96 



fire started designedly by C may burn over the whole property of B. 

 The point is that we have hitherto been using a good remedy reck- 

 lessly, and legal complications may at any time grow out of it. I am 

 not at present prepared to suggest a remedy. 



One reason why the abuses alluded to have been allowed to go so 

 long unchecked is because their serious character was not recognized 

 as fully as now. It was supposed to concern only the land owner. It 

 is clear that there has been a marked change in public sentiment. It 

 is equally clear that there has been- a cause for this change. It is 

 probable that the educational influences of your Department, have 

 had some influence in effecting it. 



But these laws have a far-reaching, secondary influence which has 

 not yet been alluded to. It is more than probable when prompt, 

 systematic suppression of forest fires comes to be the rule, and the 

 citizens are called upon to do the work, that attention will be directed 

 to the enormity of the crime in a way which has never yet been done, 

 and the men who cause them will come to be regarded as public ene- 

 mies and culprits. Once public sentiment settles down to this convic- 

 tion, w r e may confidently hope for a reformation. 



This is the proper place to call attention to a hitherto unconsidered 

 relation of some of the counties to the lands which they now hold be- 

 cause of failure on the part of the owners to pay the taxes upon them. 

 Thus far, they have simply been allowed to go without care or atten- 

 tion. It was a natural consequence that such areas should constantly 

 deteriorate. They were swept over by fires, and browsed upon by 

 cattle, until all of the natural tendency to a fresh growth of timber 

 was practically destroyed. Belonging to the county they were every- 

 one's in the largest sense of the word, and they suffered accordingly. 

 Any squatter or timber thief could do his worst with them almost 

 without "let or hindrance." The time must soon come when the ques- 

 tion will arise whether they should not be cared for by the county, in 

 the hopes of a remunerative return. 



There are towns in Germany which have for years been practically 

 exempt from taxation because of revenue received from forest lands 

 so managed. It is as least fair to assume when these lands come 

 finally into the hands of the county, that timber thieves, browsing 

 cattle and destructive fires will be kept off. After a few wholesome 

 convictions of law breakers it is more than likely that what timber re- 

 mains and what conies as sprouts from stumps would, in a few years, 

 show such a marked increase in value as to justify the small cost of 

 such protection. 



It is proper in this connection to correct an error which is common 

 over the State. It is generally supposed that forestry begins in tree 

 planting. This is not the case. Forestry begins with properly con- 

 ducted lumbering operations. Planting is, of all methods of forest 



