, 366 762 | 1,040, 892 520 710, 320 317 | 433, 000
1X | Land | 48 152 7, 206
!
x MN Ye? 449 | -3,305,558 346°| 2,547, 252 242 | 1,781,604
Total 14, 206 574 | 8,160,176 A360 | 6, 189, 772 313 | 4,440,004
I | ( 1, 530 74 113, 220 43 65, 790 39 45, 900
II | t Swamp { 502 171 85, 842 127 63, 754 75 37, 650
r | |
x oi) | 3,621 64 231,744 48 173, 808 37 133,977
|
Total 5,053 76 430, 806 54 303, 352 38 217, 527
I Hecruce 6, 960 563 | 3,919,650 431 | 2,997,990 326) | 2, 272, 200
II || Land 1, 869 603 | 1,126, 734 414 774, 074 253 470, 650
; | |
1X | and | 48 152 7, 296
x J ey 10, 982 322 3, 537, 282 | 248 2, 721, 060 174 | 1,915, 581
Total 19, 859 433 | 8, 590, 962 327 || 6,493, 124 235 | 4,658, 431

416

REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

The following table is a summary of Tables VII to XXIV, with the yields of

cedar and beech included and Township 4o added. The standards of the softwoods

have been reckoned at 200 board feet each.

TABLE XXV.—PRESENT YIELD ON TOWNSHIPS 5, 6, 40 AND 41 SEPARATELY.
Merchantable Yield in Board Feet by Old Scribner Rule.

TOWNSHIP 5—1I7,153

ACRES.

CuttTinc To BREASTHIGH
Diameter LIMITS OF to
AND 15 INCHES FOR SOFT-
woops AND Harbwoops,

CuTtTING TO BREASTHIGH
D1aAMeETER Limits oF 12
AND 17 INCHES FOR SOFT-

woops 42ND HARDWooDs,

Curtinc 1o BreasTHIGH

DiaMETER Limits o-

I4 AND 19 INCHES FoR
SoFTwoops anp Haxp-

SPECIES. RESPECTIVELY. RESPECTIVELY. woops, RESPECTIVELY.

Average Average Average

yield Total yield. yield Total yield. yieid | Total yield.

per acre. per acre. | per acre.
———— Board feet. —— ——Board feet. —— ——-—— Board feet. ——
Spruce AOU 1 ZO WAO, ZAKS. || By 752 64, 348, 578 | 3,072 2, 691, 258
Balsam 852 14, 605, 966 436 7, 469, 802 | 170 2,913,950
White pine 62 1,078, 056 60 1, 036, 246 56 969, 144
Hemlock 1, 224 20,983,814 | 1,176 20, 186,058 | 1,088 18, 719, 066
Cedar . 116 1,997, 980 Q2 I, 591, 500 68 I, 165, 790
Birch . 2, 192 37,594,078 | 1,957 33, 504,946 | 1,671 | 28,656,178
Sugar magle . 709 12, 159, 419 562 9, 632, 950 416 7, 143, 935
Beech . 551 | 9, 448, 139 348 5,981, 263 199 3, 409, 784
Total . 10, 322 | 177,038,170 | 8,383 | 143,811,343 | 6,740 | 115, 660, 111

TowNsHIp 6— 21,462 ACRES.

Sorte | 5,072 | 108,897,308 | 4,200 90, 122,598 | 3,282 70, 425, 880
Balsam 932 20, 002, 360 426 ©, 143, 162 136 2, 902, 908
White pine 04 2.025, 418 04 2, O12, 912 92 1,959, 664
Hemlock 856 18, 350, 860 830 17, 797, 760 782 | 16,793,988
Cedar 28 610, 994 22 475, 590 18 370, 622
Birch 2,090 | 44,864,804 | 1,844} 39,570,115 | 1,535 | 32,943,877
Sugar maple 513 II, OII, 707 420 9, 008, 583 319 6, 836, 202
Beech 175 3, 709. 440 99 2, 143, 204 55 1, 199, 912
Total 9,760 | 200,532,891 | 7,935 | 170,274,014 | 6,219 | 133,433,053

SPECIES.

A FOREST WORKING PAN.

TABLE XX V.—(Concluded).

TOWNSHIP 40— 16,896

ACRES.

417

CurtTinc To BREASTHIGH
DriaMetTerR Limits OF 10
AND 15 INCHES FOR SOFT-
WOODS AND HarDwoops,

CutTtING TO BREASTHIGH
DsameTeR Limits oF 12
AND 17 INCHES FOR SoFT-
woops AND HArDwoops,

CutTInc To BREASTHIGH
DiamMeTteR Luis. oF
I4 AND 19 INCHES FOR
SorTwoops AND Harp-

RESPECTIVELY. | RESPECTIVELY, woops, RESPECTIVELY.
| |
| | | |
Average | | Average | Average |
yield | Total yield. yield | Total yield. yield Total yield.
| per acre. per acre. per acre.
|

Spruce
Balsam
White pine
Hemlock
Cedar .
Birch

Sugar maple
Beech

Total

Spruce
Balsam
White pine
Hemlock
Cedar .
Birches:
Sugar maple
Beech

Total

-——Board feet.

——-Board feet.——_,

Board feet ——_,

152, 072, 890

4,588 | 77,519,378 | 3,886 | 65,657,510 | 3,112 | 52,590,736
638 | 10, 783, 622 | 324 | 5, 463, 184 124 2,092. 434
336 | 5,678, 236 334 50545130 | 332 || 5,611, 552

1,770 | 29,905,416 | 1,702 28, 766,876 | 1,588 | 26,852,608
126 | 2, 118, 558 104 | I, 755,420 76 | I, 291, 966

1,624 | 27, 438, 508 | 1,450 | 24,655,158 | 1,132] 109,122,098
507 | 8, 565, 062 307 | 6, 708, 675 291 | 4,913, 563
307 6, 699, 364 262 | 4, 431, 985 149 | 2, 519, 119

|

9,986 | 168, 708, 234 | 8, 468 | 143,092,938 | 6,804 | 114, 994, 166

TOWNSHIP 41 — 19,859 ACRES.

6,474 | 128,562,036 | 5,516 | 109,560, 462 | 4,530 | 89,978,522
844 | 16, 747, 768 446 8, 864, 792 | 184 | 3, 652, 038
256 | 5, 067, 236 252 5, 000, 248 | 248 | 4, 913, 870
874, 17, 339, 602 818 16, 239, 938 | 750 | 14, 898, 128

54 1,061, 416 | 42 846, 332 30 | 586, 470

2, 181 43, 317, 714 1,642 | 32, 608, 726 | 1/353 | 26, 865, 856

| 433 | 8,590,962 aise 6,493,124 | 235 | 4, 658, 431
- 789 | 15,661,822 495 | 9,824,134) 328 | 6,519,575
.| 11, 905 | 236,348, 556 | 9,538 | 189, 437,756 | 7,658

|

oi

A418

REPORT OF DHE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

TABLE XXVI.— PRESENT YIELD ON THE WHOLE BLOCK OF FOUR CS ae
TOWNSHIPS 5, 6, 40 AND 41 —75,370 ACRES.

Merchantable Yield in Board Feet by Old Scribner Rule.

Cutting To BreasTHIGH
Diameter Limits oF 10
AND 15 INCHES FOR SOFT-
Woops AND Harpwoops,

Cutrinc To BrEASTHIGH

DiaMETek Limits oF 12
AND 17 INCHES FOR SoFT-
woops AND Harpwoops,

CuTTiNG To BREASTHIGH
DiamMETER Limirs oF
I4 AND 19 INCHES FOR
Sorrwoops anp Harp-

SPECIES. RESPECTIVELY. RESPECT!VELY. Woops, RespEcTIVELy.
Average Average Average
yield Total yield. yield Total yield. yield Total-yield.
| per acre | Per acre per acre.
Board feet. ——-~ = Board feer. ——— .||-_-— Boardi fects
Spruce 5,229 | 304,149,440 | 4,374 | 320,680,148 | 3,525 | 265,686, 396°
Balsam 824 | 62, 130, 716 153 | 11,561, 336

White pine
Hemlock
Cedar .
Birch .
Sugar maple .

Beech .

otal:

184 13, 848, 946
I, 149 86, 579, 692
Td 5; 788, 948
2,033 | 153,215,194

535 40, 327, 150

A72 | 35,578, 765

411 | 30,940, 940
182 | 13, 703, 536

I, 101 82, 990, 632 |
62 4, 668, 842 |
1,730 | 130, 398,945

422 | 31, 843,332
207 22, 380, 676

178 | 13,454,250

1, 025 77, 263, 880

45 | 3,414,848)

I, 428 | 107, 588, 009
313 23, 552; 131

181 13, 648, 260

5] 0)5 {03}

791, 627, 851

646, 616, O51 |

6, 848 | 516, 169, 220

Pine Lanp — Townsuip 5.— Table XXVII shows the present yield of white

pine on the ‘‘pine Jand”’ area in the southwestern corner of Township 5.
out in the description of this area (page 383)
parts of the spruce land and the swamp types,

yield of white pine in this particular stand.

>

As pointed

the pine land type is made up of

and is used merely to obtain the

The table shows the yield for the pine

land both in Compartment VIII and in Compartment XII, the latter being Lot 4
of the Nivins Tract. |

TABLE XXVII.— WHITE PINE— PRESENT YIELD— PINE LAND, TOWNSHIP 5.
Merchantable Volume in Markets by Standard Rule.

Curtinec To A Limir.or ,| Curring vo a Limit or | Curtinc To A Limiror
10 INCHES IN x2 INCHES IN 14 INCHES IN
Diameter BreasrHicH.:| DIAMETER BrEaAsTHIGH. | DiAMETER BREASTHIGH.
N JM ‘N a ~
cone ee
Siecle mires tue Average Average Average |
yield Total yield. yield Total yield. yield 4 Total yield.
per acre. per acre, | per acre.
|
| Acres Standards, =—— ———Standards. om ——Standards, ——,
| F ~ c c c
AValaTGIe ie sPameaan 786 | 37.54 | 20,500.44)| 37.30 | 20,388.54 | 37.05°| 20); 121-30
GTS |) Land | 211 | 25.96 SNA 7AM 25505 5,454.35 | 25.62 | 5,405.82
is | |
Total 997 | 35-09 | 34,984.00 | 34-95 | 34,842.89 | 34.63 | 34, 527-12

i en

A FOREST WORKING PLAN. 419

Table XXVIII gives in markets by Standard Rule the present yield for soft-
woods on Lot 4, Nivins Tract. Table XXIX gives the present yield for
hardwoods on the same area. Both tables show also the total yield and the
average yield per acre on the lot for spruce land and swamp, separately and
combined, and Table XXVIII shows the total present yield and the average yield
per acre of white pine on the pine land.

TABLE XXVIII. _ SOFTWOODS — PRESENT YIELD— TOWNSHIP s.
Merchantable Volume in Markets by Standard Rule.
Spruce Lanp—696 ACRES.

