FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



135 



THE GATHERING TANK, WYOMING COUNTY, PA. 



Thousands of printed placards contain- 

 ing rules and regulations for the use of 

 fire in the woods, and cautioning people 

 against carelessness in this respect, are 

 annually posted by the fire wardens 

 throughout our forests. These printed 

 notices, which are seen and read by 

 every one, have done much to educate 

 the people as to the danger of fire from 

 carelessness. There is no more impor- 

 tant work devolving upon the forester 

 than the prevention of this evil, and so 

 I am pleased to report that, owing to 

 the practical system established by the 

 State of New York, the fires in the 

 Adirondack and Catskill forests dur- 

 ing the last two years have been less in 

 number and area than ever before. 

 When I say number, I ought to add 

 that there were one hundred or more 

 incipient fires, but that each one was 

 extinguished promptly before any dam- 

 age was done. 



I am aware that plantations of Sugar 

 Maples have not been undertaken to any 

 extent. If a man has no sugar woods 

 and wants to go into the business, he 

 naturally prefers to buy a tract of stand- 

 ing trees rather than plant one ; the 

 sugarmaker w T ho owns an orchard is 

 generally contented with it, and feels no 



need of another. It takes many years 

 for trees to grow, and so this question 

 of time has a deterrent effect. Still, a 

 young or middle-aged man can plant a 

 sugar orchard and, under the ordinary 

 life expectation, live to enjoy its profits 

 for many years; and the older men, by 

 planting, can make a good investment 

 for their children. A plantation of sap- 

 plings will become productive and prof- 

 itable in twenty years, and it will prove 

 to be a good investment as timber land 

 also, even if the trees are never tapped. 

 There are three species of Maple in 

 Vermont, the leading state in the maple- 

 sugar industry, not including the two 

 bush maples, which do not attain a size 

 that would entitle them to be called 

 trees. The three species referred to are 

 the Sugar Tree, known also as the Hard 

 or Rock Maple, and the two soft maples, 

 one of which is called White or Silver 

 Maple, while the other is known as the 

 Red or Swamp Maple. The Black 

 Maple, which excels all others as a pro- 

 ducer, is only a variety of the Hard 

 Maple, and so I include it with that 

 species. The White Maple is the fast- 

 est grower of any native species in the 

 New England or Middle States, whether 

 hard woods or soft woods; but the two 



