most of us realize upon the private land owner. Four-fifths of the forests of the country are privately owned. They constitute the forest lands of greatest potential productivity. As the billions of feet of timber now cut annually from these private lands are felled, will it pay the owners to protect the cut-over areas and attain complete reproduction by either natural or artificial means? Protection must be afforded and reproduction attained for the future welfare of the nation and for national defense. It is far more important to the nation that the second growth be adequately safeguarded than it is to the individual. The nation, therefore, by liberal tax laws and technical assistance must help the private owner to attain a protected reproduction and thus secure a satisfactory second growth.

"High and uncertain taxes on privately owned land maintained in forest crops and illiberal public policy in rendering assistance in fire protection and in reforestation, is short sighted and very unwise. For the good of the nation the private owners must be encouraged and helped toward better forest reproduction and toward protection of the second growth.

“It is up to the public. It is just as much the business of the nation and state to encourage the best use of the absolute forest land as it is the best use of the agricultural land."

Dealing with the problem of forest taxation, Professor Ralph S. Hosmer, head of the Forestry department at Cornell university, suggests as a remedy "that a tax be laid on the yield, once for all, when the stand is finally harvested. During its period of growth the forest pays no tax under this plan but when it comes to be cut, the owner pays to the State a fair percentage on the yield 5, 10 or 15 per cent as the case may be. But he knows beforehand what to expect and furthermore that he will be subjected to the tax only once, and that at the time when he receives his return on the investment. In addition to this tax col

Home in the lumber woods

lected when the timber is cut, this plan includes also a nominal yearly tax on the land itself."

Says Professor Fairchild of Yale university: "The tax on yield has many decided advantages. It avoids the evils of the general property tax. It is equitable and certain. It is in harmony with the peculiarities of the business of forestry and will be a distinct encouragement to the practice of forestry. Its adoption by the states would remove one obstacle to the perpetuation of the nation's forest resources."

Dealing with another obstacle to the practice of forestry protection from losses by forest fires Mr. S. L. deCarteret, treasurer and manager of the Timber Lands Mutual Fire Insurance Company of Portsmouth, N. H., presents the possibilities of timberland insurance: "First: compensation for loss at reasonable rates, which has never before been offered. Second: a stimulant to adequate protection, as policies will not be written or will be voided, unless a reasonable amount of State or individual protection is assured. Third: encouragement to hold growing lands and to make plantations with the assurance that money invested in them can not be suddenly wiped out; the creation of a value for purchase or sale of young growing timber. Fourth: the liquidation of capital. Banks will now accept insured timberland as security in the same manner_as

Telephone station in State forest preserve other insured property, and will advance a much larger amount than has been their custom heretofore."

Dr. E. Hageman Hall, secretary of the association for the protection of the Adirondacks, present at this meeting, thinks it is possible to adopt a policy under which the State may pay local taxes to maintain schools, highways, etc., the State making the charge against the growing forest, either insuring the forest against fire in the name of the State, or requiring the owner to insure it and then collecting the tax when the timber is cut, or from the insurance if the timber burns.

Mr. Ellwood Wilson, of the Laurentide Paper Company, Quebec, in addressing the meeting, declares that reforestation after cutting should be considered as replacement, the same as replacement of any equipment and that the price of lumber, pulp, etc., today should be regulated to provide for the expense of reforestation. "You can not depend on us in Canada," says Mr. Wilson, "for your future wood and lumber. The end of our accessible supply is absolutely in sight, and the end of it all is in sight. I do not think that in Canada we have pulpwood left to supply the demand for more than the next forty years to be very optimistic."

The Empire State Forest Products Association was formed in 1906 and at present its membership includes the leading lumbermen

and the pulp and paper manufacturers of the State. The members own about 1,500,000 acres of timberland in New York. Some interesting statistics concerning the work of the membership are as follows: For 1917, it consumed 645,162,720 board feet of raw material (logs and cordwood); turned out 103,320,000 board feet of timber; 567,474 tons of paper; 63,000,000 staves; 2,000,000 sets of heading; 17,000,000 lath; 15,500,000 shingles; 850,000 bushels of charcoal; 1,500 tons acetate of lime; 200,000 gallons of wood alcohol; 15,000,000 board feet of manufactured products. The members of the association employ 13,791 men, own 25 sawmills, 39 pulp mills and 24 paper mills; 816,000 horse power are developed from streams by members of the association.

