22 Forestry Quarterly 



managed on the principle of bribery and corruption and while the 

 agent and his deputies became rich, great havoc was made among 

 the king's trees. 



In 1699 in King William's reign the first Surveyor of the 

 Woods was appointed by the crown. His name w^as John Bridges. 

 An order was sent to the Earl of Bellamont, who was then Gov- 

 ernor of New England and New York, to cause acts to be passed 

 in his several governments for the preservation of the White Pines. 

 From this time on to the time of the revolution this office of Sur- 

 veyor of the Woods was a lucrative one. 



It was given to Gov. Wentworth of New Hampshire in 1743 ; 

 besides perquisites and emoluments he had a salary of ^800 ster- 

 ling from which he paid his deputies. He held the office for 

 twenty-five years, when he resigned and was succeeded by his 

 nephew, John Wentworth, both in the government of New 

 Hampshire and surveyorship of the woods. He continued in the 

 office until the Revolution. 



In Queen Anne's reign, in 1708, a law was made in New 

 Hampshire prohibiting the cutting of such trees as were twenty- 

 four inches in diameter at twelve inches from the ground with- 

 out leave of the surveyor, who was instructed to mark with the 

 broad arrow those which were thought fit for the use of the 

 Navy and to keep a register of them. The penalt}^ for cutting 

 such a tree was ^100 sterling or $500. 



Williamson says that as late as 1784 a law was passed by 

 Massachusetts to protect the innumerable White Pine yet stand- 

 ing upon the public lands in the Eastern forest . . by far the 

 noblest trees. The I^egislature made it penal in the sum of $100 

 to cut one of them, recoverable by indictment. 



Two years later, in 1786, this long continued policy of pro- 

 tecting the White Pine was abandoned by the State and a policy 

 adopted calculated to hasten their destruction. It is difficult for 

 us of the present day to understand the motives that induced 

 the Legislature to make such a radical change. But the policy 

 then inaugurated of getting rid of the public forest lands as 

 quickly as possible was continued by Massachusetts until Maine 

 became a state, and was continued by this state until all the 

 wild lands passed into private hands. 



A land lottery .scheme was devised to dispose of 50 townships. 

 In the scheme there were to be 2720 tickets of ^60 each. If 



