138 Forestry Quarterly. 



attend to his duties as promptly as he ought. For any inatten- 

 tion, that comes to the notice of the Chief Firewarden, the war- 

 den is called upon for an explanation. Frequently wardens are 

 removed or resign and a process of weeding is going on and the 

 force is constantly improving in efficiency. It is always the en- 

 deavor to appoint as a warden a man who has not only had ex- 

 perience in fighting fire, but a fellow who can command the re- 

 spect and obedience of a " posse" of fellow citizens, and has an 

 interest in the preservation of the forest. The 07ie great trouble 

 is to regtilate the use of fire by land owners on their own property. 

 Many fanners have had no respect or regard for the law and are 

 willing to risk all the woodland they have in order to burn over 

 an acre of fallow. The effect of prosecution has been very bene- 

 ficial in nearly every case, and it has resulted in letting the care- 

 less and lawless know that the time has come when they cannot 

 openly violate the law. However, much has to be done yet as 

 they feel it is an infringement upon their right, which they have 

 exercised for generations, when they are restricted in the time 

 that they shall burn. Early in May this year three farmers at 

 Tupper Lake were fined in one day for burning fallow in viola- 

 tion of the law. Another farmer at the same place set a fallow 

 two days later, and after he had been warned. He was also con- 

 victed, but this only shows the difficulty and slowness with which 

 the Adirondackers are grasping the new situation. In the case of 

 fallow fires there is the difficuly of proving how the fire 

 originated. Men have been known to hire others to .set their 

 fallows afire when they were away and then they return in time 

 to see that all the brush is burned up. To overcome this diffi- 

 culty an eflort was made last winter to have the law amended to 

 read as follows : " if a fire occurs on fallow land in violation of 

 the provision it shall be presumptive evidence that it was set by 

 the owner or possessor thereof." This measure passed the 

 Senate but was over-ruled by the Adirondack members in the 

 Assembly. 



The greatest danger from fire is in the spring after the snow 

 leaves until the vegetation is in full leaf, and less so in the autumn 

 after the leaves fall until snow. The intention of the law in pro- 

 hibiting fallow fires at certain times of the year is to lessen the 

 danger of fire at the two dangerous periods. An extreme case of 

 drought such as has happened this spring in New York State 



