34 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



far, produced uiiy intuked result. We also need stringent stiitutes 

 respecting forest fires. 



Most of our fires are the result of sheer carelessness ; some, 

 perhaps, of malice. Strict laws, rigidh' enforced, would prevent a 

 large proportion of these. The evil is not confined to the amount 

 of direct loss occasioned by these fires, enormous though this is, 

 but the constant risk is a standing menace against all enterprise 

 in forest culture. Our statutes should aflTord the amplest possible 

 protection in this respect.* 



In addition to this, it is time that our legislatures should 

 consider the expedienc}' of offering bounties for lands devoted 

 systematically to the growth of trees. We now have a statute 

 which, under certain restrictions, exempts from taxation low-priced 

 lands, — lauds which are planted to forest. But this is only a 

 negative encouragement, and so trifling in comparison with the 

 conditions imposed that it is doubtful whether it has had any 

 appreciable elfcct. Another statute, passed in 1882, is intended 

 to encourage cities and towns in the formation of wooded parks, 

 giving authority to take lands and providing for their control by 

 the State Board of Agriculture. Here, again, the aid is meagre 

 and remote, and is not likeh' to produce any marked results. 



On the other liand the offer of even a moderate graded l)ounty 

 would arrest the attention of farmers, and probably lead to numer- 

 ous efforts in planting. 



And there is surely a warrant for such a subsidy. The whole 

 State is receiving direct benefit from every acre of forest main- 

 tained. AVhenever these widespread benefits are enhanced by 

 forest planting at individual cost, should not the State contribute 

 its portion? A moderate amount of bounty, it is believed, would 

 prove a sufficient stimulus to arouse our farmers out of their ijresont 

 habit of slovenly neglect. 



There remains one other wa}- In' which the State could promote 

 the interests of forestry, and that is by example. We are familiar 

 with the extensive woik done by European governments in the cul- 

 ture of forests, and the revenues and satisfactory results which 

 follow. So well-recognized is the public welfare involved in forest 



*A stringent statute in regard to Forest Fires has since been enacted by 

 the Legislature of Massachusetts, in accordance with a petition presented by 

 a Coniniittce appointed by tliis Society. 