Currine TO A LIMIT OF | Ganine TO A LIMIT OF CuTTIxnG To A Limit oF
10 INCHES 1N 12 INCHES IN 14 INCHES IN
DIAMETER BREASTHIGH. | DiaMETER BREASTHIGH. DIAMETER BREASTHIGH.
SPECIES. | -
Average Average Average
yield Total yield. | yield Total yield. | yield ie Total yield.
per acre. | | per acre. per acre. |
——Standards.-_—— | ———Standards,——_— -——— Standards, ———
Saccere en eT sy) ata. | 28.11 19, 564.56 | Dis || us, 075.30 || U§.22 || wOssoR 12
Festal OCKkaime ee erate! cee amet Mie eS 3.166 2,568.24 | 3.48 2QA22,00n\ Be U7, 2, 206.32
Bellisenmiegra. Wi ast tay se Soke es ageo ns , 3.60 2,505.60 | 2.10 1, 524.24 | 94 654.24
" | |
WVslaMitiea DMC amen SR Re =F 64 | AAs. 4A | 62 431.52 62 Agies2
Weacdkispracermrvc. aewee We 1b tear aly uO | 62.64 | 09 62.64 09 62.64
es —— |
sical meme ees Mey ir ee eau. OES 25, 146.48 28.04 | 19,515.84 | 20.04 | 13,947.84
Swamp Lanp— 336 ACRES.
STANT CC Mme aa eee Ey Te meee lec). G7) OnG70.62) NelaeOOn| ms i724 0 | O.53 || Bs2O2.08
all Screw in ea rr NINE a 1 Ql G 2,740.70 | 3.57 | 4160.52 82 275 02
White pine 2.60 | 873.60 | 2.56 860.16 | 2.56 | 860.16
. |
erm chames me cmiwee Slitet eam ers Do 44 | 147.84 | Pai 104, 16 | 14 | 47.04
k |
Deadman Tice ere aieer sor iigee pe. <6 | 53.76 | 16 | 53.76 | II 36.96
RO td) her ee ee eee rr IL. Sm 2R | 10, 493.28 | 20.66 | 6,941.76 | Te OM emer tear)
|
MERCHANTABLE AREA— Spruce LAND AND SWAMP COMBINED — 1,032 ACRES.
Space Magee hee aiiacwse- 1. || (25.42))] | 265-240,68 0) 19). 10): 0,7799.52)| 113537.|-13,.795<20
| | |
(Sell Seu eee cee ar he aha PS ROS: keen Sa247e 36 | 2.64 222.70 go 929.76
Hemlock 2.63 | 2,716. 08 | Bills 2,526.24 2.18 2, 253.30
AWalitresciynt creams \ wren Shr ie) is Da. | 1.28 e I, 319.04 | P.25 T, 291.68 R25 I, 291.68
_ Dead spruce | Tt | 116.40 So 116.40 .10 99.60
i | i |
| | » | | E 7"
Bo talrcmtrea emai Snipe eNO | BAL 52 | 25.64 | 26,457.60 | 17.80 18, 369.60
| i
; Ping Lanp—a2i1r Acres.
WWilttte ap inten mmemns ici 0G ai neh os | 25.06 | 5,477.50 | 25.85 5,454.35 | 25.62 | 5,405.82

420 REPORT OF DHE HORESD, FISH AND) GAME COMMISSION:
TABLE XXIX.— HARDWOODS — PRESENT YIELD—TOWNSHIP 5.
Merchantable Volume in Board Feet by Old Scribner Rule.
Spruce Lanp—696 AcREs.
CuttTinc To A Limit oF Cuttinec To a Limit oF CuttTinc To A Limit or
15 INCHES IN 17 INCHES IN 19 INCHES IN
DIAMETER BREASTHIGH. DIAMETER BRFASTHIGH. DIAMETER BREASTHIGH.
SPECIES.
Average Average Average
yield Total yield. yield Total yield. yield Total yield.
per acre. per acre. per acre,
—- Board feet. = = Board feet. — —-—— Board feet. -—
Birch 4,190.55 | 2,916,622.80 | 3,560.70 | 2,478, 247.20 | 2,864.55 | 1,993, 726.80
Maple 434.85 302, 655.60 239.85 166, 935.60 161.85 112, 647.60
Beech 425.10 295, 869.60 198.90 138, 434.40 LUG UO: | 78.717.60
Total 5,050.50 | 3,515, 148.00 | 3,999.45 | 2, 783,617.20 | 3,139.50 | 2,185,092.00
Swamp Lanp— 336 Acres.
Birch — 1, 764.75 592,956.00 | 1,443.00 484, 848.00 | 1,156.35 388, 533.60
Maple 25210 II, 793.60 21.45 7, 207.20
Beech
Total T, 799.85 604, 749.60 | 1,464.45 492.055.20 | 1,156.35 388, 533.60
MERCHANTABLE AREA—SPRUCE LAND AND SWAMP COMBINED— 1,032 ACRES.
Birch 3, 400.80 | 3, 509,578.80 | 2,870.40 | 2,963,095.20 | 2,308.80 | 2,382, 260.40
Beech 286.65 295, 869.60 134.55 138, 434.40 76.05 78, 717.60
Maple 304.20 314, 449.20 | 167.70 174, 142.80 109.20 112, 647.60
Total | 3,991.65 | 4,119,897.60 | 3,172.65 18:275, 072-40 2,404.05 | 2,573, 625.60.

FuTurRE YiELD.—On the valuation surveys the smaller trees down toi five

inches diameter

breasthigh

were counted and _ tallied.

From the figures so

obtained, by the table of the growth of spruce given in Bulletin No. 30 (page:
31), and from the volume tables, an estimate has been made of the future yield
of spruce on Townships 5, 6 and 4,.

These figures are given in the following table, which shows for the merchant-
able area on Townships 5, 6 and 41 the yields of spruce expressed in standards
which might be obtained after successive ten-year periods, and the number of
years which must elapse before an equal cut can be had, provided that the

diameter limit adopted now be adhered to then.

A FOREST WORKING PLAN.

421

TABLE XXX.— ESTIMATE OF FUTURE YIELD OF SPRUCE ON MERCHANTABLE

AREA IN TOWNSHIPS 5, 6 AND 4t.
Volume in Markets by Standard Rule.

TOWNSHIP 5.

AVERAGE Cur Per AcrRE OBTAINABLE AT THE END OF 10-YEAR PERIODS Interval
Cutting limit: Average IN STANDARDS, required
diameter present yield hecween
breasthigh. per acre. a ep ie a a equal cuts.
Inches. Standards. Years.
10 23.08 2.70 5.66 TZ 19.35 26.18 46
12 18.76 272 8.34 15.15 24.43 39.19 34
14 15.30 2.54 gles 19.75 B13 44.71 25
TownsHIP 6.
10 25.36 DSP 6.09 Tel 17.16 24.76 51
12 21.00 20 8.20 14.74 25.12 30.04 36
14 16.41 2.84 12.28 20.87 Bi OF 47.03 25
TOWNSHIP 4I.
10 B2087/ 2.44 5.99 12S, 20.29 27.34 56
12 27.58 2.98 9.00 15.46 20.13 41.91 41
14 22.65 BEsy 13.86 23.44 34.90 50.52 29

The following table shows in percentages of the present cut for the three

diameter limits what the future cuts would be in from ten to fifty years:

TABLE XXXI.—ESTIMATE OF FUTURE YIELD OF SPRUCE ON MERCHANTABLE

AREA IN TOWNSHIPS 5, 6 AND 41.
TOWNSHIP 5.

AveERAGE Cur Per AckE OxbralNABLE AT THE END oF 1o-YEAR PERIODS

E aa Interval
eee limit: mee EXPRESSED IN PERCENTAGES OF PRESENT YIELD. required
diameter present yield
breasthigh. per acre. Derwcen
10 20 50 40 50 equal cuts.
|
Inches. Standards. Years.
10 23.08 ele, 24.4 50.6 83.6 113.5 46
1B 18.76 14.5 44.6 80.9 120.5 209.9 34
14 15.36 17.5 78.1 136.1 214.5 308.1 25
TOWNSHIP 6.
10 25.30 9.6 2308 44.8 OSA 94.8 51
12 21.00 UD) 38.2 67.8 115.6 179.7 36
14 16.41 16.7 2D 122.6 187.8 276.3 25
TOWNSHIP 41.
10 B2037 7.6 18.7 38.7 2 {68,5 85.5 76
12 27.58 10.9 Bon | G5. | 96.1 154.1 4I
14 15.5 63.8 107.9 160.6 232.5 20

A22 IRIS IEONIL ONY IIUS, IMOMVIGSAC, TICSIEL AND. GAME COMMISSION.

The total future yield of spruce to be expected from the merchantable area
in Townships 5, 6 and 41 in from ten to fifty years after cutting to ten, twelve

or fourteen inches is given in the following table:

TABLE XXXII — PSTIMATE OF TOLAL BULURE, YIELD OF SPRUCE ON), WERE
CHANTABLE AREA IN TOWNSHIPS 5, 6 AND ‘41.

TOWNSHIP 5.

Cutting limit: Total ToraL YiELD OBTAINABLE AT THE END oF 10-YFAR PERIODS IN STANDARDS, ON
diameter present required
breasthigh, yield. between

10 20 30 40 50 equal cuts.
Inches. Standards. Years.
10 395, 853-59 | 46,315.80 | 97,091.64 | 201,044.88 | 331,929.90 | 449, 091.72 46
12 321, 742.89 | 46,658.88 | 143,064.36 | 259,883.10 | 419,072.22 672, 265.26 34
14 263; 456.29 | 43,571.16 | 194,354.82 | 338, 791.50 | 568,312.02] 766,955.34 25
TOWNSHIP 6.
10 544, 486.54 jo 4.081i 72 130, 697.49 | 251,308.31 | 368,270.76 531; 374.76 SI
12 450, 612.99 | 50,232.36 | 177,911.69 | 316,335.14 | 539,100.32 | 837,837.44 36

TA 352, 129.40 | 60,949.24 | 263,541.08 | 447, 891.07 | 686, 108.17 | 1,009, 310.83 25

TOWNSHIP 41.

10 | 642, 810.18 | 48, 455.96 | 118,955.41 | 245,655.83 | 402,939.11 542,945.06 50
12 547, 802.31 | 50,179.82 | 178, 731.00 | 307,020.14 | 518,915.67 832, 290.69 AI
14 | 449, 892.61 | 66,924.83 | 275,245.74 | 405,404.96 | 693,079.10 | 1,003, 276.68 | 29

SPECIES RECOMMENDED ‘TO BE LUMBERED.

While figures of present yield have been given for five species, it is advised
that at present only the spruce, balsam, and white pine be logged on Townships
5, 6 and 41.

ProposeD Diameter Limit.

The proper diameter limit breasthigh which should be used can only be
determined after taking into consideration several factors. A sufficient number
of seed trees must be left in order to insure the reproduction of the valuable
species, and the cutting must not be too severe, or the period in which an equal
cut may be expected will be too long. On the other hand, the diameter limit
must not be made too high or the lumberman ean not get enough timber to pay
for the logging.

Tables are given showing the present and future yield of spruce with diameter

limits of ten, twelve and fourteen inches. A careful study of these has led to

A FOREST WORKING PLAN. A23

the decision that, taking everything into consideration, twelve inches. breasthigh
is the proper limit. This will give a large enough cut on all the townships so
that there will be a safe margin of profit in the logging operations and at the
same time plenty of seed trees will be left and the period of waiting for a second
crop will not be too long.

Balsam is relatively less important than spruce, and the question of future
yield is not so vital. The point to be decided is, rather, what diameter limit will
give that percentage of balsam in the total cut which is commonly allowed in
logging contracts.

Fifteen per cent has been the ‘common rule, but with the decrease in the
supply of spruce, balsam is bound to be more eagerly sought as a substitute.
Cutting to a diameter of ten inches will give a percentage of twenty-two per
cent on Townships 5 and 6, and fifteen per cent of the spruce on Township 41.
Hence, ten inches seems to be the ideal cutting limit for balsam.

and 41 is comparatively scarce, but is of

d

‘The white pine on Townships 5, 6
large size and good quality. By cutting to a diameter limit of fourteen inches
many seed trees will be left, but all the mature trees removed. This will give the
following proportion of pine, compared with spruce, on the townships: Town-
ship 5, One and one half per cent; Township 6, two per cent; Township 41, four
and one half per cent. .

It should be distinctly understood that the diameter limits are not arbitrary
figures, but are merely intended as a guide for the man who marks the timber.
For example, where the stand is thin it will be advisable to leave trees over the
diameter limit in order to provide seed, and in too dense stands smaller trees
should be marked. In general, the amount cut on one side of the limit will

equalize that left uncut on the other side.

REMAINING SPECIES.

Whether or not the remaining species of commercially important trees on the
block should be logged in connection with those recommended to be cut, depends
very much on the manner in waich the block is to be managed.

It is recognized that great benefit would result to the young trees of the
more valuable kinds if the larger hardwoods were to be removed, and that, if
this were done, the general productive condition of the forest would be bettered.
But, on the other hand, it would not be expedient as a business proposition to
recommend the logging of these species, unless conditions were more favorable

than they are at present.

