SIR: We have the honor to transmit to the Legislature, herewith, the second annual report of this Commission as indicated in the preliminary report of January 31st.

Very respectfully yours,

TOWNSEND COX,

SHERMAN W. KNEVALS,
THEODORE B. BASSELIN,

Commissioners.

PREFATORY NOTE.

To the Forest Commissioners:

GENTLEMEN: In preparing the second annual report of the Forest Commission I have endeavored to present a plain, succinct statement of the work of the Commission from its appointment to the present time, with a brief sketch of the forestry movement in this State. In view of the short time that the Commission has been in existence, and of the fact that it has had no funds which could be devoted to making original investigations, scientific or practical experiments, surveys, etc., it could not be expected that its report should embody such information as could only be obtained by the employment of such means. In lieu of this I have presented a brief compilation of the thoughts and conclusions of the best writers and investigators of our time, in reference to the subject of forestry, coupled with a statement of authenticated facts bearing on that topic, with the hope of attracting public attention more directly to, and of enlisting the aid of the people more earnestly in the important effort to maintain the remnant of the forest area still left to them.

In making this compilation I have been much assisted by the labors of the late Dr. Franklin B. Hough, to whose zeal and foresighted efforts on behalf of the forests the State is greatly indebted. I am also under obligations to Mr. B. E. Fernow, Chief of the United States Forestry Division; Mr. James Hall, the State geologist; Mr. J. A. Lintner, State entomologist; Mr. B. Fernow, of the State Library, and to many others. The admirable papers read before the meetings of the American Forestry Congress have also been a source of much aid.

Very respectfully yours,

ABNER LEAVENWORTH TRAIN,
Secretary of the Commission.

ALBANY, N. Y., April 7, 1887.

297415

UNIV OF

REPORT.

THE WORK OF THE YEAR AND ITS RESULTS.

The initial life of all institutions of this character is involved in much drudgery and its development necessarily slow. There must be at the outset a general scheme, or working plan laid down, under which such institution is to be ushered into existence. Something is to be made to live which heretofore has had no being. To effect this there should be much deliberation and discussion of the ends to be attained and of the interests of the public, as well as of individuals, that are likely to be involved during the progress of the work. The selection must be made of proper men to fill the various posts of duty; the work to be done must be mapped out and assigned to each, and a general organization of the forces must be effected. There are to be collected all the materials, records, facts, statistics and information of all sorts, that are to form the basis of future efforts. It, as must be acknowledged, all this demands an expenditure of much time and painstaking effort to set in motion the wheels of an ordinary organization, the general scope and principles involved in which are known and understood, how much more is this true where the subject to be dealt with is a new one, little understood by any body, and when what knowledge soever may exist in relation thereto is theoretical, and little or nothing can be found of a practical nature to afford a precedent, or to act as a guide. Of this latter character is the task given to the Forest Commission. The science of forestry in America is yet in its swaddling clothes-it is, perhaps, a risk to assume that its toilet is so far made as that. Even the practical business matters that have been presented to the Commission for investigation and settlement (and which, indeed, could claim little direct connection with forestry in its legitimate sense) involved substantially new questions, demanded much investigation, were beclouded with much loosely woven legislation, and were often entangled in such contradictory enactments, opinions, discussions and rulings as to render it difficult to find a clue out of the labyrinth.