DIVISION OP FORESTRY. 179 



has been generally acknowledged by persons wlio are not themselves 

 applicants for such aid. 



At your request, I also attended the meeting of the American For- 

 estry Congress in Denver during the month of September, when the 

 presence of representatives from the States and Territories afforded an 

 excellent opportunity for ascertaining from those best fitted to judge 

 the prevalent feeling and opinions in regard to forestry. Though 

 many diverging views as to the most desirable manner of procedure 

 were advanced, the necessity of a change of policy at least as regards 

 the use of the forest domain of the Government was unanimously 

 declared to be urgent. 



During the course of the year, as your representative, I have also 

 delivered several addresses on forestal subjects before Forestry and 

 other Associations. 



LEGISLATION. 



Legislation in regard to forestry may be considered under the 

 classification of restrictive, protective, and stimulative legislation. 

 Laws of the first and second class have been passed from an early 

 period, and have been designed to jjrevent the indiscriminate cutting 

 of timber, especially of live-oak, and to prohibit the unauthorized cut- 

 ting or the injury of timber whether growing upon private lands or 

 upon those belonging to the Government. The efficiency of these laws, 

 however, depends, even more than that of other legislative acts, upon 

 the greater or less ease with which the laws can be enforced. At pres- 

 ent no laws restrictive of the use of forest property by the owner 

 exist in any of the States. 



Protective laws, directed against theft or the destruction of timber 

 by man or cattle, and against incendiarism, are found in every State 

 and Territory. These laws, however, have not exerted much pro- 

 tective influence. The law of a single State may be taken as a speci- 

 men of the whole, for there is a general similarity among them: 



"Any one willfully or negligently setting fire to any woods, prairies, or other 

 grounds not belonging to him, or willfully or negligently permitting fire, kindled on 

 his own land by him or by liis permission, to spread to the injury of other persons, 

 is liable to a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars or imprisonment not over one 

 year, or both, at the discretion of the court. The party injured may recover double 

 damages for the injury sustained." 



While such laws may have some salutary influence, the difficulty 

 of establishing willfulness or negligence must ever prove a great ob- 

 stacle to the enforcement of them. Other difficulties also tend to 

 make such laws ineffective. 



Particular attention must be called to the salutary effect of stock 

 or herd laws, existing in a few States (chiefly Western), by which not 

 only young growth is protected against the incursions of cattle, but 

 also the firing of the woods, which is practiced mostly to produce 

 fresh herbage for the cattle, is restricted, and incidentally a large 

 saving in the construction of fences is effected. 



But even were the firing of woods made a criminal offense, as it 

 certainly should be in view of the evil consequences it entails upon 

 the country at large, it would be almost impossible to render the laws 

 effective over the vast areas of timber laud in private hands and in 

 thinly settled regions, unless the spirit of the people were bent upon 

 enforcing them. 



Where private interests require ]3rotection private co-operation will 