PAIR IE II,

Lambering Plan

Introdaction.

In studying this lumbering plan for Townships 5, 6 and 41, it should be borne -
in mind that the greater part of all the timber on these townships is naturally
tributary to Raquette Lake in the center of Township 40, and, from a lumbering
view-point, this fact so closely binds together all four townships that this plan
may properly be called a supplement to the one already made for Township 4o.

There are a number of small watersheds within the limit of these three town-
ships, however, from which the timber, although naturally tributary by stream
descent to other waters than Raquette Lake, could be brought back to this timber
center without any very great additional cost. The several advantages mentioned
in the preceding report on Township 4o, such as the railroad facilities for bringing
supplies, men, etc., steamboat lines, telegraphic and telephone conveniences for
making possible a quick connection .with a purchasing point, apply in a degree
to Townships 5, 6, and 41. Raquette Lake railroad station (Durant), being very
nearly in the center of the four townships, would furnish an advantageous location
for a general lumbering headquarters for distributing supplies, paying men, SiC.

This plan has as its object the best interests of the people of the entire State.
In it is included all such information and recommendations necessary to facilitate
the removal of the timber in the cheapest manner possible, and only such
improvements are recommended as will materially add to the price which the
State would ordinarily receive for its stumpage.

It is not necessary that branch railroad tracks or mills should be made a per-
manent feature, or that the parties constructing them should be granted a charter
for an unlimited length of time. Permission to make these improvements should
be granted only on condition that any unnecessary damage should be deemed
a sufficient reason for discontinuing the charter. Then, if the operations in and
around the mill, or on the railroad branches, were not being performed in a
satisfactory manner, or in compliance with the regulations governing their use,
they could at once be summarily stopped by the State authorities without recourse

to litigation.
424

AP PORES WORKENG, PAAN: 425

NatTURAL OUTLETS FOR TIMBER.

The timber in the northern and western parts of Township 41 is naturally
tributary to the North Branch of the Moose River via Big Moose Lake and the
streams discharging their waters into it. The timber in the southern and western
portions of Township 5 is tributary by natural outlet to the North and South
Branches of the Moose River, and a small portion of the timber in Township 6
is also tributary to the South Branch of Moose River via Silver Run and the
outlet of Lake Kora.

The timber in the southern and eastern parts of Township 6 (given a dis-
tinctive color on lumbering map) can be taken either to the Cedar River
through Wakeley Brook or it can be brought to Raquette Lake by making a long
haul to South Inlet. The timber around Eighth and Seventh Lakes in Town-
ship 5, although naturally tributary by water course to the North Branch of
Moose River through Fulton Chain of Lakes, could be most cheaply and econom-
ically brought out upon a branch railroad track connecting with the main line of
the Raquette Lake Railway near Brown’s Tract Pond (see lumbering map) either
to Raquette Lake or outside points for manufacture, or be driven down below
the lake. This timber could all be hauled by team direct to Raquette Lake, but
it would necessitate a long and costly log haul. If one party purchased all
the timber in this compartment it would be more economical to take the timber
out on cars. It could then be taken out just as it was desired for manufacture
at Raquette Lake or elsewhere.

One of the main outlets for all this timber, and one of the greatest advan-
tages to the lumbermen, is the Raquette Lake Railway, which furnishes facilities
for bringing in supplies, outfit, men, etc., and at the same time opens up for a
purchaser whose manufacturing plant might be located in some distant part of
the State a possible means of transporting logs or timber to his plant for manu-
facture, and thereby gains for the State the advantage of additional bidders for
the stumpage. By the construction of branch tracks the greater part of the
timber on these four townships can be taken out by rail either in a manufactured
or rough state. Such an additional outlet cannot fail to add to the value of the
stumpage on these tracts, and it is certainly a wise policy to allow improvements
to be made that will so materially advance the prices of the timber stumpage on

so large a tract as the one under consideration.

426 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

Division or ToOwNSHIPS INTO COMPARTMENTS.

In formulating this working plan it has been considered advisable, for the
purpose of estimating the stand of timber, to divide the townships into compart-
ments based upon natural lines, which take in the timber standing in each
watershed. The boundaries of each compartment are defined by the height of
land. ‘The divisions between the separate watersheds are shown upon the lumbering
map by broken lines. Because there are many different compartments from
which the timber, if it were taken down the natural water courses, would go
to widely diversified, markets, each compartment will be spoken of separately.
A brief statement of the conditions existing on the different compartments and
the most advisable methods of removing the timber follow. -Attention is invited
to the data shown upon the lumbering map for the purpose of conveying more
clearly to the lumberman a thorough understanding of the different compartments.

The following is a lst of the compartments:

No. 1. Shallow Lake Compartment.

No. 2. Seventh and HEighth Lakes and Brown’s Tract Pond Compartment;
Townships 5 and 41.

No. 3. South Inlet Compartment.

No. Bear Pond Compartment, in Township 6.
Cedar River Compartment.
silver: Run Compartment.

Sumner Stream Compartment, Yownships 5 and 6.

2
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co NH

Bear Pond and Red River Compartment, Township 5.

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Fourth Lake Compartment.

No. to. Big Moose Compartment.

No. 1. SHALLow Lake ComparTmMEeNT.— The natural outlet by water for all
the timber in this large compartment, as well as the timber in the southwesterly
portion of Compartment 5, Township 40, to Raquette Lake is by way of the.
outlet of Queer Lake, Shallow Lake and Sucker Brook. If it was intended to
take the timber out by way of Raquette Lake, it would be advisable to so
improve the streams that the timber. could be driven direct into a large storage
boom located in the west end of Sucker Brook Bay. In order to make it possible
to drive the streams, it would be necessary to construct a small flood dam on
Township 40, near the head of the rapids between Raquette Lake and Cranberry
Pond at the point shown on the lumbering map. It would also be necessary to

improve the stream between Raquette Lake and Cranberry Pond by blasting out

A FOREST WORKING PLAN. A27

some rocks, cutting the small brush in the flow near Raquette Lake, and making
cuts across some of the crooked bends in the stream. Another small dam would
need to be constructed on the outlet of Shallow Lake at the point designated on
the lumber map as an available site for a dam (see map). Some improvements
would also be necessary on the stream between Shallow Lake and Cranberry Pond
before logs could be driven from Shallow to Raquette Lake.

If all the stumpage in this watershed was purchased by one party, the improve-
ment of this stream would furnish the cheapest means of getting the timber to
Raquette Lake. If the recommendations made in the working plan of Township
40 were carried out, it could be manufactured at this point and. shipped out by
rail, or driven down stream to the markets on the river below.

The timber in the western part of this compartment, along the line of Town-
ships 41 and 8, is naturally tributary to Raquette Lake by way of the outlet of
Queer Lake. The improvement of the streams and construction of dams need
not necessarily do any injury to the timber standing along the shores of the
lakes or streams, as log driving for this short distance should be finished before
the leaves commence to come out on the trees. With a properly constructed
dam, built with the trip-sill and bed-pieces of the sluice low enough so that the
water would not be raised aboye its normal height in the lakes when the dam
was open, the danger of flooding the roots of the standing trees would be avoided.
No improvement of streams or construction of dams should be allowed, however,
except under the direct supervision of an inspector competent to determine
whether or not the work is being carried out as first specified.

There is a very small amount of timber near the west line of Township 41,
in the Cascade Lake drainage, which would require some up-grade hauling in
order to bring it to Shallow Lake, but the grade is not sufficient to cause any
serious difficulty in bringing the timber over the divide.

If only the timber on this compartment in Township 41 was purchased, and
it was to be shipped by railroad to some point for manufacture, it could be
hauled to Shallow Lake, and a branch track from the Raquette Lake Railway
to Shallow Lake constructed, leaving the railroad at the same point as the
branch advised to Sucker Brook Bay (see working plan of Township 40),
-and turning from that route to Shallow Lake near the point where the trail
from Shallow Lake to Lower Brown’s Tract Pond connects with the old Sucker
Brook wagon road (see lumbering map). This would save the expense of driving
timber from Shallow Lake to Raquette Lake. Some up-hill hauling would be
necessary in bringing the timber from around Cranberry Pond to Shallow Lake,
_ but the grade is light.

428 REPORT OF ite HORE Si hiskty ANDi GAME COMNETSSLOING

Jack works could be erected at Shallow Lake for loading the logs upon cars.
There is a wide marsh, as shown on the lumbering map, which it would be
necessary to cross, but nothing to prevent the construction of a branch railroad
track if it was desirable to take the timber out this way. All the timber
around Pelcher and Haymarsh Ponds and Queer Lake would naturally come into
Shallow Lake with a short and cheap log haul. The natural snow and watershed
of Queer Lake is so small that it would not be advisable to attempt to drive
logs in the stream above the head of the still water above Shallow Lake. The
only improvement which would be necessary on the stream above this point
would be to clear out some of the old slashes in the creek between the head of
boat navigation and Queer Lake, for the purpose of giving the water a free and
unobstructed flow. Logs could well be landed on the still water of the level
above Shallow Lake, and be driven down into Shallow. Lake on the first freshets
in the spring. If they were to be driven to Raquette Lake, there should be a
sufficient force of men employed on the drive to keep the logs running down the
outlet of Shallow Lake, through Cranberry Pond, and so on out into Raquette
Lake, in order to finish up the log driving and leave the water at its natural
height before the leaves come out on the trees, and thus prevent flooding the
roots of the trees.

All the timber in this compartment in Township 41 which is in the Beaver
Brook drainage can be taken without great expense, by any one of three routes.
It can be hauled down Beaver Brook and landed in the storage boom at Sucker Brook
Bay, as there is a level swamp reaching from Sucker Brook Bay to Beaver
Brook, across which the logs could be hauled without any up-grade (see lumber-
ing map); or it could be hauled across to Shallow Lake and driven dewn the outlet
into the same bay on Raquette Lake; or if it was desired to take it out by rail,
it could, by slight up-grade hauling, be brought to the Raquette Lake Railway at
Upper Brown’s Tract Pond. The railway runs near the south shore of Upper
Brown’s Tract Pond, and by putting in a siding here, a steam jack works could
be utilized for loading all the timber in the upper end of the Beaver Brook Valley
from the pond, onto cars at this point. In addition a large amount ot other
timber on the tract could be cheaply hauled by team to this point. The
advisability of doing this would depend, of course, upon the parties who purchased
the timber, and the direction in which it was to be taken. A glance at the
contours upon the lumbering map will show that any one of these routes is
feasible, although differing as to cost.

No. 2.: SEVENTH anD E1cHTH Lakes AND Brown’s T’RActT Ponp COMPARTMENT,

TOWNSHIPS 5 AND 41.— The timber in this compartment is all tributary either to

A FOREST WORKING PLAN. 429

the North Branch of Moose River via Seventh and Eighth Lakes and Fulton
Chain ote Wakes or to Naguette Wake via sbrown:s) iract) Inlet he timber
situated north of the divide or watershed between the Fulton Chain of Lakes
and the Brown’s Tract Inlet could be taken to either Raquette Lake or to the
Raquette Lake Railway at Upper Brown’s Tract Pond by having some slight
up-grade hauling from the extreme western portion of the compartment, near
the west line of Township 41 (see lumbering map).

The timber which is tributary to Seventh and Eighth Lakes could most
cheaply be delivered to market by constructing a branch railway track from the
Raquette Lake Railway, on the line shown on the lumbering map, to the north-
eastern part of Kighth Lake, erecting steam jack works there for loading logs
from the water to cars. The timber naturally tributary to Seventh Lake could
be hauled in the winter to the south end of Eighth Lake, landed upon the ice
there, and floated in the spring through the lake to the point where the pro-
posed railroad branch touches the northeastern end of the lake. The particular
reason for bringing the branch railroad to the northeastern end of the lake is
that the prevailing Adirondack winds in the spring have a tendency to move logs
and floodwood to the north and east shores of lakes. A study of the greater
accumulations of driftwood in those portions of the Adirondack lakes will. furnish
convincing proof of this statement.

