will be too late to repair the injury. The Land Purchasing Board has materially added to the holdings of the State during 1907, having purchased and made contract to purchase 46,156 acres, which will make the total amount of land held by the State 1,518,450 acres. Of this there are in the Adirondacks 1,454,383 acres the remaining 112,072 acres being in the Catskills. Our State tree nurseries and reforested lands under the supervision and management of this Department continue to attract widespread attention among persons interested in the work throughout the United States. During the year 1907, as heretofore, many persons interested in the work of tree growing and tree planting have visited our nurseries and plantations and have pronounced them the best in the United States. Without doubt it is advisable for the State to enter into the planting of trees on a much larger scale to the end that at least 5,000,000 trees a year may be set out. The State of New York is the pioneer in this work, and the reports of various States indicate that the State of New York has planted more trees up to the present time than all the other States in the Union, and nearly, if not quite, as many as have been planted by the States and the national government combined. The commencement of tree planting on a very large scale, and by all of the people of the State, should not be put off. It takes a long time for a tree to grow, and every year the work is delayed only hastens the time when the price of lumber will be beyond the reach of a man with small means, and the price of paper will be enormously increased to the consumers thereof. This subject, in the judgment of the Commission, demands the earnest attention of all the people, the hearty co-operation of the Legislature in the way of appropriations, and the best efforts of everyone to save the forests of the State of New York and to furnish necessary trees for water protection and commercial purposes.

In saving the forest we do not mean that no trees should be cut that would be an impossible condition. We must have lumber and we must have it for a thousand purposes. We do mean that cutting should be done in a conservative manner down only to a reasonable size, leaving a fair protection for the soil in order to conserve the water and have a new growth of trees coming on. Where the seed trees of the conifers are all cut there

is no way of renewing the growth even partially except by planting. A conifer must come from the seed while many hardwoods come from sprouts. Therefore the hardwoods will reproduce themselves the conifers very seldom.

I am pleased to say that many lumber companies are giving better attention to their cutting operations, leaving many more trees than formerly, and are seriously considering the necessity of reforesting their own lands. Where there were no inquiries two and one-half years ago in relation to how to plant trees or reforest woodlands, there are many hundreds of such inquiries to-day. Many of our citizens are giving attention to this subject, and if seedling trees were within their reach as to cost they would plant them upon their denuded hillsides and non-agricultural lands. The nursery cost to the individual, of seeding trees from private nurseries, if they could be had at all in any considerable quantity is about $10.00 per thousand. The State can produce them for $2.50 per thousand. Two men usually plant about 1,400 trees a day. If our people could get trees at cost I have no doubt that very many would commence planting immediately. To my mind it would be practicable and very desirable to have the State furnish seedling trees at cost to all who would plant, or, better yet, if the way seemed clear to furnish a reasonable number free, as we now furnish fish free to stock the streams. Too much consideration cannot be given to this subject. I believe there is no more important business proposition before our people to-day.

Forest Fires.

The greatest enemy to the forests is fire. The woodlands of the State have suffered severely from this cause not only public but private lands all over the State. Under the law supervisors of towns throughout the State are charged with the duty of protecting woodlands as far as possible from fires, and yet very little attention has been given to this matter by the Supervisors, although they may become personally liable for damages if this duty is not performed. I call attention to the law in this report, trusting that it may serve to make them more active in this regard. The present firewarden system of the State is very effective in preventing fires

and is undoubtedly as good or better than the system in vogue in other States. During July and August of this year we had an unusually dry season of long duration. Very many forest fires started in the Adirondack region during those months, and the danger was very great, yet under our system of fire protection it was averted, and we are very glad to be able to report that not a green tree on State land was destroyed by fire. We find that about go per cent. of all the fires that are started are caused by sparks from railroad engines, although spark arresters in locomotives are usually of modern pattern and the best known device for that purpose. Much of the danger of fire in the Adirondack region would be removed if electricity could be used as power for propelling railroad engines.

Elk, Beaver and Deer.

The Commission obtained from the Yellowstone Park, through the aid of the Department of the Interior at Washington, 17 beaver, which were placed in the Adirondack country this year. They and the colonies of beaver which were there are doing well and are very interesting and attractive to summer visitors. During the winter of 1907 the Commission caused to be put in the forest a considerable number of elk which, with those already in the woods, are doing well and multiplying rapidly.

