152 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE 



The legislature of 1897 passed several additional acts, making the constables 

 of townships ex officio fire wardens and authorizing them without a warrant to 

 arrest persons reasonably suspected by them of offending against the laws protect- 

 ing timber lands. The owner of any land in that state having on it forest or timber 

 trees, not less than fifty trees to the acre, measuring at least eight inches in 

 diameter six feet above the ground, with no portion of the land clear, shall receive 

 a rebate of 80 per cent of the taxes assessed and paid upon such land as long as the 

 trees are maintained in sound condition. Such i-ebate shall not exceed forty-five 

 cents per acre. 



It is made the duty of the Commissioner of Forestry to examine the location and 

 character of lands advertised for sale for non-payment of taxes, and if he finds them 

 so located and of such a character as to make them desirable for the purpose of a 

 forestry reservation, he may purchase them at the tax sales, subject of course, to 

 right of redemption, to become part of a forestry reservation system, having in 

 view the preservation of the water supply at the sources of the rivers of the state 

 and the protection of the people of the commonwealth and their property from de- 

 structive floods. 



By the same legislature a commission was created to be composed of the Com- 

 missioner of Forestry, the Chairman of the State Board of Health, the Deputy 

 Secretary of Internal Affairs, a lawyer or conveyancer of ten years' professional 

 experience, and a practical surveyor. The duty of this commission is to locate and 

 report to the legislature three forestry reservations selected from lands suited to 

 the growth of trees rather than to mining or agriculture, and with an average 

 altitude of not less than six hundred feet above the sea level. Each of these 

 reservations is to consist of not less than forty thousand acres. One reservation 

 is to be located upon the head waters of the Delaware river, another upon the head 

 waters of the Susquehanna and the third upon those of the Ohio. 



Upon several points the legislation, in the states adjacent to Michigan, seems to 

 be in substantial accord. In each of them a state foi-est park of broad area has 

 been reserved and is to be maintained. These forest tracts subserve several pur- 

 poses. They are the laboratories in which experiments aimed at tlie solution of 

 forestry problems are tried; they are the equipment for forestry instruction to the 

 people of the State Avho, unfortunately, are grossly ignorant of tlie fundamental 

 principles of the sciences relating to the tree growing; they are broad enough to 

 conserve the moisture at the head waters of the rivers and allow it to percolate 

 slowly thi'ough the soil, keeping up the flow of the rivers during periods of drought, 

 and finally each is the nucleus about which shall spread larger forests, owned 

 either by the State or by private individuals. 



In the second place, the enforcement of laws against forest fires and for the 

 protection of forests generally is placed in the hands of a trained and well organized 

 dep.nrtment. The chief officer is either elected or appointed solely as a commis- 

 sioner of forestry, devoting his whole time to the work, or the duties of some exist- 

 ing State ofiicial are enlarged to include the enforcement of the law, and a sufficient 

 number of trained assistants are provided. It is evident that until the public 

 conscience is awakened to the enormity of the crime of starting forest fires and the 

 public intelligence is aroused to comprehend the financial losses which they entail, 

 it is impossible to so far enforce the best laws as to control or prevent devastating 

 conflagration. The efficacy of legislation depends largely upon supporting public 

 opinion. It is made the duty of the forest commissioner, therefore, to educate public 

 opinion through the public schools and by means of special circulars and repoi-ts. 