The timber in this compartment in the Seventh and Eighth Lakes watershed
could all be hauled with teams to Raquette Lake or Upper Brown’s Tract Pond,
but this would necessitate a long and very costly log haul, and would con-
sequently cause a lower price to be offered for the stumpage. All the timber in
this part of the compartment is naturally tributary by water course to the North
Branch of the Moose River via Fulton Chain of Lakes, but as the Fulton Chain
of Lakes have been used for years as a public highway for steamboat naviga-
tion, and as there are some very narrow passages between the different lakes,
the stream between First Lake and Old Forge would inevitably become blocked
by logs if they were taken this way. Moreover, all this timber would have to
be towed a long distance through the lakes by steamboat, and the booms would
have to be opened and the logs slowly worked through the narrow passages, a
method involving a considerable expense to the lumberman and no small damage
to many other interests. It would therefore be better to remove this timber by
a branch railroad constructed from Upper Brown’s Tract Pond on the Raquette
Lake Railway to the northeastern end of Eighth Lake.

The Upper Brown’s Tract Pond would furnish an excellent point upon which

to land the logs on the ice in winter from the Brown’s Tract Inlet portion of

430 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

this compartment, if they were to be taken out by rail. A small plant could
be located at this point for the generation of electric power for operating the |
branch railroads, for loading logs upon cars, or for a manufacturing plant, if
the timber tributary to this point were all sold to one party. The Raquette
Lake Railway passes near the south shore of the Upper Brown’s Tract Pond. A ;
siding could be cheaply and easily constructed here for the purpose of loading
logs or timber upon cars. Most of the timber in the Beaver Brook Valley could
be hauled to this point by team if desired.

No. 3. SoutH InLET ComparTMENT.— All the timber on this compartment can
be taken, most easily and cheaply, direct to Raquette Lake by the natural water
courses.

The greater part of the timber is naturally tributary to South Inlet, one of
the main feeders to Raquette Lake, and the outlet of Sagamore and Mohegan
Lakes. The timber tributary to this stream could be driven from the line of the
private land, near the head of the still water, down into Raquette Lake:
The absence of driftwood along the sides of this stream convinces the observer
that the spring freshets and the prevailing winds would drive the timber down
this stream and out into the lake. Logs could be landed along the marshes on
the sides of the stream. It would be advisable to cut down the small, dead
timber standing along the shores of South Inlet, much of which has been killed
by the water being held at too high a level, in order that the free passage of
logs down the stream in the springtime, when the marshes are flooded, should
not be hindered. The removal of the dead timber: would be an improvement
to the appearance of the stream rather than a detraction, as the dead timber is
one of the most unsightly features along the banks.

A catch boom hung across the mouth of the stream at its entrance to the
lake would prevent the logs from being scattered around the shores of the lake.

When the logs had been driven out of the inlet, the boom could be closed
and swung around into the right-hand bay, away from the mouth of the stream,
if it was desired to store them there for a while; or they could be towed by
steamboat to the foot of the lake, to Sucker Brook Bay, or to any point to which
it was desired to take them for further driving, loading on cars, or manufacturing.
The work which would necessarily be done on this compartment for the purpose
of making it possible to remove the timber quickly and cheaply, if properly _
carried out, need not detract in any wav from the beauty of the scenery. Were
it permissible to construct small flood dams upon the Mohegan and Sagamore
Lakes, the more distant timber could be very easily and cheaply driven from the

junction of the two streams (outlets of Mohegan and Sagamore Lakes) directly

A FOREST WORKING PLAN. he A3Z1

into Raquette Lake, thereby very materially shortening the log haul for the
timber in the extreme distant points of this compartment; but as these lakes
and streams are owned by private parties and used as private preserves, it is not
probable that the construction of dams or the improvement of streams would be
allowed, although if the water was properly handled no appreciable damage
to the timber standing on the shores of the lakes need be done.

Much of the timber included in this compartment would of necessity be
compelled to pass through these private tracts in order to reach Raquette Lake,
necessitating the constructing of a log road across them. The timber tributary
to.Death Brook in Township 6, on the east side of South Bay, would naturally
be landed in the lake, near the outlet of the brook, and could be stored in
booms at that point. The timber tributary to the branches of Otter Brook and
Brown’s Tract Inlet could easily be landed in Otter Bay, where it could be boomed
and held until it was desired to remove it, without in any way interrupting .
steamboat navigation or tourist travel.

All the timber in Cedar River Compertment (see lumbering map) could be
brought to Raquette Lake via the inlet and outlet of Sagamore Lake, if it were
deemed advisable to do so, but it would all have to pass through the Sagamore
private preserve, and all timber above Mohegan Lake, if brought to Raquette
Lake, would have to pass through the Mohegan private preserve. The question
of hauling or driving logs through these or any other private properties can not be
discussed here. That is a matter for owners of private property and the proper
State officials to decide.

No. 4. Bear Ponp ComparTMENT, IN TownsHip 6.— The greater part of the
timber on this compartment is naturally tributary to Raquette Lake by way of
the outlets of Bear Pond and Slim Pond and thence down the Marion River.
This stream, however, is the main thoroughfare for navigation by steamboats
and rowboats, and as navigation begins as soon as the ice goes out in the spring
there would undoubtedly be a great deal of just opposition to the driving of
logs from the many interests: which use this river as the only feasible means of
travel between Raquette Lake and Blue Mountain Lake. Another reason why it
would not be advisable to drive the timber down the Marion River is that the
south and west winds, which usually prevail in the spring, blow directly up the
bay and into the mouth of the river, and might seriously hamper or prevent the
log driver from getting his logs down to the mouth of the river and properly
confined in booms in the lake.

Because of these facts it would be cheaper for the lumberman and more

satisfactory for all concerned to haul logs or timber—not only from this com-

AN REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

partment but also that in the eastern portion of Compartment 4, Township
40—direct to Silver Beach in South Bay, where there is a good storage area.
Here the logs could be safely boomed and held without in any way discom-
moding travel or navigation.

In the case of this compartment, however, owing to the ease with which it
can be reached from Marion River carry by supplies and men, all of the timber
upon it which it is considered advisable to remove would undoubtedly find ready
purchasers. There is a small sawmill located at the west end of the Marion
River carry, near the line between Townships 6 and 34, which manufactures
lumber, laths, shingles, etc., for local trade. The owners of this mill would
probably be willing to pay as much for the stumpage on this compartment as it
is worth, as this timber could be more easily and cheaply brought to their mill
than any other which is available, and it would furnish them a sufficient stock
for some time. If the stumpage could be disposed of in this way, it would
bring in the largest returns with the least amount of labor.

No. 5. Cepar River ComMparTMENT.— The timber standing on this compart-
ment is very peculiarly situated. The topography is such that the timber can be
taken out by either one of two directions. It can be hauled via Wakeley Brook
to the Cedar River, which outlets into the Hudson” River, ) or it can bemtaken
through Sagamore Lake and South Inlet to Raquette Lake, the waters of which
flow north and discharge into the St. Lawrence River. All of the timber on this
compartment can without difficulty be taken to either of these streams, discharging
their waters in opposite directions.

The mature spruce and pine on the greater portion of this compartment was
cut and removed about seventeen years ago. At that time the lumbermen who
removed the timber were cutting their logs no smaller than a nine-inch top diameter
limit, and were taking only trees that would furnish two logs. Since this timber
was removed there has been such a decided increase in the rate of growth of the
remaining trees of these species that to-day the stand of timber on this compart-
ment nearly equals that on other portions of the township from which no timber
has ever been removed. The timber formerly removed from this compartment
was taken to Glens Falls via Cedar River for manufacture. The old log roads
are still easily traced and show very plainly the direction and route by which the
timber was taken to market. ‘There is nothing to prevent any or all of the timber
in this compartment from being taken out either way. In order to distinguish
the boundaries from which it would be possible and advisable to remove the
timber in either direction, the compartment lines have been given a distinctive

coloring on the lumbering map. There could be more timber taken in either

A FOREST WORKING PLAN. M22

direction than is indicated by the coloring by ‘‘slabbing” the sides of the
mountain. The outlines are given just as the division would naturally occur.
The removal of the timber by the Cedar River route offers the shortest and
cheapest log haul to a point from whence the timber could be floated. The route
via Sagamore Lake to South Inlet, from whence the timber could be driven to
Raquette Lake, is much longer. In the northern and western portions of the
compartment the timber which was formerly removed was ‘‘slabbed” across from
the stream on which the Fish Creek camp is located to the Big Marsh (see
lumbering map), thence across this wide swamp or marsh, over a slight divide
between the two watersheds and down the Wakeley Brook to the Cedar River.
This same method would have to be applied in bringing timber from the Wakeley
Brook drainage back across to the Raquette Lake waters.

It is something very unusual for as large a tract as this compartment, which
comprises all the territory lying in between the Blue Ridge Mountains on the
north, the Wakeley Mountains to the south and east, and Bradley Mountains to
the west, to be so situated that the timber standing upon it can be taken
equally well, in different directions, to streams whose general water courses are
so nearly diametrically opposite. This peculiar feature affords an opportunity of
selling the stumpage to any one of the many different manufacturers of lumber
and wood pulp located on the Hudson and Raquette Rivers.

No. 6. Sit~LvER Run ComMPpaRTMENT.— The timber in this compartment, which
is located in the extreme southwest portion of Township 6, and comprises all the
watershed between Bradley Mountain and the Wakeley Mountain range, is natur-
ally tributary by water course to the South Branch of the Moose River via
Silver Run. Moose River has been improved for the purpose of driving logs
above this point, and the lumbermen would experience no serious difficulty in
driving logs from this compartment down Moose River to the railroad or mills
located on the stream below. The branch of Silver Run down which these logs
would have to be sent does not contain sufficient water to float them. It would
be,
River. On account of the inaccessibility and smallness of this compartment,

therefore, advisable to haul them direct to the South Branch of Moose

the long distance which supples would have to be hauled in order to remove the
timber, and the long haul necessary to get the logs to the stream whence they
could be driven, a large stumpage price can not reasonably be expected. It
would be advisable to sell the stumpage on all the compartments which are
tributary to the South Branch of the Moose River in one sale to one party, if
possible, since by decreasing the cost of log driving by furnishing a larger
number of logs to be driven it is probable that an increased price for the timber

28

434 REPORT OF THE FOREST. FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

would be offered. It would hardly pay to make this long and costly log drive
for one small job, as it costs but little more to ‘‘pick the rear,” or gather up
the logs hung up on the banks and formed in the side jams along the rapids,
behind a drive of 50,000 standards, than it does to gather up the rear for a
drive of 20,000 standards, and the cost of driving a small amount of logs is
proportionately much greater per standard than the cost of driving a large
amount.

No. 7. SUMNER STREAM COMPARTMENT, TOWNSHIPS 5 AND 6.— The timber on
this compartment is naturally tributary to the South Branch of the Moose River
via the Sumner stream. This compartment takes in a portion of the timber
along the south and east line of Township 5, together with the timber in Town-
ship 6. The Sumner stream (outlet of Lake Kora) has been improved for the
purpose of driving logs from its mouth where it connects with the South Branch
of the Moose River to a point about four miles below Lake Kora. A number of
years ago much of the pine which formerly stood on Township 4 was driven
down this stream into the Moose River, and so on down to Lyons Falls. The
foundations and frameworks of several of the old flood dams which were erected
at that time are still in evidence along the stream. One of these dams was
built on what is now private land, on the outlet of Lake Kora, a short distance
below the lake. All the land and timber around the shores of Lake Kora is
private property (see lumbering map), and in removing timber from this compart-
ment it would be necessary to cross some portions of this private tract, though
appreciable damage need not result.

