512 ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



These young men are, for the most part, mounted, they furnishing 

 their own horses, saddles and bridles, and the State furnishing the 

 forage. Fifty thousand acres is not a small farm. It represents 

 seventy-eight square miles. The whole of this ground has to be 

 policed in order to keep trespassers off. During the fire seasons of 

 spring and autumn it is necessary that a constant guard should be 

 maintained, and these young men do duty as sentinels to convey 

 information as early as possible, of any existing fire and to hurry 

 a fire fighting force on to the ground. There is just one other idea 

 connected with this, and it may not be amiss to allude to it in 

 this connection. These 3'oung men are under the law eligible to tak- 

 ing the oath of office which invests them with constabulary powers. 

 They are not only mounted but they are uniformed and armed, let 

 me add, without any expense whatever to the State. This is the 

 first mounted State guard that any Commonwealth, so far as I know, 

 in this Union, possesses for its rural districts. If the increase in 

 crime which is now sweeping over our thickly populated rural dis- 

 tricts should continue in the future as in the past, there will be 

 no safety in the home of the farmer or the isolated citizen, unless 

 it is furnished by the mounted police force. This may be regarded 

 as the settled opinion of a large number of our most intelligent 

 citizens. It is, therefore, a matter of some pride that this coming- 

 movement should find its heralds in the Forestry Department of 

 Pennsylvania. It is useless for me to discuss again before your 

 body the general relations of forestry to the public weal. That 

 has been done over and over until you are all familiar with them. 

 I would simply add that it is a matter of great personal gratifica- 

 tion to me to be able to announce that Pennsylvania has come to be 

 regarded as the pioneer in forestry thought and action, and best 

 fitted to be an example to the other states. 



The report of the Committee on Apiary having been called for, 

 Mr. J. W. Nelson made the following statement: 



MR. NELSON: I was going to prepare a report on this subject 

 and when I received my program and did not see my name on it 

 I did not think it was expected of me to prepare a paper. How- 

 ever, since I am called upon I will make a few remarks and write 

 out a report later. 



MR. NORTHUP: How are the colonies wintered this cold and 

 fearful winter? 



MR. NELSON: They are not protected as they should be, but I 

 have found that outdoor wintering is as good as inside, if not better, 

 because in the spring it will be more injurious to put them out if 

 they have not been accustomed to being out of doors. There are a 



