The Porester. 



/OL. VII. 



APRIL, 1901, 



No. 4. 



THE FORESTRY AGITATION IN NEW HAMPSHIRE. 



By E. M. Griffith. 

 Division of Forestry. 



WITHIN the last few months the 

 people of New Hampshire have 

 suddenly come to realize the ex- 

 ent to which their forests are being strip- 

 ted by the lumber and pulp mills, and 

 ctuated by the fear that their beautiful 

 nountain scenery will be seriously im- 

 >aired and the water supply of their rivers 

 ffected, they are inclined to adopt ex- 

 reme measures. 



The following bill was presented to the 

 legislature but failed to pass : 



" An Act for the Preservation of For- 

 sts. 



" Be it enacted in the Senate and House 

 f Representatives in general court con- 

 ened. 



''Section 1. From and after the first day 

 f May, 1901, it shall be unlawful for any 

 erson within this State to cut or remove 

 ny spruce, pine, fir or hemlock tree, un- 

 ess the same shall be ten inches in diam- 

 ter two feet above ground, or fallen, 

 turned or blighted timber ; provided, how- 

 ver, that the terms of this act shall not 

 pply to any person cutting wood for his 

 >wn exclusive, domestic consumption, or 

 any person clearing land for actual 

 gricultural uses, not exceeding twenty- 

 ive acres in any one year. 



^Section 2. From and after the first day 

 >f May, 1 90 1, it shall be unlawful for any 

 ailroad or other transportation company 

 o transport or to have in its possession 

 or the purpose of transportation, except 



it shall receive the same from some point 

 outside the State, any spruce, pine, fir or 

 hemlock timber in the log, the diameter of 

 which at the larger end shall measure less 

 than ten inches. 



" Section 3. For every tree or log cut or 

 removed, transported or had in possession 

 for the purpose of transporting in violation 

 of Sections 1 and 2 of this Act, there shall 

 be forfeited the sum of ten dollars to be 

 recovered by action of the county solicitors 

 on complaint of the forestry commission, 

 and the money accruing from fines thus 

 recovered shall be treated as funds re- 

 ceived under the provisions of Section 4, 

 Chapter 44, Laws of 1893." 



Such a measure is far too radical, and 

 even if it were possible to secure its pas- 

 sage the law would become a dead letter 

 for the reason that it would be impossible 

 to enforce it. This would be the case 

 from the fact that many small trees below 

 two inches in diameter, valuable for pulp- 

 wood, must be cut in making logging roads 

 to reach the large timber. It would be a 

 useless waste to oblige the lumbermen to 

 leave these small logs in the woods to rot, 

 and public opinion would force the State 

 to authorize their being cut and removed. 

 Then, unless the State detailed a police- 

 man to watch the cutting in each camp, it 

 would be almost impossible to prove that 

 certain small logs were cut illegally. 

 There is also great question as to whether 

 such a law is constitutional, and it is cer- 