The water outlet, however, is the natural and most advisable one for removing
the timber from this compartment. But the amount of timber of the diameter
limit standing on this compartment which it is advised to remove is not large
enough to justify the unavoidable expense necessary to erect dams and otherwise
improve the Sumner stream sufficiently to make log driving possible unless there
was more timber to be driven down it than is included in this compartment.
There is considerable timber standing on Township 4 which is tributary to this
stream, but which is not included in this working plan. If this timber was
included and removed in succeeding seasons, it would be advisable to make
and maintain such improvements on the stream that logs could be driven
down into the South Branch of Moose River.

It would also be possible, if desired, to take all of the timber on this
compartment through into the South Inlet Compartment, and down to Raquette
Lake via Mohegan Lake outlet, as there is low land extending through from Lake

Kora to Mohegan Lake, with a gradual descent to Mohegan Lake soon after leaving

A FOREST WORKING PLAN. 435

Lake Kora (see lumbering map). Logs could be hauled by this route, without having
any serious up-grade, to the head of the still water on South Inlet, whence they ~
could be driven into Raquette Lake. The log haul by this route would necessarily
be a very long one, and would also have to pass through the private property
which includes all of Mohegan Lake and the land and timber lying immediately
adjacent (see lumbering map). There would be no necessity for causing damage
or in any way impairing the usefulness and beauty of either of these private
properties, further than the unavoidable constructing of log roads for the purpose
of hauling the logs in winter. Roads around the lakes on either of these private
preserves need not be cut, as the logs could be hauled across them on the ice in
winter.

No. 8. Berar PonD AND RED RiIvER COMPARTMENT, TowNsHIP 5.— The timber
on this compartment is tributary by waterflow to the South Branch of the Moose
River via Benedict Creek and the Red River. Timber from this tract would
have to be hauled a considerable distance along the banks of these streams, as they
do not contain a sufficient quantity of water to float logs, except for a short
distance near their junction with the South Branch of the Mocse River. This
long haul would necessitate a slight reduction in the stumpage price which could
ordinarily be obtained for this timber, as it is an unalterable rule that the lum-
berman cannot afford to pay as much for timber which costs him one dollar a
standard.to deliver on some stream, whence it can be driven to his mill, as he
could if it cost him eighty or ninety cents. These points should always be taken
into consideration by those who have charge of selling the stumpage on the
different compartments or tracts. The descent of these streams is very steady
and regular, and excellent log roads can be cheaply constructed the entire
distance from their sources to their junction with the South Branch of Moose
River. Log roads have already been constructed a considerable portion of the
distance outside the lines of Township 5 on both streams. These would lessen
the primary cost of constructing the main winter roads for hauling logs. The
timber stumpage of the species advised to be removed from this compartment
will undoubtedly find ready purchasers among the lumber or pulp manufacturers
whose mills are located on the stream below the junction of these streams with
the Moose River. Moose River has been improved, for log driving purposes to a
point above where any of the timber from this tract would naturally be landed,
and log driving upon the South Branch of the Moose River has been conducted
for many years by different lumber companies whose plants are located on the

stream below.

436 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

No. 9. FourtaH Lake ComparTMENT, TowNsHIp 5.—The small amount of
timber included in this compartment is tributary to the eastern end of Fourth
Lake, one of the Fulton Chain of Lakes. This timber could be taken to the
Raquette Lake Railroad and loaded upon cars at Eagle Bay, as some of the
timber standing directly alongside of it, on the west side of the west line of
Townships 5 and 41, has already been taken out that way; or it could be taken
over the divide and to Upper Brown’s Tract Pond. It could also be very
cheaply and easily taken to the small mill located near Fifth Lake, and the
stumpage would probably find ready purchasers in the owners of this mill to
supply the local demand. Good log roads have been constructed directly up
to the west line of Township 5, leading to both of the points mentioned, and,
although this compartment is small, it is thought that the stumpage could be
very readily disposed of for its full value, on account of its convenience to these
points for manufacture or shipment. There is not a sufficient quantity of timber
standing on the compartment to warrant any great expense for removal, and if
it could be sold to the local manufacturers for a reasonable price this would be
the best way to dispose of it.

No. 10. Bria Moose ComMparRTMENT, TownsHip 41.— The timber standing on
this compartment is all tributary to the North Branch of the Moose River via
Moose Lake. If this tract were lumbered, and the timber taken out by waterway,
it would have to pass through Big Moose Lake, and so on down to some of the
manufacturing establishments below. The high hills surrounding the compartment
make an attempt to take any portion of the timber to Raquette waters inadvisable,
except perhaps a small portion near Otter’ Pond. Even this would have to be
taken up over a very heavy grade, and could undoubtedly be removed cheaper by
hauling down the stream. The timber standing in this watershed in Compartment
6, Township 40, could go the same way.

The timber could best be taken out by being hauled directly to the eastern
end of Big Moose Lake. It would be possible to drive logs down the outlet of
the Lower Sister Pond into Big Moose Lake by improving the stream for that
purpose and erecting a flood dam at the outlet, but it would not be advisable
to do this for the comparatively small amount of timber tributary to these ponds.
The hauling distance is short, and when the logs are once loaded on the sleighs,
if they are to be driven down the stream below Moose Lake, it would be better to
haul them directly to the lake and land them on the ice, inclosing them with
booms to keep them from being scattered when the ice breaks up. They could
be started down the lake in the early spring, as soon as the ice went out, with-

out having to wait until they were driven down the Two Sisters stream, thereby

A FOREST WORKING PLAN. 437

gaining the advantage of having all the natural spring floods to assist in driving
them down the stream below Big Moose Lake. There is, as shown by the
estimate, a large amount of mature timber standing on this compartment which
should be removed. There would undoubtedly be considerable opposition to
timber being driven down through Big Moose Lake and the stream below. It is
not in the province of this working plan to discuss objections to the right to float
timber here or elswhere. Such questions can only be properly settled by the State
Legislature, but as this is the natural and most advisable way to remove the
timber from the compartment, the only thing possible to do in this plan is to
advise that it be so removed. If the right to drive the timber down through
the lake and its outlet to the mills below, or to some point where it could be
loaded on cars for shipment, were guaranteed, the stumpage would undoubtedly
find purchasers at a fair price. The timber in Compartment 6, Township 40,
should also be included in this sale, it being naturally tributary to Big Moose
Lake. While the whole compartment is generally hilly or mountainous, the beds
of the streams are comparatively smooth, and would furnish an opportunity
for the construction of good main log roads with a steady down grade for
hauling the logs from the extreme points of the compartment to the lake. The
stand of timber of the species advised to be removed is exceptionally good,

thereby compensating, in a measure, for the roughness of the territory.

SAPP ORMOmUMPAGE BY! “hes SivAunm

The mature timber on the townships may be loggedsby the State or the
stumpage sold to private parties.

State or governmental organizations are generally unable to carry on large
commercial enterprises as economically as private companies. If the State should
do its own logging on Townships 5, 6 and 41, a large and expensive logging
outfit would have to be purchased, camps and dams erected, and a big force of
clerks, foremen, and lumber jacks employed. The private company, on the other
hand, would have its outfit on hand and its organization for doing such work
completed. The State would secure just as much profit if the stumpage were
sold to private parties, and in addition be saved the annoyance of collecting an
efficient logging outfit. The demand for spruce, balsam, pine and hemlock is so
strong in this section that competition among manufacturers would force the price

offered up to very nearly the true value of the stumpage.

438 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION:

EFFECT OF THE ADVISED IMPROVEMENTS UPON STUMPAGE VALUES.

The prices which the purchasers can afford to pay for timber stumpage
depend upon existing conditions on the tract from which the timber is to be
removed. The topography of a tract, length of log haul, length and cost of log
drive, distance which the timber would have to be transported upon railroads,
market prices, cost of supplies, price of labor, and other points too numerous to
mention, all have a direct bearing upon stumpage prices. Particular attention is
directed to these facts, as it is only for these reasons that the different improve-
ments on streams, the construction of dams, and the allowing of the erection of
a manufacturing plant at Sucker Brook Bay, and the construction of branch
railroad tracks for removing the timber cheaply, are advised.

Every cent taken off the cost per standard of removing the timber from a tract
means that the purchaser can afford to pay an additional cent per standard for the
stumpage. This general rule applies in different degrees to all the compartments
in these townships, and in fact to any tract where the necessary improvements
for removing timber cheaply and economically have not already been made.

If the purchasers of the timber stumpage on a compartment, a township, or
the whole tract, were guaranteed by the State the right to make such improve-
ments as are absolutely necessary in order to aid them in marketing the timber
in the cheapest and most economical manner, subject to certain reasonable regu-
lations, they would be justified in paying more for the timber stumpage on the
different tracts than they would be if they were compelled to haul with teams all
the distant timber on these tracts to some point where it could be landed upon
streams already improved for driving. As shown in the working plan for Town-
ship 40, there is no more room in the small bay at Durant than is absolutely
necessary for the maneuvering of steamboats in effecting landings and carefully
and safely handling freight and passengers. The manufacturing of logs into
lumber at this point, or loading timber on cars for transportation, would cause a
great deal of confusion and clashing of rival interests which it is entirely unnecessary
to have. Otter Bay could be utilized for the purpose of loading logs on cars, or
manufacture, and would furnish a considerable amount of storage for timber
or logs, but a branch railroad would also have to be constructed here, and it is not
as convenient or as desirable a location as Sucker Brook Bay (see lumbering map).

The construction of the advised branch railroad from Brown’s Tract Pond to
Sucker Brook Bay would do away with the clashing of rival interests and confu-
sion at Durant, and at the same time remove the direct appearance of lumbering

operations from the regular route of summer travel. All the timber tributary to

A FOREST WORKING PLAN. 439

Raquette Lake from the different townships could be loaded upon cars or manu-
factured at - this point on Sucker Brook Bay, as fully described in the report on
Township 4o. It is believed that this arrangement would be the most satisfactory
to all concerned.

The most economical manner of marketing the timber in the Shallow Lake
Compartment, Township 41, and the timber in Compartment 5, Township 4o,
tributary to Sucker Brook, would be to drive it direct to this point for manu-
facture, shipment or further driving. All timber coming into Raquette Lake
from Townships 5 and 6 via South Inlet could readily be towed to this point, or
to the foot of the lake, without in any way interfering with other interests.

The timber naturally tributary to Seventh and Eighth Lakes would be greatly
lowered in value to the purchaser if the State were to insist that it should all
be removed by team, since this method would add materially to the cost of
removing the timber, and therefore reduce its value to the purchasers.

A glance at the lumbering map will show that the advised railroad branch to
Eighth Lake is connected with the main line at Brown’s Tract Pond, at the
same point at which the branch track advised to be constructed from there to
Sucker Brook Bay leaves. This would make it possible to use the separate rail-
road branches advised as one continuous railroad line. Electric power would be
the best for hauling cars of logs or lumber on the branch lines. One electric
track motor could handle all the loads of logs, do the necessary shifting, and
haul the loaded cars of manufactured lumber out from Sucker Brook Bay to the
main line of the Raquette Lake Railway. The use of electricity for the motive
power reduces the danger of forest fires being started to the minimum, when
compared with the use of steam locomotives. Should steam locomotives be used,
they should not be allowed to burn coal or wood, except in the winter when the
ground is covered with snow. Oil should be used for fuel at all other times.
The use of electricity as the motive power for operations upon any railroad
branches in the State forest is strongly advised.

If timber tributary to Raquette Lake were to be manufactured at Sucker
Brook Bay, in a mill located there, or shipped to some distant point for manu-
facture, it would be good policy in either case to construct these branch tracks.

It might be considered advisable to locate a plant at the west or Upper
Brown’s Tract Pond for the manufacture of all the timber tributary thereto by
railroad branches. A mill there could take in all timber in Compartment 1,
Township 41, tributary to Shallow Lake, and the timber in Compartment 2, Town-
ships 5 and 41, tributary to Seventh and Eighth Lakes and Brown’s Tract Inlet
-by branch railroad tracks. All this timber could be very readily brought to this

440 REPORT OF THE POREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

point for manufacture by team and rail. There should be a slight difference in
freight rates between this point and Raquette Lake and the New York Central
Railroad at Clearwater Junction.

