hOREST COMMISSION- Kr's REPORT. 8l 



mine the ownership, location, and vahie of the islands along 

 the coast of Maine, now owned by the State and I hope that 

 the Legislature will see fit to grant the same. 



Another appropriation which should be made is a suitable 

 sum for re-tracing and defining the lines around our school or 

 public lots. In many of the plantations the old lines have be- 

 come indistinct, causing much trespassing and loss to the plan- 

 tations. In some plantations the lots have never been set off and 

 this should be done. 



In closing I wish to add a word appealing to all citizens in 

 the State to cooperate with the efforts that are being made to 

 keep the fires out of the forest lands. Eliminate the careless- 

 ness to which a large percentage of the fires can be attributed 

 and you have added and guaranteed thousands of dollars worth 

 of taxable property. Fire raging twenty-four hours in a heavily 

 timbered tract does more damage than years of conservation can 

 replace. The fires not only burn the merchantable stand but 

 ruin the young growth and frequently consume the soil itself, 

 leaving a barren waste on which nothing will ever again grow. 

 If everyone travelling through or near the woods would have 

 for his motto "Beware of Fire" there would be few fires of 

 any magnitude. 



FRANK E. MACE, 



Forest Commissioner. 



