OI 



AMERICAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION. 



83 



fire within their respective districts, or 

 jacent thereto, threatening damage to 

 habitants, to require every able-bodied 

 an residing within the district to assist 

 zm in extinguishing it with all care and 

 ssible diligence. For refusing to obey 

 t fireman's call the fine was three shil- 

 igs, and for every neglect of duty the 

 eman was to forfeit two pounds, 

 irther acts for the preservation of the 

 >ods from fire followed in 17S5, and 

 er. 



These different acts stood in need of re- 

 sion and unification, and accordingly in 

 88 there was passed a general act which 

 ed the penalty for firing the woods at 



1 pounds with costs of suit. The law 

 is amended in 1817. 



In 1 79 1 had been founded the New 

 )rk Society for the Promotion of Agri- 

 lture, Arts and Manufactures. The 

 ry first year of its existence this Society 

 :ured the passage of an act which was 



2 first law for the encouragement of 

 aber culture ever passed in this country. 



provided for a bounty of six shillings 

 r every fifty white mulberry trees 

 anted under certain conditions, till the 

 lole number reached two hundred. In 

 95 a committee of this Society also 

 ide an interesting report on the "best 

 :>de of preserving and increasing the 

 owth of wood and valuable timbers." 

 Several further negotiations regarding 

 :spass and the use of fire in or near 

 Dodlands were enacted in succeeding 

 ars. 



A period of small interest to the forest 

 Hows, which comes to an end with the 

 actment in 1S69 of a tree planting law 

 lich provides an abatement of tax for 

 nd owners planting trees along high- 

 lys $1.00 for every four trees set out 

 iposite their lands. 



But the first very important promise of 

 tter things to come, was the creation in 

 72 of the so-called Commission of 

 ate Parks, who were to hold office two 

 ars, and whose duty it was " to inquire 

 to the expediency of providing for vest- 

 g in the State the title to the timbered 

 gion lying within the counties of Lewis, 

 ssex, Clinton, Franklin, Saint Law- 



rence, Herkimer and Hamilton, and con- 

 verting the same into a public park." 



From the report made by this Commis- 

 sion, May 15, 1873, some striking facts 

 were brought to light. The Commission 

 had found that only 40,000 acres in the 

 region specified then belonged to the 

 State, and that the owners of the remain- 

 ing lands showed an evident readiness to 

 combine for the purpose of raising prices, 

 should the State feel inclined to buy. It 

 therefore recommended that the State 

 should withhold from sale its possessions 

 in this region, and that it should retain all 

 lands forfeited to it for non-payment of 

 taxes. 



No action followed. It was not till ten 

 years later, 18S3, that a law was passed 

 prohibiting further sales of land in the 

 counties named in the above act,' and also 

 in the counties of Saratoga and Warren. 

 During the interval the sale of State lands 

 had been continued ; but by the time of the 

 passage of the law 600,000 acres had re- 

 verted to the State for the non-payment of 

 taxes ; and these were retained subject to 

 cancellation and redemption. 



The Legislature of 1884 appropriated 

 the sum of $5,000 to be used by the 

 Comptroller in the employment of such 

 experts as he might deem necessary to in- 

 vestigate and report upon a system of 

 forest preservation. Thus were appointed 

 the members of the so-called ''Expert 

 Commission," with Professor C. S. Sar- 

 gent at their head. Their report urged 

 that the State try the management of the 

 lands which it then held rather than 

 launch forth into purchase before making 

 sure of its ability to do efficient work on a 

 small scale. They submitted bills to the 

 Legislature which were as nearly perfect 

 as conditions permitted, but which were 

 strongly opposed by the timbering inter- 

 ests. As a result a compromise bill was 

 introduced and enacted. Much that had 

 been of value in the original bill was 

 struck out, but this act, which became law 

 May 15, 1S85, still represented the most 

 comprehensive forest law passed up to 

 that time by any of the States. New York 

 thus a second time took the lead. 



It is quite unnecessary to rehearse here 