Considered as a general proposition, however, it is most advisable to allow
the construction of a mill at Sucker Brook Bay for the manufacture of the
whole amount of mature timber tributary thereto.

The stumpage on these tracts should be disposed of in one of three ways:
Either by selling the timber to be manufactured at a mill erected as advised at
Sucker Brook Bay; by selling the timber to parties and by them to be driven down
the different streams to points of manufacture; or by selling the timber to parties
and by them to be taken out on the railroad to other points for manufacture.

The consolidation of several compartments in one sale would have a tendency
to cause better work to be done in removing the timber, since the greater the
amount involved in a possible loss from non-observance of the rules or violation
of the contract the more careful the contractors would be to see that no unnec-
essary damage was caused to the forests.

No timber can. be driven from Raquette Lake to the mills located on the
Raquette River below, unless the improvements and the erection of a dam at
the foot of the lake are allowed.

If the improvements advised in the working plan for Township qo for the
purpose of making it possible to drive timber down the Raquette River to
the many markets below were not made, or the right to make them and use the
stream for that purpose guaranteed by the State, this alone would effectually
bar all prospective bidders who have large plants located upon the stream below
from taking the timber to their mills in the cheapest and most economical
manner. Any improvements of this kind which can not fail to have a decided
effect upon stumpage prices should certainly be allowed.

The timber stumpage upon Townships 5, 6 and 41, excepting some small
portions which are advantageously located for lumbering cheaply, is not worth
as much per standard to the purchasers as the timber upon Township 40, even
if the improvements advised were allowed to be made, for the reason that it
will cost the parties removing this timber more per standard to bring it to some
convenient point for manufacture or shipment. It is obvious that where a tract
to be lumbered is distant from the base of supplies it is more costly to get in
the necessary supplies for performing the work.

Special attention is directed to these points, as it is only for the reason that
the improvements advised would add very materially to the prices which the

State could expect to receive for the stumpage that such recommendations are made.

A FOREST WORKING PLAN. AAI

Reasonable and necessary improvements which will add greatly to the value of
the timber stumpage and which will not seriously impair nor injure the forests
in either beauty or usefulness should be allowed in order that the highest prices
may be received for the stumpage to be disposed of.

The stumpage values of all the timber in the Adirondacks have been steadily
increasing for some years. This is especially true of snruce and pine, because of
the increased demand for spruce pulpwood and the consequent enforced use
of pine or other material for lumber. Average stumpage prices cannot be quoted
in this work because they are constantly fluctuating, and the prices which can be
expected for the stumpage upon these townships, when disposed of, will depend
largely upon the action which is taken by the State in regard to the necessary
improvements.

Balsam has long been included with spruce stumpage for wood pulp, at the
rate of about fifteen per cent, and it should be sold with the spruce, cutting to

the diameter limits advised.

RuLES GOVERNING LUMBERING OPERATIONS.

A careful application of the following rules will provide for the safety and
well being of the forest. If they are thoroughly enforced, the chief functions of
the forest in conserving and regulating the waterflow and their use as a public
recreation ground and natural sanitarium will not be impaired, nor will their
capabilities as a producer of lumber be decreased.

In order that there can be no possibility of the lumberman’s misunderstanding
what trees should be cut and what trees should be left standing intact, it is
necessary to mark aJl trees intended for removal. Trees smaller than the
diameter limit advised which show unmistakable signs of decay and premature
death but which are still merchantable, or trees whose tops have been broken off
by falling trees or severe wind storms so that it is clearly apparent that they
will not survive, should also be marked for removal. Any spruce, pine or balsam
trees whose branches are so interlocked with valuable hardwoods or other species
that they can not be removed without cutting the latter should not be marked.
These can be taken when the other species are marketed.

The diameter limits advised for guidance in the removal of the mature timber
have been fixed after a careful and thorough study of the effect of such removal
on the forest and the profits to be expected from the lumbering. Upon the care
with which the tree markings are made and the thoroughness with which the
rules governing the lumbering are carried out, the success of practical forestry

upon these townships chiefly depends. It will be incumbent upon the officials

442 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

having this work in charge to see that the rules for governing conservative
lumbering are thoroughly enforced in order to bring about the desired results.
All the rules suggested for governing the removal of timber should be included
in any contract of sale of the timber stumpage, and the penalties advised for
a non-observance of the rules should also be fully stated and included in the

agreement and signed by the purchasers of stumpage.

MarRKING TIMBER.

It is customary in marking trees for removal to blaze the butt of each tree,
below the point where the stump will be cut in felling the tree, with a hatchet
specially designed for the purpose, and stamp the blaze thus made with the head
of the hatchet upon which, in the Forest Service work, the initials ““U. S.” are
raised. These letters may easily be changed for State work to the letters
CON, Mie or Sa Na Yo.) on any, other symbol awhichsiteis desiredstoeuscsasulyie
marks stamped on the stump make it possible for the inspector to determine
whether any trees which were marked for removal have been left, and also whether
any trees have been taken which were not marked for removal.

In marking timber to be removed, it has been demonstrated that the best
results can be obtained by using not more than three men in a party. The
most satisfactory and cheapest tree marking has been done in close forests by using
only two men. Commencing upon some well-defined line, it is the usual custom
to take a strip through the forest, which will keep the men continually within
sight or speaking range of each other, marking all trees within the boundaries
of the strip which are to be removed, and each watching carefully to see that no
trees over the advised diameter limit are missed. The man on the side nearest
the guide line follows its course, and the other members of the marking crew
are guided by him. ‘The man on the outside blazes a hardwood tree occasionally
on the side towards the forest which has not been marked when there is not a
sufficient number of trees marked for removal to make a plainly defined line for
their return. After having marked all trees in the strip taken, or until they
come to some division line, the top of a inountain, the shore of some pond or
lake, or some trail, road or stream, which will clearly define the outskirts of the
territory marked, the markers usually turn and mark a strip back, using
the outside line of the strip last marked as a guiding line.

A crew of three men, under advantageous conditions, can mark from forty to
sixty acres a day. The cost of marking timber to be removed on all these
townships should not exceed fifteen cents an acre, and the work should be well .

and carefully done for that amount.

A FOREST WORKING PLAN. 443

MetuHop oF CUTTING.

There are but two commonly used methods of cutting timber, viz, chopping
or sawing. As sawing the timber does away with a great deal of unnecessary
waste caused by chopping, this method is recommended for cutting the timber on
these townships. It is readily apparent, even to those who are entirely unacquainted
with the different methods of cutting, that a tree felled and cut up with a saw
must necessarily yield more lumber than one which is cut with an ax. The kerf,
when a log is cut with an ax, causes a large loss at the butt, which is usually
thembest part Of tae log. A full illustration of the difference between the two
ynethods of cutting, and approximate loss occasioned by chopping timber rather
than by sawing, was fully shown and illustrated in the working plan made for
Township 40, and for that reason it is not considered necessary here to go any
deeper into this subject. It should always be borne in mind, however, that the
larger the tract being lumbered the greater would be the corresponding loss by
allowing the timber to be cut by the more wasteful method of chopping.

In cutting spruce and balsam logs on this tract it is advisable that they be cut in
even lengths of ten, twelve, fourteen and sixteen feet, as these lengths make even
two-foot lengths of pulpwood when cut up before rossing. An additional length
of four inches on each log should be allowed to cover the necessary loss in
trimming off the battered, discolored and damaged ends of the logs, caused
by their being driven over rocky falls and lying in the water. If the logs were
to be manufactured at Raquette Lake, or shipped to some point by railroad
which would not necessitate long driving, three inches in additional length would
probably cover all necessary trimming.

Sixteen-foot lengths should only be allowed when they are cut for the purpose
of saving timber or bringing the cutting point in the top of the tree to the
desired limit. No butt logs should be allowed to be cut sixteen feet long unless
on account of breaks or other visible defects. If longer lengths than sixteen feet
were allowed to be scaled at the top end it would cause a loss to the State on
account of the taper and decrease of the diameter when compared with timber
cut thirteen feet long, this being the length upon which the scale rule advised is
based. If the timber were cut into even two-foot lengths from ten to sixteen
feet, and the quantities above and below the thirteen-foot standard length were
evenly balanced, there would be no appreciable loss. In cutting the pine timber
it is advised that logs be cut into lengths of ten, twelve, fourteen and sixteen
feet, as may be best in relation to punk knots, breaks, crotches and other

defects. All pine timber should be carefully looked over and measured to the

444 REPORD OF THE FOREST, FISH AND’ GAME ‘COMMISSION.

required diameter limit in the top before a log is sawed, and the length of the
different logs should be varied on the above-mentioned lengths in order to bring
the diameter limit of the top log to the required diameter in the top of the tree.
If there are visible defects in the tree, they should be noticed before the cutting
up of the tree commences, and the length varied to remove them with the least
possible loss. By adopting this method a great deal of valuable timber can be

saved and utilized which might otherwise be lost.

CurtTinc HeicHtT or Stump.

It is always advisable in felling timber to cut the tree at the lowest practical
point, because the timber im the body of =the\ tree is usually of the best quality,
clear and free from pin knots, and, if sound, the butt log is actually worth more
for manufacture than any other portion of the tree.

Another reason is that cutting at the lowest point very often materially
increases the amount of scale allowed for the tree, since a slight difference either
way in the height of the stump may increase or decrease the diameter an inch
in the top of the logs into which it is cut.

It is customary to scale logs in full inches, all fractions of inches being raised
or lowered to the nearest full inch. Fractions below one half are dropped to the
full inch below, while those above the half inch point are called at the next full
inch above. It very often occurs that the diameter of a log is so near the one
half inch point between full inches that the increase in diameter which would
be gained by cutting a low stump is sufficient to put the first log into a next
higher inch class than would be allowed if a high stump were cut. Frequently
this increase extends to every log in the tree. This apparently trivial difference
in scale may seem to be of very little importance, but in reality it is just such
little points as this that serve to make or mar the profits of the average
lumber job.

It has been claimed by some that cutting high stumps was an advisable policy
on account of the saving in time and labor sometimes necessarily expended in
“butting” or cutting off portions of the butt of a tree which is found to be
affected by heart rot, frost checks, wind shakes or other defects. This, however,
is a very nonsensical claim, as a tree can very seldom be cut high enough to
remove such defects when they exist, and another cutting usually has to be made,
sometimes several, before the proper point to effectually remove such affected
portions is reached. It is impossible to judge with absolute certainty from external

appearances what the conditions are in the heart of a tree, and this theory could

A FOREST WORKING PLAN. AAS

only hold good upon trees which were but slightly affected near the roots, while
upon all sound trees cut in this manner there would be an entirely unnecessary
loss. It will readily be seen that a foot in length of clear timber in the butt of
a tree, where the diameter runs from fourteen to thirty inches, is worth several
feet of timber in the top of the tree. Moreover, the clearest and best timber is
found in the butt, and the smallest, most knotty and least valuable in the top.

An arbitrary height of stump for cutting trees cannot be fixed to suit all
conditions. The cutting point must depend upon the locality and the position
in which the tree stands with reference to other trees, rocks, fallen timber and
other obstacles; but it is recommended that no cutting more than six inches
above the top of the root swelling be allowed on these townships, unless it is
absolutely necessary on account of some obstruction.

The following figures were taken by experienced men on Townships 40 and 39
during the summer of i900, and will furnish reliable information of the compara-
tive differences in diameter of spruce ut breastheight (four and a half feet from the
ground), at the top of the root swelling, and at the lowest practical cutting
point, from ten inches in diameter at breastheight up to thirty inches. It is the
result of careful measurements of over 2,600 trees, taken with reference to natural
obstacles, to determine the lowest practical cutting point. They may be relied
upon for spruce on these townships, which adjoin the tracts from which the

figures were taken. The table explains itself.

TABLE OF COMPARATIVE AVERAGE DIAMETERS OF SPRUCE.

