378 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



mum pay for wardens has been fixed at 

 $1.50 for five hours or less and 25 cents per 

 hour thereafter, and the pay of those em- 

 ployed to assist shall be at the rate of $1 for 

 five hours or less, and 20 cents per hour 

 thereafter. Expenses on account of forest 

 fires are to be borne half by the state and 

 half by the county in which the fires occur. 

 In addition to payment for fire fighting, each 

 warden may receive a salary of $20 per an- 

 num from the forest reserve fund. 



i^ V»£ i^ 



Massachusetts 



The Massachusetts method of acquiring 

 state forests and at the same time promot- 

 ing private forestry by taking over through 

 purchase or gift comparatively small tracts 

 of land for reforestation with the privilege 

 secured by law to the owner of repurchasing 

 the property in ten years, paying a moderate 

 percentage to cover the cost of the work of 

 planting and care by the state in the mean- 

 time, is progressing slowly but surely. Massa- 

 chusetts forestry figures look small as com- 

 pared with those of states of larger area and 

 more scattered population, but it must be 

 remembered that forestry, so far as this state 

 is concerned, will alwaj'S be intensive. At 

 present nearly 2,000 acres have been taken 

 by the state under this law and are being 

 planted under the direction of the state for- 

 ester, F. W. Rane. White pine and Nor- 

 way spruce are very largely used for this 

 purpose. About 500,000 pine seedlings have 

 been imported, and about 1,000,000 pines and 

 Norway spruce have been grown in the 

 nurseries of the state forest service at Am- 

 herst and East Sandwich. The tracts in- 

 cluded in these 2,000 acres are distributed 

 among about twenty towns in different parts 

 of the state. A large part of the tracts has 

 been turned over to the state without cost. 

 If the former owner does not choose to re- 

 sume his property at the end of the ten years 

 by paying the required amount to the state, it 

 will become the permanent property of the 

 commonwealth. 



The Massachusetts legislature has disposed 

 of most of the tree and forest legislation that 

 was before it at this year's session. An act 

 was passed to lessen the danger of forest 

 fires in the case of Plymouth and Barn- 

 stable by prohibiting aliens from entering 

 upon any land in those counties for the pur- 

 pose of picking flowers or berries or for 

 camping, without first obtaining the written 

 consent of the owner. The pineries in these 

 Cape Cod counties have been subject to con- 

 tinual fires of considerable extent and de- 

 structiveness. and this act seeks to diminish 

 one of the frequent causes of these fires. 



The town shade tree law of Massachusetts 

 has for many years been the most effective 

 law of the kind in force in any state in the 



Union, and by an act of the present legis- 

 lature the provisions of this law are ex- 

 tended to the cities of the state. Another 

 act called forth by prevalent conditions in 

 the state requires any one wishing to cut 

 a tree near the highway limits to prove that 

 such tree is not within the highway. In the 

 country towns of the state it has heretofore 

 been very difficult to determine whether trees 

 in woodlots bordering a highway were within 

 the highway limits, and therefore under pub- 

 lic control or not. This was owing to the 

 fact that most of the country roads are an- 

 cient layouts that have not been accurately 

 surveyed. 



At the request of the state forester, a 

 law was enacted prohibiting the sending up 

 of fire-balloons of any description and pro- 

 viding a heavy penalty for violation. This 

 was prompted by the fact that forest fires 

 have been traced to the use of these balloons. 



A law was also enacted empowering the 

 state forester, with the approval of the gov- 

 ernor and counsel, to accept bequests or gifts 

 of land or money on behalf of the state to be 

 used for the purpose of advancing forestry 

 interests. 



Another law provided that towns of a valu- 

 ation of $1,500,000 or less appropriating money 

 for defense against forest fires will receive 

 in addition from the state an equal amount 

 up to a limit of $250. 



The Massachusetts Forestry Association,, 

 after publishing, under the name of Wood- 

 land and Roadside, a small periodical for eight 

 years, has decided to discontinue it, and the 

 last number was published in May. This 

 bulletin has served a very useful purpose, but 

 the officers of the association believe that the 

 work of the association has now reached 

 such a stage that its purpose can best be 

 carried out by the issuance of special bul- 

 letins and circulars from time to time with- 

 out any regular publication. This makes it 

 eminently desirable that the members of the 

 Massachusetts Forestry Association and 

 others who have received Woodland and 

 Roadside in the past should become sub- 

 scribers for American Forestry and thereby 

 be able to keep regularly in touch with the 

 progress of the forest movement. 



i!S ^ ^ 



New Haoipshire 



As a result of the meeting recently held 

 by the New Hampshire Forestry Commis 

 sion, it is announced by E. C. Hirst, state 

 forester, the large timberland owners of the 

 northern part of the state have subscribed 

 enough to put in operation during the danger 

 season a practicable system of fire protec- 

 tion. The commission has located three sta- 

 tions — on Mount Kearsarge in Conway, 

 Mount Washington, and Mount Rosebrook — 

 but these are inadequate to cover the north 