The change in the hunting season, cutting off fifteen days in November, has resulted as the Commission expected in a large saving of the deer. Not more than one-half the usual number were killed and taken out of the woods during the hunting season, September 16 to October 31, inclusive. With the nonhounding of deer very well observed and the compliance with the law in relation to hunting, there is no doubt that the deer will rapidly increase, becoming plentiful and more easily obtained by those who enjoy hunting. These species of animals are great attractions and have induced many of our citizens and those from other States to go to our Adirondack forests greatly to the benefit of all the people there who having anything to sell, either personal property or labor in that section of the State. people every year are visiting our forests, which are rapidly becoming the great recreation and playground of many people.

More

Changes Suggested in the Forest, Fish and Game Law.

During the session of the Legislature of 1907 a very large number of bills were introduced in the Legislature intended as changes, modifications and amendments to the Forest, Fish and Game Law. Most of them were local in their character. This was no exception to the general rule, as it has prevailed for many years. Many suggestions have been made for a complete and thorough revision and rearrangement of the law, and the same seems to be much needed. As it now stands it has been built up and built on to by every succeeding Legislature since the passage of the Act known as Chapter 20, Laws of 1900. Many of the provisions of the law are not in consecutive order in relation to subjects, and there are many obsolete, inoperative and useless sections now in the law. It is very difficult, even for a lawyer, to determine what the law is on account of the uncertainty, because of the inaccurate statement of the law and its conflicting provisions. Many exceptions to the general law have crept in through the efforts of persons in very many different localities in the State to have the open season for grouse, woodcock, quail, squirrels or rabbits to suit their own convenience or ideas - all of which have been changed or rearranged at different times. It seems very desirable to have the law as general as possible, and once established, that it should remain in that form.

The law in relation to fishing is mixed and complicated, and has as many variations and exceptions as there are lakes, ponds and streams in the State. Many exceptions to the general law have crept in, undoubtedly without much consideration of the importance of having the law general. In places there are many sections where there should be only one. There are localities in the State where under the law small-mouth black bass may be caught prior to spawning and on the spawning beds, while in other places the open season commences at a later date. Game fish especially should never be taken until after spawning time. In many of the sections the wording of the law practically prevents successful enforcement, all of which shows the need of practical consolidation and rearrangement.

Suggestions have come to the Department from many sources that such a revision should be undertaken by this Department, and in view of these suggestions, I have undertaken to revise the whole body of the law bringing

it together in as compact a condition as possible and making it as general as conditions will permit. In the revision the hunting season has been treated as the " open season instead of speaking of the close" season.

In this way everyone will be able to understand when he may hunt or fish without having to figure it out. There are two very important additions which we believe should be made to the law. First, there should be a hunting license law. The experience of many other States and countries makes it plain that such a law operates to protect game. It is easily enforced. Nonresidents are made to pay for the right they get in our State to fish and hunt, and they are taxed in no other way. If such a law is enacted, it will be very useful in protecting song birds and birds of plumage, and a large revenue will be collected under it to help defray the expenses of protection, which revenue will only come from those who receive the largest amount of benefit from protection the hunters and sportsmen.

Under the law in several of the counties of the State, trout cannot be sold. That should be the general law of the State, because it has been shown that to prohibit the sale of birds or fish is the best way to protect them. Such is the law in relation to grouse at the present time. The opening and closing of the season should commence as nearly as possible at the same time in all parts of the State, especially in sections where the conditions are alike.

The shellfish law should be revised for reasons hereinbefore stated under the subject of Shellfish. These ideas have been carried out in the proposed revision, which I shall be pleased to submit to the Legislature at an early date and urge the passage of the revision as presented, believing that it will be for the best interests of all the people of the State and will give us a law that can be better enforced and produce much better results. In this revision I have spent a great deal of time and careful thought, with a view only to making the law more general, simple, and as little objectionable as possible.

As suggested in my last report, all the great property interests under the care of this Department are perishable and need constant and watchful The forests, if not protected from fire and trespass, might soon be greatly injured or destroyed. Lakes, streams and ponds if not protected and supplied with fish life by artificial propagation would soon produce

care.