128 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



A watchman, continual!)' on the alert, 

 and using field glasses, is able to view for 

 miles in all directions, and on discovering 

 smoke or fire, telephones- immediately to 

 the telephone office, where lines radiate in 

 every direction. The operator at the latter 

 place can promptly and easily warn farms 

 equipped with telephones or communities of 

 the approaching fire, and, in addition, sum- 

 mon help from various points. Frequently, 

 before a community is aware of the near- 

 ness of a forest fire, the ringing of the bell 

 calls the farmer to the telephone line, and 

 he, in turn, others, affording them ample 

 time to remove their families to a place of 

 safety and to check the progress of the 

 flames before they approach dangerously 

 near. 



In addition to the watchman or look-out, 

 men are employed to patrol the forests, 

 unsually carrying a very efficient portable 

 telephone of light weight. The latter may 

 be readily attached to lines which are to-day 

 found in nearly all parts of the forests of 

 northern and central Maine and which run 

 to various camps or exchanges in villages 

 or t«wns. 



In the heart of the hunting and fishing 

 country many camps, especially up-to-date 

 ones, have telephones and lines running to 

 the nearest exchange. These lines are, of 

 course, of great assistance to the patrolmen, 

 who familiarize themselves with their loca- 

 tion and reach them easily and quickly on 

 discovering a fire. Without these lines in- 

 stalled by campers and usually left the year 

 round, and, of course, those built by the 

 forest commissioner, the patrolman would be 

 compelled to travel miles before being able 

 to find a line to which he could attach his 

 portable set and warn a community and sum- 

 mon help. — Bangor (Me.) Commercial. 



^ ^ i« 



The Beginning of Forestry in the 

 United States 



When did the United States begin the 

 practise of forestry? 



While Washington was serving his first 

 term as President, a recommendation came 

 to him that the Government ought to buv 

 live-oak islands on the coast of Georgia to 

 make sure of a supply of ship timber for 

 war vessels. The idea appears to have orig- 

 inated with Joshua Humphreys, whose of- 

 ficial title was "Constructor of the United 

 States Navy," although about the only navy 

 then existing was made up of six ships on 

 paper, and not one stick of timber to build 

 them had yet been cut. The vessels were 

 designed to fight the north African pirates. 



Five years after the recommendation was 

 made Congress appropriated money to buy 

 live-oak land. Grover and Blackbeard islands 

 on the const of Georgia were bought for 

 $22,500. They contained 1,950 acres. 



Louisiana was bought soon after, and in 

 1817 the Six Islands., of 19,000 acres, and 

 containing ,^7,000 live-oak trees, were with- 



drawn from sale, and set apart as a re- 

 serve. In 1825, Congress appropriated $io,ooa 

 to buy additional live-oak land on Santa 

 Rosa Sound, western Florida, and subse- 

 quently other Florida timberlands, aggregat- 

 ing 208,224 acres, were reserved. 



Up to that time nothing more had been 

 done than to buy or reserve land for the 

 timber growing naturally upon it ; but the 

 work was to be carried further upon the 

 Santa Rosa purchase. The plan included 

 planting, protecting, cultivating, and cutting 

 live oak for the navy. That timber was 

 then considered indispensable in building war 

 vessels. Much had been said and written 

 of the danger of exhaustion of supply. Set- 

 tlers destroyed the timber to clear land, and 

 European nations were buying large quanti- 

 ties for their navies. In response to re- 

 peated warnings, the Government finally took 

 steps to grow timber for its own use. 



Young oaks were planted on the Santa 

 Rosa lands. Difficulty was experienced in 

 inducing young trees to grow. The success- 

 ful tran.splanting of the oak is not easy, un- 

 less done at the proper time and in the right 

 way. The plantations at Santa Rosa were 

 generally unsuccessful ; but large quantities 

 of acorns were planted, and a fair propor- 

 tion of them grew. But the chief eflForts 

 were directed to pruning, training, and car- 

 ing for the wild trees. Thickets about them 

 were cut away to let in air and light. 



What the ultimate success of the forestry 

 work would have been cannot be told. The 

 civil war brought a complete change in war 

 vessels by substituting iron for wood. For- 

 estry work stopned. The timber reserves 

 were neglected. Squatters occupied the land. 

 After a number of years all the reserves, 

 except some of the Florida land, were opened 

 to settlement. 



^i ^ ^ 



Tardy Action to Prevent Forest Fires 



Under a law passed last winter, the state 

 of New York has established the first four 

 fire-fighting stations with permanent em- 

 ployees in the Adirondack's. It may be 

 capt'ous to remark "better late than never," 

 or that it is somewhat like "locking the sta- 

 ble door after the horse is stolen." Any one 

 who has seen the Adirondacks after last 

 summer's reign of devastation will wonder 

 what the wardens are to save from fire. 

 Future generations among the bare hills of 

 the Adirondacks, when the value of forest 

 lands, for water-power, soil-saving and flood- 

 prevention is generally known, will ask what 

 would have been the result if prevention 

 instead of protection had been employed. 

 They will inquire, perhaps, what would have 

 happened if the railways had been made to 

 burn oil, or use electricity, or pay for the 

 damage the .sparks from their locomotives 

 began. They will wonder at the careless- 

 ness of the public in letting fires start at all, 

 or not fighting them when they got headway, 

 as was the common attitude a few years r.go. 



