1907 DEPARTMENT OF LANDS, FORESTS AND MINES. 279 



/ 

 it having been found necessary to put the system in force over a large area 

 of Crown territory overrun with gold mining prospectors. The number of 

 license-holders who made application to have rangers put on duty upon 

 their limits in 1897 was 69, in which season 179 rangers were employed on 

 timber limits, in addition to 12 detailed for service upon Crown property. 

 During the season of 1898, 195 rangers were on duty on licensed lands, with 

 the result that notwithstanding the long continued drought which prevailed, 

 the losses by fire on the territory under their supervision were insignificant. 

 Eleven fire rangers were also employed on the Crown domain, whose services 

 proved equally effective, as no extensive fires occurred in the area thus pro- 

 tected. 



Tree Planting on Highways. 



The Ontario Legislature in 1871 passed ''An Act to encourage the plant- 

 ing of trees upon the highways in this Province and to give a right of pro- 

 perty in such trees to the owners of the soil adjacent to such highways" 

 which forms the basis of the existing law on the subject. The principal 

 clauses are as follows : 



1. "For the purposes of this Act, every shade tree, shrub and sapling 

 now gowing on either side of any highway in this Province, shall upon, 

 from and after the passing of this Act, be deemed to be the property of the 

 owner of the land adjacent to such highway opposite to which such tree, 

 shrub or sapling is. 



Ownership in Trees. 



2. Any person owning land adjacent to any highway may plant trees, 

 shrubs or saplings on the portion thereof contiguous to his land; but no 

 tree, shrub or sapling so planted shall be so planted that the same may be 

 or become a nuisance in the highway, or obstruct the fair and reasonable 

 use of the same, every tree, shrub or sapling so planted in the highway shall 

 for the purposes of this Act be deemed to be the property of the owner for 

 the time being of the land whose owner planted the same." 



Municipal Control. 



Municipal councils were given control over the removal of trees, where 

 it became necessary, and a penalty of |25 was imposed for the injury or 

 destruction of roadside trees. Power was given to municipal councils to 

 expend money in the planting of shade and ornamental trees, or to make 

 money grants to individuals or associations for the same purpose. It was 

 provided that the first two sections of the Act given above should not apply 

 to incorporated cities, towns and villages, unless the council should first 

 pass a by-law making them applicable thereto. 



Bonus for Tree PlanfAng. 



This Act was superseded by the Ontario Tree Planting Act of 1883, 

 which, in addition to vesting the ownership of trees planted or growing on 

 the highway in the proprietor of the adjacent land, provided for the pay- 

 ment out of municipal and Provincial funds of bonuses for tree-planting. 

 It enacted that the council of any municipality might pass a by-law for 

 paying out of municipal funds a bonus or premium not exceeding twenty- 

 five cents for each ash, basswood, beech, birch, butternut, cedar, cherry, 



20 L. M 



