RURAL MAIL PATROL 



533 



established with the Boston «& Maine 

 Railroad during the year, leading to the 

 appointment of Mr. E. A. Ryder at the 

 head of a Fire Claims Department, and 

 an agreement with the State Commis- 

 sion that if the crew section bosses in any 

 towns are appointed State Deputy Fire 

 Wardens, the railroad will take charge 

 of all fires originating from their right- 

 of-way, and reimburse the towns in 

 which said fire occurs for all expense 

 incurred in extinguishing the same. 

 Also that all section crews will be in- 

 structed and equipped to handle fires 

 occurring in their section ; that all sta- 

 tion agents will be instructed to post 

 notices within stations and to actively 

 assist in spreading alarm and securing 

 aid and assistance in the case of fires, 

 occuring on each side of their station ; 

 that fire signals from engines will be 

 sounded, and that a commencement will 

 be made towards cleaning up the slash 

 and ditching outside of the right-of- 

 way in dangerous places. Legislation 

 calling for the permission and assistance 

 of adjacent land owners in this most 

 important work should be passed at the 

 next Legislature. Two large mogul oil 

 burning engines have been installed on 

 the Maine Central Railroad to run up 

 the heavy grade through the Crawford 

 Notch, and it is particularly desired that 

 this installation be extended to other 

 branch roads throughout the State. 



A movement towards the protection 

 of forests from over taxation has been 

 started at the recent convention to 

 amend the constitution of New Hamp- 

 shire, and a bill passed to amend the 

 equal and proportionate assessment of 

 all property for the purpose of taxation 

 and to allow a special classification of 

 timberland. This will enable the com- 

 ing Legislature to act if it is so dis- 

 posed to do. The various methods 

 under which this could be done will be 

 discussed at a special meeting Friday 

 morning at the Mt. Pleasant Hotel. 



The Commission regrets that it was 

 not possible for the party to go by 

 the way of Boscowen where the 

 State has now some three hundred 

 thousand transplants of White, Red 

 and Scotch Pine, Norway Spruce, 

 Balsam Fir, Red Oak, Chestnut and 

 Basswood under cultivation preparatory 

 to selling them during the coming sea- 

 son. The nursery distributed two hun- 

 dred thousand trees during the past 

 year, principally for planting on farms. 



On the run to-morrow to Bretton 

 Woods a few of the reservations spoken 

 of above can be seen by the party, and 

 some of the mountains on which lookout 

 stations have been established, and the 

 Commission joins with the Association 

 in hoping that the weather, the road and 

 the automobiles for the run be equally 

 settled and propitious for your pleasure. 



*An address delivered at North Woodstock, July 17, at the Fifth Annual Forest Con- 

 ference. 



RURAL MAIL PATROL 



By J. G. Peters, forest Service 



J^:;^HROUGH the co-operation of 

 ^^) the Post Office Department a 

 ^^^ special order has been issued to 

 postmasters in practically all the Na- 

 tional Forests and in the States which 

 have established fire protective systems 

 to instruct rural mail carriers to report 

 forest fires. For several years in some 

 of the National Forests there has been 

 informal co-operation of this nature be- 

 tween the rangers and mail carriers, and 

 its eff^ectiveness in securing increased 

 protection has been clearly demon- 

 strated. Now, all national and State 



forest officers who have requested as- 

 sistance of this kind may receive it. 



The plan is for the carrier to report 

 a fire to the nearest forest officer on his 

 route ; or, if no officer lives on the 

 route, to have him notified by some re- 

 sponsible citizen. The State Foresters 

 and National District Foresters are sup- 

 plied with post maps showing the routes 

 traversed and with Postal Guides con- 

 taining the addresses of the different 

 postmasters, who are, in turn, supplied 

 by the Foresters with the names, ad- 

 dresses, and telephone call numbers of 



