Result of Fire Protection Commenced in 1890, and Seed Felling Made in 1894, Five to Ten Pine 



Seed Trees Are Left on Each Acre 



to supervise the work of the town 

 wardens, instruct them in their duties 

 and weed out incompetent wardens a 

 sound basis is laid for fire protection of 

 woodlands. 



But no force of fire wardens, how- 

 ever good, can prevent fires if neither 

 the owners of forest lands nor the resi- 

 dents of the locality desire protection. 

 If fires are constantly being set, and the 

 wardens' duty is merely to extinguish 

 them, the expense would be prohibitive. 

 Prevention of fire is the cheapest meth- 

 od, and this can be accomplished by 

 education of the public to the damage 

 done by small as well as large fires, by 

 punishment of ofifenders, and, when 

 possible, by providing for patrol during 

 the dry times by the wardens or depu- 

 ties. 



Large owners can supplement the 

 work of town wardens by using their 

 employees as a fire patrol, and state 



474 



laws should provide for the appoint- 

 ment of such persons as fire wardens. 



The progress already made in some 

 states under proper laws is such as to 

 encourage the belief that complete fire 

 protection may, in time, be secured 

 wherever an honest effort is made along 

 the right lines. 



In the matter of tax reform for the 

 encouragement of private forestry, lit- 

 tle progress has been made. Many laws 

 have been passed providing for some 

 form of bounty, rebate or exemption 

 on plantations of timber trees. Some 

 have been declared unconstitutional, 

 while others have not been taken ad- 

 vantage of. A more general reform is 

 needed. As long as timber is looked 

 upon as real estate it will be overtaxed. 

 Virgin timber which has cost the owner 

 no effort to produce it may with some 

 reason be assessed on the basis of 

 realty, but where woods are grown as 



