232 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



judgment of the Forest Commission a dangerous 

 hazard is found. Both these acts are beUeved 

 to be more workable, because more elastic, 

 than any other similar acts submitted for 

 enactment in this country. 



The campaign against violators of the law 

 is pursued with undiminished vigor, and to 

 New Jersey still belongs the credit of proving 

 that a law against firing the forest can be en- 

 forced. The statement is made that during 

 the year 1913, 350 violations were established, 

 of which 39 were simply technical offenses, 

 chiefly burning without a permit and starting 

 back fires without the authority of a fire warden. 

 In another form the statement is made that 52 

 per cent of all the fires started, 678, large and 

 small, were traced to their authors and fixed 

 as violations of the law. Of the 350 violations 

 the railroads were responsible for 255, brush 

 burners for 72, smokers for 8 and miscellaneous 

 agents for 15. The money penalties recovered 

 in these cases amounted to $1,538.67 at the 

 end of the fiscal year, October 31. Since that 

 date further sums have been received on ac- 

 count of 1913 fires sufficient to make the 

 total penalties collected approximately $2,500. 



Massachusetts. 



The Massachusetts Forestry Association 

 has offered a prize of a mile of street or road 

 planted with shade trees to the town or city 

 in Massachusetts which this spring plants the 

 greatest number of shade trees in its streets in 

 proportion to its population. Such a prize as 

 this is to be based on the number of live trees of 

 the spring planting when a count is made on 

 September 15. At least fifty towns or cities 

 must enter the contest, and already a large 

 number have expressed the desire to do so. 

 The mile of tree planting will require about 

 two hundred trees. 



Maine. 



Prof. John M. Briscoe of the University of 

 Maine announces that the camp course in 

 forestry which he inaugurated last year will 

 be continued this summer, and that he expects 

 a large number of applicants. The course 

 is for two weeks and many farmers and land 

 owners take it. It gives them sufficient in- 

 struction in general forestry to answer for 

 themselves questions about the best ways of 

 reforesting their waste land; managing their 

 woodlots so as to get the best income without 

 destroying their productiveness; estimating 

 their timber as to amount of it in board feet 

 and its sale value, and protecting their wood- 

 lands from fire, insect depredations and fungus 

 diseases. The only requirements for the course 

 are that the student shall be over eighteen 

 years of age and in good health. 



The University is also introducing lecture 

 courses on forestry in the normal schools of 

 the State and giving special lectures to the 

 Farmers Week and special short courses in the 

 college. 



North Carolina. 



The North Carolina Forestry Association 

 will hold its Fourth Annual Convention in 



Asheville on Wednesday and Thursday, April 

 8th and 9th. Advantage is being taken of the 

 fact that the meeting is being held in the 

 mountains for the first time to arrange trips for 

 the delegates to two of the most interesting 

 types of forests to be found in the State. These 

 are the forest plantations of the Biltmore 

 Estate and the spruce forests on the slopes of 

 Mount Mitchell, the highest peak east of the 

 Rockies. The Appalachian Park Association 

 and the Asheville Board of Trade are lending 

 their hearty cooperation in arranging for the 

 Convention and no effort will be spared to make 

 this one of the most interesting and largely 

 attended meetings ever held in the South. 



The first meeting will be held on Wednesday 

 morning in Hotel Langren, when the set pro- 

 gram will be taken up. Prominent speakers 

 are being secured for such subjects as State 

 Forest Fire Prevention, Improving the Farm 

 Woodland, Forests and the People, Shaping 

 State Forestry Legislation, Publicity in For- 

 estry, etc. 



Wednesday afternoon will be taken up with 

 a carriage drive to the pine plantations of the 

 Biltmore Estate, where forestry has been prac- 

 ticed for a longer time than any other place in 

 the United States. An evening session will 

 be held at the Hotel Langren. 



Thursday morning the delegates will be 

 taken over the recently completed logging 

 road of the Perley and Crockett Lumber Com- 

 pany, Black Mountain, into the spruce forests 

 now being logged near Mount Mitchell and just 

 outside of the Appalachian National Forest. 

 A basket lunch will be provided. The return 

 trip will be made in the afternoon in time for 

 the delegates to catch both the east and west 

 bound trains. 



Publicity is to be the keynote of this Con- 

 vention. It is hoped that some definite plan 

 can be arranged to secure the support and, if 

 possible, the pledge of the various candidates 

 for the State Legislature who will be in the 

 field during the coming summer preparatory to 

 the general state election next November. 

 North Carolina is badly in need of up-to-date 

 forestry legislation and it is to be hoped that 

 a General Assembly can be elected which will 

 act favorably upon the bills advocated by the 

 Forestry Association. 



Rhode Island. 



Jesse B. Mowry, Commissioner of Forestry 

 for Rhode Island, writes: "Down to the middle 

 of the 19th century the farmers got theii 

 limited supply of ready cash from the sale of 

 hay, wood, charcoal and potatoes in Provi- 

 dence, and of milk, cheese, and butter to the 

 local mill operatives. Those who had little 

 streams on their farms erected gristmills, 

 sawmills, and small shops for the manufacture 

 of spools and bobbins which found a ready 

 market in the cotton and woolen factories 

 through Rhode Island. These little mills 

 afforded the farmers a chance to work in winter 

 and added to their incomes. 



"The disappearance of the virgin timber, 

 the drift of the farmers' boys cityward, and 