At breastheight, At lowest i F || At breastheight, At lowest in F
4% feet practicable t fhe 4% feet practicable f eee
from the ground. cutting point. ore Nicene: from the ground. cutting point, OE SEE Ines
Inches. Inches. Inches. Inches. Inches. Inches.
10 1 © 13.0 | 21 24.1 25.9
II 13.0 14.1 22 ZIG ira
12 14.1 53 23 20.4 28.2
13 15.2 16.5 24 ZS 29.4
14 16.3 77 25 28.6 30.6
15 17.4 18.8 26 2OMy ieee
16 18.5 20.0 27 30.9 2.9
17 19.7 Di 2 28 32.0 34.0
18 20.8 22.4 20 Rojo 25 nz)
19 21.9 23.5 30 34.2 30.4
20 23.0 24.7

446 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

DIAMETER Limit at Tor Ewnp.

That only a slight difference in scale is gained by cutting the top log of a
tree at the top end to a four or five inch diameter limit rather than six inches,
is shown by the following table, obtained by very careful measurements on 1,064

spruce, and represented in nineteen-inch standards by Dimick’s Rule:

DIFFERENCE IN SCALE BETWEEN CUTTING THE TOP LOG TO FOUR OR FIVE
INGHESTAN DET OFSTXSINCHEHS Auk. DEE OPENID:

Total gain by Total gain by
i ser Ot Urn Average gain Cane Average gain
DIAMETER BREASTHIGH. trees to 5 inches ee RoMmincnes ae
per tree. per tree.
analyzed. rather than to rather than to
6 inches. 6 inches.
Inches. Standards, Standards. Standards. Standards.
10 and over 1, 004 3.39 0.003 4.06 0.004
12 and over 883 2.16 .002 2.52 .003
14 and over 602 -44 .OOI 26 .0004

It is true that were the purchaser of stumpage to manufacture his own
timber, the value of the additional timber which the smaller limit would yield
would be greater than the table indicates, and, on the other hand, there would be
no very appreciable gain in scale to the State. It is also probable that log buyers
and dealers in pulpwood will offer some objections to removing the timber to as
small a diameter as five inches, since when a tree is cut down to six inches
in diameter in the tops there is usually but little timber having any commercial
value remaining, even for pulpwood. Pulp logs cut to this diameter, however,
are being purchased by dealers throughout the State and there is no difficulty in
disposing of timber so cut, if it be sold with the balance of the timber in the
tree. Still, in consideration of the fact that the forest would be benefited by the
removal of just so much more of the objectionable tops, and the danger of
damage by fire proportionately decreased, it is considered advisable in lumbering
these townships to require that all merchantable spruce and balsam timber be
cut and utilized down to a diameter of five inches in the top of the tree.

Should

end, long

any merchantable timber over five inches in diameter at the small

enough to yield a four-foot stick of pulpwood, be left in the tops, it
should be scaled and charged double to the purchaser of the stumpage as a
penalty for leaving it, unless there be some visible defect or reason satisfactory

to the inspector why it should not be taken. The length of logs can be varied

A FOREST WORKING PLAN. 447

by cutting them in even two-foot lengths of pulpwood, ten, twelve fourteen and
sixteen feet (sixteen-foot lengths should only be allowed in the top logs), to
bring the cutting point to the desired limit in the top of the tree. Logs in the
tops might be cut to any smaller diameter than five inches by the contractor if
he so desired, but when so cut they should be scaled and included at the stated
limit. For example, if a spruce log be cut down to four inches in the top,
sixteen feet long, it should be scaled and taken as a five-inch log to counteract
the effect of the increased taper near the top of the tree.

An eight-inch diameter limit in the top is advised for cutting the pine. Pine
logs are not generally considered merchantable when cut shorter than ten feet in
length and eight inches in diameter at the top end. No timber which will make
a log of these dimensions should be allowed to be left in the woods. The lumber-
man or contractor should be allowed to cut pine timber in the tops down to a
smaller diameter if he desires to do so, and should be charged only what
it actually scales, as he will be removing objectionable timber from the tract by
so doing. In cutting pine the contractors should cut the logs in ten, twelve,
fourteen and sixteen foot lengths, as the particular tree being cut might require.
No longer length of timber than sixteen feet should be allowed to be cut and
measured at the top end except for the purpose of saving timber. There are
slight changes from the diameter limits advised in Bulletin 30, but after a careful
study on the subject it is considered to be for the best interest of the forests
that these slight changes in the policy formerly advised be made, and they
should also apply to Township 40.

FEeLLinc TIMBER AND CutTtTine Roaps.

The greatest care should be exercised in felling trees, in order to minimize
the damage done to the small growth. A large amount of unnecessary destruction
of young and valuable species is caused by carelessness on the part of the men
felling the timber. Much of this can be prevented by the exercise of care in
selecting an opening where the least possible damage will be caused. This should
be done whenever possible.

In locating and cutting out roads no more cutting should be done than is
actually necessary to make a sufficient passage for the loaded teams. Many
lumbermen make a very serious mistake by cutting too many roads for the area
to be lumbered, and cutting them wider than is really necessary. Much damage
is also caused by building more skidways than are needed. By cutting more
branch roads than are necessary the lumbermen lose not only the cost of cutting

out and leveling up, but they are also compelled in the winter to break out and

448 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

fit up additional roads for hauling their timber. This is poor business policy for
the lumberman and also causes unnecessary damage to the forest. More skidways
than are necessary means, in a winter of deep snows, an increased expense to
lumbermen for shoveling the snow off from the front and top of the skidways.
Much of the unnecessary cutting and clearing out caused by making too many
roads and building too many skidways can be avoided by a careful location of
the roads and by cutting out no more branch roads than are absolutely necessary
to reach the timber without skidding logs too far, and by building larger skidways
whenever practicable to do so, rather than many small ones.

There can be no set rules for the distance which logs should be skidded, nor
the exact number of roads to be cut on different tracts, since the number must
vary according to the topography of a tract and the point to which it is desired
to bring the timber. The location of main roads and branches should be under
the. direct supervision of the inspector in charge of the lumbering operations,
and no extensive road work should be entered into which has not first received

his sanction.

Use or TimsBer FOR BuILDING SkIDWAYS, CoRDUROYS AND BRIDGES.

In selecting the timber to be used for building skidways, corduroys and
bridges, the hardwoods should be used whenever possible. Down timber and some
of the “‘butts” or affected logs which it is clearly evident will not be accepted
by the scaler can very often be used for the blockings for the front end of
skidways. This use of such timber is often cheaper for the lumberman and
much more satisfactory to the forester than if the men were allowed to cut
down valuable young trees for the purpose. Furthermore, it is at times prac-
ticable and economical to build skidways with portions of the trees intended for
logs, cutting the skids in lengths of two or three logs, as the holding capacity
of the skidway may require, using them for skids until the logs are hauled off
from them in the winter, and finally cutting them in proper lengths for logs and
hauling them to the landing.

One advantage which the lumberman gains by using this large, heavy timber
for skids is that, although it takes a little more time to get the logs into position,
they do not require as much blocking up to raise them to the proper height.
Another is that the danger of large skidways breaking down after the logs are
rolled upon them is removed. Timber cut from small spruce trees should not be
used for building skidways, corduroys or bridges, unless it is impossible to find
other timber of less value within reasonable distance. As a rule in the Adiron-

dacks, it is seldom impossible, and the question of what constitutes a reasonable

A FOREST WORKING PLAN. 449

distance should be left to the judgment of the inspector. The necessary timber
for leveling up inequalities in logging roads, for stringers, and for covers for
side hill and corduroy roads, etc., can often be gathered from the dead and down
timber at the least expense, obviating the necessity of cutting young and valuable
growth which it is desired to preserve.

When young spruce is used without the inspector’s approval, it should be
scaled and charged to the purchaser of the stumpage or contractor at double
scale. For example, if a stick fourteen feet long and five inches in diameter at
the top end should be unnecessarily cut from a small spruce tree, and used for
building corduroys or bridges, such stick should be scaled and charged as an amount
equal to the scale of two such sticks. There should be a distinct understanding
with the contractor that no smaller diameter limit than five inches should be
figured, even on smaller sticks, if cut from small trees without the consent of the
inspector. This may appear at first glance to be a. very hard and arbitrary rule
to impose upon the lumbermen, but a careful study of the conditions existing on
other lumbering operations in the Adirondacks where there is no such rule, and
a knowledge of the subject gained by experience convinced the author of the
necessity of having some such clearly understood penalty, in order to fully
protect the State from suffering from repeated small violations. These transgres-
sions are hardly of enough consequence, considered singly, to warrant an open
rupture or a rescinding of contract, but, if allowed to go unchecked, will materially
interfere with the proper lumbering of these townships. The application of this
penalty will preserve for the State in many localities much of the young and
valuable growth which would otherwise be unnecessarily destroyed. The incorpo-
ration of this rule in a contract would give the inspector in charge of the
lumbering the right to use his own judgment to decide whether or not it were
necessary to use the young growth. There are certain localities on these
townships where it might be advisable to use some small spruce, on account of
the benefit which the remaining trees would receive by being carefully thinned,
but the decision cannot be safely left to the discretion of the men removing the
timber.

Loppinc Tops.

It is advised that the tops of all trees cut for logs or timber upon these
townships be thoroughly lopped, as there can be no question that the proper
lopping of tops is of the greatest importance in preventing serious damage to
the remaining species by fire. Strong objection is often made to lumbering a

forest on the ground that lumbering makes it more susceptible to the ravages

29

450 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

of fire. A careful and thorough lopping of the tops reduces this danger to the
minimum. When the tops are not lopped, they are held up from the ground
by the limbs underneath, and usually at some time during the early spring or |
summer the small branches become exceedingly dry and an easy prey to fire.
When the forest is in this dangerous condition, fires are often started by the
careless dropping of a match, or the throwing away of the stump of a lighted
ciga”. Once such a fire gets started it is almost impossible to combat it
successfully. The flames run swiftly from one top to another. Sheets of flame
leap up through the branches of the young trees, which usually catch fire and
are killed. Often, when the ground cover of a forest is very dry, it is almost
impossible to check a forest fire entirely until it has run out of the territory of
old cuttings and slashes.

For these reasons it is strongly advised that the tops of all trees cut in
lumbering on these townships, not wholly broken by the fall, be sufficiently
lopped to bring them to the ground, or so that the first winter’s snow will crush
them to the earth. They will then absorb the moisture and become so wet and
soggy that decay sets in much more quickly, and they soon get in such condition
that they will not burn in an ordinary summer. The danger from fire is thus
materially decreased.

The cost of thoroughly lopping tops varies with the conditions on different
tracts. Usually it is from two to three cents per standard log, varying according
to stand of timber, the diameter limit to which cutting is made and the degree
‘ of thoroughness with which it is done. Lopping tops is a useless expense unless
it is thorough.

The smaller the diameter limit to which timber is cut in the top of a tree the
less the cost of lopping tops. For example, it is plain that if the tops are cut
off at a diameter of eight inches, more branches remain to be lopped than if
they had been cut at a five-inch diameter. On the same general principles, the
larger the stump diameter limit the less will be the cost of lopping tops per
standard, since the lopping costs no more for a tree containing two to three
standards than it does for a tree containing only one standard, cutting to the
five-inch diameter limit in both cases. Therefore the cost of lopping tops on
these tracts, if cut to a twelve-inch diameter limit, breasthigh (which is practically
fourteen inches on the stump at the cutting point), would be considerably less
per standard than if the trees were cut to a ten-inch diameter limit, as there
would be a smaller number of tops from which to cut the limbs, as well as less

lopping in proportion to the yield.

A FOREST WORKING PLAN. 451

A little care exercised in the felling of timber makes a decided difference in
the work of lopping the tops. If several tops are felled together, thereby forming
a slash, the cost of lopping will be materially increased. Even when lopped,
such tops, if not scattered about on the ground, will remain held up from the
earth by the lmbs under them, and will thus be prevented from receiving
the earth’s moisture and becoming dampened.

It is not advisable to include the lopping of tops in the contract for the sale
of the timber stumpage. In order to secure satisfactory results, the lopping of
tops should be made a separate and distinct piece of work, and its execution
should be placed entirely in the hands of the inspector. The cost of lopping the
tops upon these tracts should not be more than two cents per standard (or ten
cents per thousand feet board measure), including the lopping of the tops of all
trees cut in building log roads, clearing out for skidways, and erecting camps,

dams, etc. The work of lopping should be very thoroughly done for that amount.

