STATE WORK 



Forest Fires In California 



A strenuous campaign against the preva- 

 lence of forest fires, says the Sacramento 

 Union, is being mapped out by State For- 

 ester G. W. Homans and Chief Deputy 

 Hodge with a view to introducing systematic 

 work on the part of private owners and 

 lumber companies against the great destruc- 

 tion which has marked the last few years. 



In all probability, Homans will present a 

 proposition to the next legislature for the 

 establishment of a system of forest patrol paid 

 by the state and to cooperate with the fed- 

 eral forest rangers. Forester Homans be- 

 lieves this to be the most practicable method 

 of meeting the fire question and is enthusiasi- 

 astic for its adoption in the state. 



The forestry department will attempt to 

 induce the various counties of the state to 

 make appropriations for county firewardens, 

 and appeals have been made to lumber com- 

 panies and private timber land owners to 

 make recommendations for the appointment 

 of deputy firewardens. 



Lists of firewardens throughout the state 

 will be tabulated for the purpose of securing 

 complete data without unnecessary delay on 

 all forest fires. Printed rules referring to 

 the making of fires will also be distributed 

 freely, and many precautions will be taken 

 against fire. 



Last year's reports show a total of 638 for- 

 est fires, 24s being of unknown origin. 

 Campers are held responsible for the set- 

 ting of 114; lightning, seventy-four; engines, 

 fifty-three ; clearing land, forty-five ; incendi- 

 ary, thirty-nine : hunters, twenty-one ; blast- 

 ing, nine ; smoking bees, seven.; and electric 

 wires, two. 



The total acreage burned last year was 

 357,269, and 40,000,000 feet of timber, val- 

 ued at $100,000, was destroyed. The largest 

 number of fires reported in any single month 

 was in August, when 174 fires were reported. 



Railway Ties In Connecticut 



From the Connecticut Agricultural Experi- 

 ment Station comes the statement that se- 

 rious inroads on Connecticut forests are be- 

 ing made by the railroads in their search 

 for ties. An officer of the station says that 

 in certain cases owners of steam sawmills 

 used the chestnut tree blight to induce 

 owners of chestnut woodlands to sell their 

 trees. 



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The New Haven railway system is con- 

 suming about 2,000,000 ties a year, the price 

 for which has for some time remained sta- 

 tionarj' and during the last five years has 

 increased onh^ 10 cents a tie, the price of 

 first-class ties being now 50 cents each, 

 and of second class, 30 cents each, whether 

 the ties are sawed or hewed. On its elec- 

 tric zone, however, the company uses ex- 

 clusively creosoted ties, which last for twenty 

 years, while norf-creosoted ties last about 

 seven years. The cost of the creosoted ties 

 is about twice that of the ordinary ties. As 

 a matter of relative economy, therefore, it 

 seems probable that the use of creosoted ties 

 by the compan}- will be considerably 

 increased. 



'M i^ ^ 



New Hampshire 



The New Hampshire Forestry Commis- 

 sion held a meeting March 30 at Gorham 

 in the interest of forestry and especially of 

 protection from forest fires. Besides the 

 commissioners, several foresters and repre- 

 sentatives of the large luinber companies of 

 the state were present. 



W. T. Cox, of Washington, assistant for- 

 ester, United States Forest Service, out- 

 lined the methods of cooperative fire pro- 

 tection practiced by the large timber interests 

 in the northwest. 



Austin Cary. superintendent of state for- 

 ests of New York, formerly forester for the 

 Berlin Mills Company, and later professor of 

 forestry at Harvard, sent a paper on the 

 methods of dealing with the forest fire prob- 

 lem in the Adirondacks, which was read by 

 Philip W. Ayres, who supplemented the 

 paper with statements concerning things that 

 have been noted in his own work. 



Forest Commissioner E. E. Ring, of 

 Maine, and State Forester A. F. Hawes, of 

 Vermont, gave addresses on the work in 

 their states, and E. C. Hirst, state forester 

 of New Hampshire, outlined the New Hamp- 

 shire situation. 



A committee was named from the lum- 

 ber interests of Coos, Carroll, and Grafton 

 counties to consider methods among them- 

 selves for protection against destructive forest 

 fires. A. B. Libby, of Gorham ; W. R. Brown, 

 of Berlin, and M. F. Blanchard, of Port- 

 land, are members of this committee. 



