Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1917-01-12
PRESIDENTS REPORT.
Continued from page y

tention to impose q burden upon the
college. Those who knew him best can
testify how earnestlyit was upon his
heart to further the prosperity of the
college. 1t Is plain from his will that
Mr.. Battell intended his bequest to
yield a substantial income, He directs
that 81 900 year be expended for the
benefit of worthy young women of Ad-
olson County in securing an education
The balance Of the net annual income is
directed to be devoted to the general
uses and purposes of the college. He
anticipated an income from the portions
set apart as park, since he prescribes
that if Middlebury College is ever d.
vided into separate institutions for men
and women that portion thus set apart
be for the use of the mems college and
the income of the other portions be for
the women's college, Apparently he
expected approximately as much in
come from the park portions as from
the other.
SHORTY before his death Mr.. Battell
prepared deed Of his forest lands to
the college, in which he prescribed that
they be managed according to the
best scientific methods of forestry and
the conservation of the natural resources
as they are understood and practiced at
the present time, and as the same may
be understood and practiced in the
future" That deed was not executed,
but it may be assumed that its terms
define the purpose of his benefactions
as he had come to see them.
Having in mind the purpose of the
bequest, as above summarized, and the
instructions as to its use, the duty of
the college in discharge of its trust may
be outlined as follows:
/. To preserve intact the portion de-
fined as visible from "Silent Cliff" in
Hancock, as a specimen of the original
Vermont forest in its virgin and primeval
state. 1t was one of the main features
of the Vermont forest park which Mr..
Battell desired to create that such
tract of original forest should be pre-
served, and this purpose should be car
ried out, whether it be found profitable
or Improbable to do so.
2. The further duty of the college is
to treat the rest of the wild lands,
those unrestricted as well as those d.
rected to be preserved, as a field for
scientific forestry, never denudng any
land and always having in mind its park
character harvesting the timber as it
comes to maturity, but seeking always
to improve the land as forest, both by
the character of the cutting and by ex-
tensive planting.
at might be urged that the injunc-
ton against cutting any trees is general,
and therefore forbids any practical use
of the land, such as is contemplated in
scientific forestry. That provision how
ever can not be so treated without doing
violence to the sentence in which it &C.
ours and also to the provision as a
whole. 1t is a fundamental law of in
depreciation that provision must be
interpreted, if possible, 50 as to give
effect to all its parts"
Mr.. BATTELL's PURPOSE.
Mr.. BattelPs real purpose must be in
terpreted out of his will as whole. 1t
cannot be made to turn upon any one
expression to the exclusion of others
and their natural differences. Each eX-
preston must be- interpreted in con-
nection with all the rest and due weight
must be given to each and every part
and not to any one particular phase.
1.-THE prohibition against cutting trees
is a part of a sentence which begins
with the limitation so far AS reasonably
may be. 1t is to be noted also that
the reason he states why no trees are to
be cut is because he desires to pre-
serve intact said wild lands, especially
the Hancock part thereof as a specimen
of the original Vermont forest, His
reference to the Hancock part thereof
shows that he contemplated the posi-
biity of different treatment for other
parts of the land; and his desire to pre-
serve a specimen of the original Ver-
mont forest or, as he also expresses it,
forest in its virgin and primeval state
is naturally limited to the first growth
timber sections.
Scientific forestry is simply the best
practical way to preserve perpetually
forest land and make it yield the lar
gest possible pleasure and benefit to
successive generations. 1t would best
fit the idea of "a park for the benefit
of said Middlebury College and the
students thereof" to use it as the field
for the operation of forestry. That
would most truly make it park for the
students of the college, affording them