It is the first association of its kind to employ a forester, Professor A. B. Recknagel of Cornell university having been granted a year's leave of absence in order to undertake this work. As the president of the association, Mr. George N. Ostrander explains: "The significance of this lies in the fact that lumbermen of the State, without prejudice and out of their own pockets, are supporting the principles of a rational and constructive system of forestry, founded upon the science of forestry itself as expounded by the universities of our State and as practiced by the federal government in the national forests. We believe a system is rational when it recognizes the economic aspect of forestry, and constructive when it provides for the future; and upon these fundamental principles we are willing to stand with the forces of education and progress."

Resolutions were adopted at the Utica meeting by the association which sum up the objects of the organization in a way that make them plain to every intelligent citizen. They are as follows:

The Empire State Forest Products Association, in its annual convention assembled, hereby resolves:

1. That this association assumes the position of thor

ough support of our national government in the great

struggle in which it is now engaged for the perpetuation of democracy and of human freedom, and we assert for it the right to appropriate all of the necessary resources of the nation, in money, property and men, that the war may be prosecuted to absolute victory, speedily, if possible, but surely and ultimately in any event, and regardless of cost or sacrifice.

2. We are proud that the men who are engaged in the industries represented in this association and in the lumber and paper trade of the State of New York have responded so generously and have so unselfishly dedicated their property and their lives, and so willingly sacrificed their comforts and that of their families, to promote the triumph and success of our nation in its great undertaking. 3. In the general prosperity of the country our industries have had their share, for which we are not ungrateful. Nevertheless, we are stirred to awe by the contemplation of the awful conditions that confront us and by the responsibilities which we are under to the nation.

4. We desire to commend the activity of the conservation commission of the State of New York. We recognize the many embarrassments which have surrounded the evolution of the department, and we pledge ourselves to give our utmost aid to the intelligent solution of the many problems which are necessary to be solved in the successful operation of that branch of the State government. 5. Always the great question confronting this association and every person interested in its industries, as well as those who love the forests for their own sake, is how the forests and forest lands of the State can be so administered, governed and controlled as to make the utmost contribution to the welfare of all of the people. Upon this subject the views of the residents of the State seem to be widely divergent. It goes without saying that unless they can come to an understanding of each other's desires and motives, and can soften and eliminate the grasping selfishness and the narrow bigotry that seems to prevail, this great field of endeavor cannot be made as fruitful as it should. We therefore urge all who are interested in the forests and forest lands of the State to approach the consideration of this subject in a spirit of fairness, and to take counsel of each other without animosity and without prejudice.

6. The estimated annual loss from the destruction and decay of the forest growth on State lands is $1,200,000. We urge that by appropriate legislative provision this loss be prevented, and that the material which is now wasted be converted into productions of which our people stand very much in need.

7. It has been shown that the present system of taxation of private forest lands may and often does amount to extortion from the owners of them. It is obvious that the method which is simplest, fairest, most easily enforcible, and least liable to abuse, is that which is based upon yield, and that that system and that alone will relieve the owner from the payment of more than one tax upon the same income.

8. The question of the regulation of streams flowing from the Adirondack and other watersheds of the State remains to vex and menace those who live or own prop

erty along or adjacent to them, and thousands and thousands of dollars worth of property is each year lost or destroyed. Waste beyond computation is permitted. The waters run from the highlands of the State and pass down to the sea, unharnessed and uncontrolled, and power which would contribute to the welfare, lighten the burdens and increase the property of our citizens subject to taxation (and of the State), is suffered to be lost because of the dog-in-the-manger policy of raucous-voiced radicals who disseminate opinions based upon the assertion of facts that do not exist, to the confusion and discouragement of the legislature. We contend that this question is one of easy solution. The safety and prosperity of a large number of our people demand that it be bravely and intelligently met and solved, and we urge that that be done.

9. We commend such legislation as has been made providing for forest patrol and the prevention of forest fires, and we ask that those safeguards be further strengthened and extended; and also that the district rangers, fire wardens and other officers employed in fire-fighting be completely classified under the Civil Service Law.

