1900. 



AMERICAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION. 



193 



the fires which broke out on its lands, and 

 the damage done by these fires, far out- 

 weigh the greatest possible cost of pre- 

 ventative forest supervision. The case 

 shows that forest fires are no longer to be 

 looked on as necessary evils in New York, 

 but as needless disasters. 



When this is so important and so plainly 

 demonstrated, what must one think of " a 

 large owner of New York Timber Lands," 

 who lets himself be reported in the New 

 YorkTri&Mtze (July 8th) as saying : "Most 

 of us are simply sitting in our offices wait- 

 ing for the danger season to pass, each one 

 hoping that his particular lands will escape 

 the fiend." Fifteen years ago this state- 

 ment could have been made on every hand 

 and no one could have challenged its rea- 

 sonableness ; but to-day the man who 

 makes it shows, if correctly reported, that 

 he travels in an old rut and is content with 

 the foresight of the last generation. Not 



o *-* 



only for their own sakes but for the good 

 of the country, it is time that those who 

 control its forest lands should wake up to 

 the meaning 1 of the lessons which the ex- 



O 



perience of forest commissions like that 

 of New York are teaching them. 



The New York 



Meeting and 



Press Comments. 



The meeting of the 

 American Forestry 

 Association in New 

 York during June, showed, as few things 

 have done for a long time, how widely 

 the interest in forestry and the preserva- 

 tion of our forest resources has spread. 

 This was made clear, partly by the papers 

 read at the meeting and by the corre- 



spondence incident to it, but most strik- 

 ingly by the notices in the newspapers. 

 While the meeting was going on three- 

 fourths of the two columns which the 

 New York dailies usually gave to the ses- 

 sions of the Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science and its affiliated societies, 

 were devoted to the meetings of the For- 

 estry Association. Furthermore, during 

 the week of June 25th, and also during 

 the three weeks that followed, special ar- 

 ticles of greater' or less length, summariz- 

 ing in some way the results of the meet- 

 ing, or giving apro pos thereof information 

 about one thing or another allied in inter- 

 est to it, appeared in almost all the New- 

 York papers and in many of the leading 

 journals and reviews throughout the United 

 States. In a number of cases the meeting 

 was reported as far west even as California. 

 In some instances these reports and no- 

 tices had in them an element of the amus- 

 ing. Some editors in out-of-the-way 

 places seem to have got wind of the meet- 

 ing only about a fortnight or more after it 

 was over. These appear to have felt 

 vaguely that forestry was a good thing in 

 which their readers were doubtless inter- 

 ested, and to have done their best accord- 

 ingly. Often the notices which they 

 brought forth were scanty ; sometimes they 

 said that the meeting had begun as much 

 as ten days after it had adjourned ; fre- 

 quently they alluded hurriedly to its pro- 

 ceedings with nothings of most respectful 

 brevity. But still the reports appeared; 

 and with all due allowance for the fact 

 that the journalistic world at large makes 

 news of all things, they showed that the 

 interest in forestry is spreading. 



News from 

 New York. 



NEWS, NOTES AND COMMENT. 



Mr. L. M. Emmons, 

 of Oneonta, N. Y., has 

 been appointed Chief 

 Fire Warden, pursuant to the provisions 

 of the law passed last winter. His duties 

 will consist principally in maintaining a 

 systematic and efficient organization of the 



large number of town fire wardens through- 

 out the Adirondack and Catskill regions. 

 When vacancies occur among these offi- 

 cials, it will be the duty of the Chief Fire 

 Warden to recommend to the Forest Com- 

 mission suitable persons for appointments 

 to fill their places. One of the most im- 