OUTLETTING Roaps To LAKES.

In locating roads for hauling logs to lakes or across them, care should be
exercised to bring them to the lakes in points as near as possible to the back
ends of the bays and the inlets of the small streams. No more roads should be
cut through the reserved strip along the lake front than are absolutely necessary
for the purpose of removing the timber, nor should the roads be cut any wider
than necessary for the passage of one loaded team at a time. No clearing out
for the purpose of skidding logs should be allowed upon the shores of the lakes,
since the clearing out of spaces large enough for the skidways, and the consequent
cutting of skidding roads and trails leading thereto, gives to the lakeshore a very
unsightly appearance, which can as well be avoided.

Whenever the topography of the locality makes it necessary to bring out roads
on the shore at points where there are no streams coming into the lake, such
roads should be so located as to reach the lake on an abrupt curve, in order to
cut off the view from the lake. They should not be brought to the lake in a long,
straight line.

Reasonable care in locating roads, keeping skidways from the lakeshores, and
allowing no unnecessary roads to be cut through the lake-front reserve will
prevent the lumbering operations from being too apparent. A wise management
of the shore end of the log roads is fully as necessary to preserve the natural
beauty of the forests as is the leaving of reserve strips along the lakeshore or of

summit reserves on the tops of mountains.

452 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

ScaLE Rute ADVISED.

The nineteen-inch Standard Rule has been used as the basis for calculating
the stand of timber on these three townships. The unit of calculation in this
rule is a log thirteen feet long and nineteen inches in diameter at the small end.
Logs of a larger diameter than nineteen inches are figured as one standard and a
fraction, and logs of a smaller diameter than nineteen inches are figured as
a proportionate fraction of the standard.

The use of this rule for determining the amount of timber stumpage sold
from these townships is advised for the following reasons: The nineteen-inch
Standard Rule is the best known and understood throughout the Adirondack
region, and will commend itself to the purchaser of stumpage from the State,
and to the manufacturers, for this reason. It is, moreover, in the opinion of the
majority of the lumbermen, mill men, manufacturers, jobbers and contractors
throughout the Adirondacks, the fairest rule for both buyer and seller. It is
preferable to a board-foot rule for the reason that most board-foot rules do not
allow a sufficient amount for the small logs. Upon these townships there will be
a large number of small logs in the tops of the trees, and as such timber when
sold collectively with the larger logs brings the same price per standard, it is
advisable to use a rule which will give as nearly as possible the actual contents
of small as well as of large logs. It is believed that these requirements will best
be served by the adoption of the nineteen-inch Standard Rule.

In calculating the volume of the hardwood timber the old Scribner Rule has
been used for the reason that it is considered more advisable to use a board-foot
rule for this kind of timber. This rule is more nearly accurate for small logs
than is any other of the board-foot rules. It has repeatedly been proved by
manufacturers and mill men that neither the Standard Rule nor the old Scribner
Rule allows more merchantable material for the smaller logs than they actually
contain.

METHOD OF SCALING.

The method of scaling advised for this tract is the one in common use under
the Standard Rule, viz, measuring the diameter at the top end of each log. Its
use is recommended with the following provisions:

The maximum length for measurement of all spruce logs should be fourteen
feet, and of all pine logs sixteen feet, except where extra length is allowed to
avoid defects. Otherwise, longer logs should be scaled as two or more logs.

All timber cut for dimension stuff, booms, piling or building material should

be scaled at each thirteen-foot length when practicable. Scaling long timber at

A FOREST WORKING PLAN. 453

the top diameter is not just, and would cause a serious loss to the State on
account of the large amount of taper from the butt diameter to the top diameter.

When timber is in such a position that the thirteen-foot points are not accessible,
as when rolled in skidways, every log should be measured at each end and the
average of the two measurements taken as the diameter.

The customary rule of accepting the diameter of logs at the nearest full inch
above or below the actual diameter may be followed on these tracts.

No pine logs should be allowed to be culled or left in the woods that will
yield twenty-five per cent or over of sound, merchantable timber. Such logs
should be scaled and taken at their actual merchantable value, both the end area
and the length of the log being taken into consideration in calculating the contents.

Merchantable timber in pine should be construed to be timber that will yield
sound lumber of the minimum length of ten feet.

Spruce and balsam timber should be scaled and taken at its actual merchant-
able value whenever twenty-five per cent of its total scale is timber fit for
merchantable pulpwood.

These rules are essential in order that the State may not be the loser by
careless or inefficient cutting, since much valuable timber is often wasted by slov-
enly work, more especially in cutting pine. The incorporation of these rules in
a contract will do away with much of the careless and wasteful methods of
cutting timber.

The scalers should be in the employ of the State, and the number employed
should be determined by the amount of lumbering going on. The scalers can be
of great assistance to the inspector by acting as assistant inspectors, and aiding
him in seeing that the rules prescribed for lumbering are properly carried out.
They should be selected wholly with reference to their impartiality, capability,
and reliability, and should be directly responsible to the inspector in charge of

the lumbering operations.

Rutes tro BE Emsopiep IN A LUMBERING CONTRACT.

The following rules should be incorporated in any contract made for the
removal of timber from Townships 5, 6 and 41. A thorough supervision by
trained and experienced men is absolutely essential to good results in the appli-’
cation of these rules.

1. All timber shall be cut with a saw whenever practicable.

2. No timber shall be cut in the reserve strips except with the approval of

an inspector.

454 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

3. <All roads laid out through the reserved strips shall be approved by the
inspector before any cutting is commenced.

4. No trees shall be cut for timber which are not marked.

5. All trees marked shall be cut unless a satisfactory reason is given for
leaving them.

6. No trees containing merchantable timber shall be left lodged in the woods.

7. No trees shall be cut more than six inches above the swelling of the roots
unless a satisfactory reason is given.

8. All merchantable timber in a tree, above the established diameter at the
small end, shall be utilized. Any such timber left purposely or through careless-
ness shall be scaled double and charged at the stumpage rate paid for the timber.

g. No small spruce or pine shall be used for bridges, corduroys, skids, or for
building camps or dams, unless the scarcity of less valuable timber makes it
absolutely necessary. Any timber so used, unnecessarily, shall be scaled double
and charged at the stumpage rate paid for the timber.

ro. All merchantable timber necessarily used in building camps, bridges,
dams or booms, or for other purposes, shall be scaled and charged to the pur-
chaser at the same stumpage price as if it were cut into logs. Hemlock timber,
used for building or for other purposes, shall be charged at the same price as
spruce.

t1. Unnecessary slashes, caused by felling several trees on' top of each other,
shall be avoided.

12. All merchantable timber used for building skidways shall be cut into logs,
an opportunity for scaling the logs shall be given, and they shall be hauled out,
before abandoning the log roads, or closing up the winter’s jobs in the spring.

13. Contractors and lumbermen shall be careful not to do any unnecessary
damage to young growth in lumbering.

14. The violation of any of these rules, if persisted in, shall be deemed a

sufficient cause of annulling the contract.

INSPECTION.

The selection of the inspector for overseeing the lumbering operations is of
the greatest importance. Upon his capability and judgment depends the success-
ful carrying out of the recommendations made for properly lumbering this or any
other tract. He should combine all the qualities of a first-class lumberman and a
competent and impartial log scaler. He should also have a thorough knowledge

of practical forestry, together with the necessary energy to insure a careful and

A FOREST WORKING PLAN. 455

thorough inspection of every portion of the tract, at short intervals, while
lumbering is going on, enforcing the rules thoroughly in all places.

He should have entire control of the log scalers and tree markers. Any
division of authority in enforcing the carrying out of the rules should be care-
fully avoided. The decision of the inspector should be final on all questions
connected with the lumbering. He should decide the particular localities where
dams should be erected for the purpose of driving logs, the height to which they
should be built, etc., the height to which water should be raised for the purpose
of flooding the streams and at what time in the spring they should be left open
for the purpose of protecting standing timber from being flooded and killed. He
should locate the places where timber should be cut for the purpose of construct-
ing such dams, oversee the marking, selection and scaling of timber for such
purposes, etc.

The location of branch railroad tracks, all cutting of roads, the location of
camps, and the selection of material which should be used in their construction
should all be placed entirely in his charge, as it is only by so doing that the
lumbermen can be held in proper control. He should have full control of the
lopping of tops, in order to have it done in a thorough and satisfactory manner.

The inspector should be upheld by the officials over him in seeing that the
work is properly done. In order that the work may be of a satisfactory char-
acter to the people of the State, it is absolutely necessary that the man in
charge of guarding their interests in the forest should have the authority to stop
lumbering operations at ouce on any portion of the tract or tracts under his
supervision, when, in his judgment, it has become necessary to do so. The very
fact that the purchasers of the stumpage know that the inspector has this power,
which can immediately be put into operation when necessary, will cause them to
be more careful to observe the rules, and to perform their work in such a manner
that they will not be compelled to stop their lumbering operations.

If the inspector is incapable of filling the position to which he is appointed,
he should be removed and a more capable man appointed in his place, but it
should always be borne in mind that the interests of the people of the State and
the interests of the lumbermen are diametrically opposite, and that there will be
unavoidable friction between the inspector and the contractor and lumbermen,
and undoubtedly complaints from the lumbermen against the rulings of the
inspector will be made. Therefore, if he does his duty, no political influence
should be allowed to counteract his judgment as to what would be best for the

forest.

456 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION.

The inspector should make detailed reports at the end of each month to the
proper State official of the number of logs and the number of standards which
they contained, scaled on each separate job, and of the general progress of the
work. He should also at the end of each month, while scaling is in progress,
furnish the lumbermen removing the timber with a statement of the scale of the

timber measured, giving the number of pieces and the scale of each species.

Names oF TrREES MENTIONED IN WORKING PLAN.

CONIFEROUS SPECIES.

COMMON NAME. BOTANICAL NAME.
Vines: Joe gg ag 8 ek LAS SHAOOHS ILitolin,
Reda(Norwaly,) (pimen (ss eres eStosameouite
Adewoneree< 5g 5 og hE Uleracin@? ((IDU INO!) IX@ela.
ieee Gort 50 oo «0 6) HRae yoo (NINN) IB, S, 12,
INeCE Sp rtc ees mn tain men ACCe Caz cm Sanmemies
Isl@milodk 5 a NR eae TaSOS. (aia), Care.
Balsam (balsam fir) . . . . Adzes balsamea (Linn.) Mill.
Arbor-vitae (white cedar) . . Thuja occidentalis Linn.

BROADLEAF SPECIES.

Aspen (poplar) De oe ei LOpulis tremuloraess Mich sx.

Large Tooth aspen (poplar) . Populus grandidentata Michx.

Papen (white)epirchys ts sl mebciUlampapyzicra MWarsi.

Wellow Ini 4 II. Ae NC ows, it,

Isl@iaal: Aya 5 Se el Ostia epee (NGI) IKeeln.

Beech) se ale ne) eh acusatnopunieca (Marsh. mous

Wihite elimi) Ost. ee Ol use americana min:

Wild red (bird) cherry . . . Prunus pennsylvanica Linn. f.

ible Oigicny 5 59 co 0 6 LHS SAAaiuE Iino,

Sugar (hand) maple vucun ee sn ec ccmesacclari77e Niatsie

Silver (soft) maple . . . . Acer saccharinum Linn.

Ned! (Sort); maple. 2) See yen Acer n7corige Neiman:

Bass wOOdmeye 2) 2) Meneame ULC 7.200700 ale ata

\iWdows: AISY 5 Gh kg | Tas Cae Joitaya,

evel Beh eG eG 6 ae ES Cae Nilendiny.
UNDERGROWTH.

Mountain (spotted) maple . . Acer spicatum Lam.

Striped maple (moosewood) . . Acer pennsylvanicum Linn.

Witchhopple . . . . . . Viburnum lantanotdes Michx.

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