10. We ask that adequate appropriation to complete the reforestation of the denuded forest land of the State be made.

11. We ask that a complete and actual inventory be made by the Conservation Commission of the forest lands committed to its charge and that definite boundaries thereof be fixed.

12. We commend the various forestry schools for their work. We ask that it be continued and extended. 13. We recommend that means be taken to procure at an early date a judicial interpretation of section seven of article seven of the State constitution.

14. We urge the Conservation Commission to employ its every resource to protect the forests from the ravages of its insect enemies and from malevolent fungus growths, and we ask the legislature to extend the powers of the commission and supply it with adequate funds to insure success along these lines.

15. We commend forest insurance to the careful consideration of our members and other owners of timberlands.

16. Our officers have earned our thanks and the commendation of the people of the entire State for the efficient and intelligent and satisfactory manner in which thay have performed their duties during the past year.

17. Finally, we wish to announce to the people of the State that our business is entirely an honorable one, that we have no antagonism towards them or to their interests or the interests of any of them; that on the contrary the successful prosecution of our enterprises is necessary to the enjoyment and promotes the happiness of the people of the State, and adds to their general prosperity, and we denounce the attitude of those who from selfish reasons undervalue or seek to create false impressions of us and of our work and of its results, as being unjust and injurious, not only to us and to those who consume our products and to those whose products we consume, but as well to all the people of the State.

T has long been known that the Barge canal is of vast use for many things aside from the movement of freight-carrying fleets running between the Great Lakes and the Atlantic seaboard, but what is, perhaps, the most unique use to which it has ever been placed has been discovered by State Engineer and Surveyor Frank M. Williams. While on an inspection trip along the Champlain branch of the canal system, last fall, Mr. Williams was greatly surprised to see a herd of cows swimming in the twelve foot channel at Smith's Basin and apparently taking keen delight out of their adventure. His curiosity aroused, Mr. Williams waited until fifty cows had left the channel and, after making a number of inquiries, elicited the fact that the herd belonged to one of the farmers in the vicinity and that they had started swimming the channel without any urging on his part.

Further questioning brought out that the farmer, whose property lays on both sides of the canal, had decided to use his old pasture on the west bank for other purposes, and early in the spring had taken his herd to a new pasture on the east bank, trusting that the two hunhundred foot channel would keep them from the west side and away from the railroad tracks running through his property. The cows, however, refused to remain in the new pasture and a short time after they had been placed there waded into the canal until they reached a point where it takes an abrupt drop into the new twelve foot channel and finding themselves in water over their heads, swam the remaining two hundred feet to the opposite shore. This was repeated by every cow in the herd time and again. The farmer constructed a fence along the railroad tracks to protect his cattle and finally succeeded in training the herd so that they would remain on the east bank until milking time, when they are called from the stables on the other side and swim the canal without being driven across, thereby saving the farmer much time.

Other farmers in the neighborhood, whose land lies on both sides of the new channel, have sought to train their herds in a similar manner but have had no success, and some have gone so far as to place their cows in with the swimming

herd, hoping that these would set an example which theirs might follow. The other cows would occasionally go to the canal bank and would wade in the water for a short distance, but no amount of urging could prevail upon them to take the plunge into the deeper waters.

A peculiar feature about the herd is that while the cattle will swim the channel, when called, they will only leave their pasture at one particular spot, and no cow will swim it unless accompanied by the remainder of the herd. In fact, the constant use of two places on each side of the channel by the fifty animals has so torn down the sides that a sort of lane has been formed and a board embankment has been constructed to hold back the gravel.

There is only one other case on record of a cow swimming in the Barge canal. This animal was discovered swimming in the middle of Oneida lake, and how it got there or from whence it came has always remained a mystery, as its owner was never located. This occurred about a year ago, and judging from the swollen condition of the animal, which was very near exhaustion and was towed to shore by a motor boat, it had been in the water for a considerable length of time.

Those who are informed about such matters say that it is customary to see cows wade in shallow streams, but that it very rarely happens that one of the animals will muster up courage enough to swim from one point to another.

