CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS. 



In concluding, tliis my first report, as Land Agent and Forest 

 Commissioner, I wish to thank all who have cooperated with me 

 in the various work of this department, the spirit of cooperation 

 shown having made my duties easier and pleasanter. As the 

 months have passed since my appointment I have become more 

 interested in the work and some of the changes that to my 

 mind would increase the efficiency of the department are em- 

 bodied in the following recommendations : 



It is evident from the experience gained since the passage &! 

 the act incorporating the Maine Forestry District that several 

 changes in the law could be made that would be of great 

 benefit and particular attention should be giyen to the provision 

 of funds with which to carry out the spirit of the law. As the 

 law now stands it is very evident that the tax of a mill and one- 

 half will not produce sufficient funds to meet the bills of -the 

 Forestry District in any particularly dry year in which forest 

 fires of any magnitude may occur. No better illustration can 

 be had than in the year 191 1 when in the brief period of a 

 few weeks all of the appropriation was entirely exhausted and 

 had it not been for the fact that the timberland owners came 

 forward and settled the fire bills, the Maine Forestry District 

 might have received a blow from which it would have been hard 

 to recover, as men who worked could not have been paid, and 

 not receiving their pay it would have been impossible to have 

 ever induced them to work again no matter how great the dan- 

 ger. 



It was the intention of the law to have the surplus of each 

 year to continue to the next and the framers of said law hoped 

 thereby to create a fund to be drawn upon in just such years as 

 1911. 



