FORESTRY COMMISSIONER 15 



do injury. If a person sets a fire in dry weather without the means 

 for its control, it is no excuse for him that the wind rose unex- 

 pectedly. Everyone may expect the wind to rise or change at any 

 time. These are things the prudent man will look out for. Fire 

 wardens should investigate fires without a day's delay, and if there 

 is evidence to convict they should promptly make complaint be- 

 fore a justice of the peace or other court of competent jurisdiction. 

 Section 4997, Revised Laws of Minnesota, 1905, is as follows: 

 ''Every person who shall negligently or carelessly set on fire, or 

 cause to be set on fire, any woods, prairie or other combustible 

 material, whether on his own land or not, by means whereof the 

 property of another shall be endangered, or who shall negligently 

 suffer any fire upon his own lands to extend beyond the limits 

 thereof, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor." The facts may some- 

 times make it advisable to have a complaint made under this 

 clause. 



A rigorous, rather than mild, enforcement of the law against 

 forest fires is the truest kindness. 



Respectfully, 



C. C. ANDREWS, 



Forestry Commissioner. 



RED LAKE COUNTRY. 



In the early part of July I made a trip to the Red Lake 

 country, and mainly to see the pine forest on the east side 

 of Red Lake, comprising about 36 square miles, and 

 which appears on the map as a wedge-shaped peninsula, 

 12 miles in length, between Lower and Upper Red Lakes. 

 The level portion of the land is covered principally with 

 hardwood timber of different varieties and of large growth, 

 which shows the fertility of the soil; most of the pine, 

 both white and Norway, is on a ridge which runs along 

 the center. There is considerable undergrowth of large- 

 leaved trees amidst the pine. While many of the pines 

 are about a hundred feet high and have reached their 

 growth, there are some which would yet earn good inter- 

 est by their growth fifty years longer. The symmetrical 