Cows swimming across the barge canal

Great truths are greatly won; not found by chance,
Nor wafted on the breath of summer dream;
But grasped in the great struggle of the soul,
Hard buffeting with adverse wind and stream.

- BONAR.

No cheating or bargaining will ever get a single thing out of nature's "establishment" at half price. Do we want to be strong? - we must work. To be hungry? we must starve. To be happy? - we must be kind. To be wise we must look and think.- RUSKIN.

E

VERY Wednesday night ten teams, made up of employees of the State departments, engage in the ancient and rollicking game of bowling. Probably nowhere else in the State are there so many men under one employment who meet every week to enjoy themselves in this form of recreation and exercise. These ten bowling teams are thus brought together in a comradeship that probably could not be effected in any other way. Their enthusiastic rivalry and social enjoyment are among the most talked of events at the Capitol.

W. M. Thomas

The State departments bowling league proved during its first season to be so popular an institution that its membership was increased this year from eight to ten teams and it has started its second season under the brightest auspices.

The original officers, William M. Thomas, president, Hugh J. Kelly, vice-president, Stephen A. Spellman, secretary and treasurer, and W. C. Wendren and James Hamilton, referees, were reelected unanimously. The league as at present constituted consists of teams representing the Attorney-General's, Comptroller's, Education, State Engineer's, Excise, Executive, Highway, Insurance and Tax departments and the Public Service Commission. The board of governcrs (the members of which are the team captains)

ding" during the games every Wednesday night show that this object has been accomplished. Good fellows who otherwise would have remained strangers have been brought together, and friendships have been formed which will last long after advancing age has forced the boys to lay the balls in the lockers for the last time.

The membership of the league includes many of the good ones who formerly made records in the old Albany Bowling league, which was the pioneer bowling organization in Albany, among whom are Waldron, Kelly, Gallien, Byron, Austin and Dolson; while Ostrander, Fennessey, Finch, Johnson, Cordial, Taaffe, Price, Lincoln, Spellman, Harrington, Bartholomew, Turner, Graves and Winans will hold their own with the best bowlers in the city.

Finch with an average of 185, leads the league up to date, with Ostrander second, and Fennessey third, with Price, Waldron, Cordial, Byron, Johnson, Taaffe, Gallien, Kelly and Spellman close behind. Johnny Waldron, an old State league star, and still one of the best bowlers in the capitol district, is just beginning to hit his proper stride and the boys who are ahead of him will have to keep going to maintain their lead. Kelly and Spellman both are top notchers and are bound to improve their standing as they round into midseason form.

Among the most enthusiastic members of the league are Billy Orr, the Governor's secretary, deputy comptroller Reusswig, Counsel Le Roy A. Lincoln of the Insurance department, and Counsel Harry D. Sanders of the excise department, who are hitting the maples in fine shape. Probably there is not a man in the State service whose time is more taken up with affairs of state than Orr, yet he has managed to find time to participate in every game which his team was scheduled to bowl since the formation of the league. If all the members would follow his good example, there would be no necessity for having any rule in regard to taking averages.

is composed of William M. Thomas, Attorney-General's office; E. P. Kearney, Comptroller's office; Henry J. Byron, Education Department; Roy G. Finch, State Engineer's office; Henry Gallien, Excise Department; Frank G. Fennessey, Executive Department; J. V. Harrington, Highway Department; Fred E. Johnson, Insurance Department; Edward J. Cordial, Public Service Commission; and Louis C. Hart, State Tax Department. This league has introduced an innovation in Albany bowling circles by having all the teams bowl on the same night, Wednesday of each week, using ten of the alleys at Tate's new Howard street academy. This brings all the members together each bowling night and adds much to the social side of the game. Indeed, one of the main objects of the organizers of the league was to foster and encourage the spirit of brotherhood and good fellowship among the great body of co-workers for the State, and the enthusiasm, friendly rivalry and gcod-natured "kid

Deputy Comptroller Reusswig will be missed greatly by the members of the league when he leaves on January first to assume the duties of directing the affairs of a trust company in Utica. His affability, courtesy and all around good fellowship have endeared him to his fellow members, and they wish him success in his new field of endeavor and hope

S. A. Spellman