STATE NEWS 



749 



secured last winter, the state is in good shape 

 to handle the forest fire situation. 



New York 



The New York Conservation Commission 

 has adopted the policy of fall shipments of 

 trees, and a large number of orders have 

 been filled and many plantations made during 

 this present fall season. 



Three hearings have been held, and a field 

 investigation will be commenced within the 

 next week in order to determine the efficiency 

 of the top-lopping law. 



Bulletin No. 8 on the three new forest tax- 

 ation laws has been issued, and various mat- 

 ters in connection with the enforcement of 

 these laws are now under consideration by 

 C. R. Pettis. 



The Commission has also issued Bulletin 

 No. 1 on general forestry and Bulletin No. 

 7 on shade trees, by Forester Gaylord. 



A new nursery of five acres has been 

 established at Lake Clear, and about three- 

 quarter million trees have been transplanted, 

 and an equal number of trees have been set 

 out on state land near Paul Smith's. 



Forester Rosenbluth is engaged in pre- 

 paring a working plan for the state prison 

 lands at Dannemora, in the Adirondacks. 



An exhibit of the forestry work of the 

 Commission was made, not only at the State 

 Fair, but at about fifteen county fairs. 



The reports of forest fires will approxi- 

 mate about 5,000 acres for the entire season 

 up to the present time. Last year nearly 

 40,000 acres were burned. The decreased 

 loss is due largely to the increase in the num- 

 ber of mountain stations and greater effi- 

 ciency in the fire protective work as indicated 

 by the fact that the number of fires this year 

 were as great as last year, and the drought 

 during June and July was as severe as in 

 former years. 



Massachusetts 



No state in the union has made more rapid 

 progress in building up a constructive forest 

 policy than has Massachusetts during the 

 past five years. The recommendations of 

 State Forester Rane made to the Legislature 

 from year to year have been received with 

 favor, and all of the important ones have 

 been enacted into legislation. Perhaps the 

 most gratifying accomplishment of the de- 

 partment has been the development of the 

 forest fire service, which has now been 

 brought up to the highest point of efficiency. 

 Eighteen lookout stations have been in oper- 

 ation throughout the season, from which over 

 2,000 fires have been reported. The prompt- 

 ness with which these fires have been dis- 

 covered and reported by the observers has 

 made possible in most cases their extinguish- 

 ment before serious damage had resulted. In 

 addition to the above system of reporting 

 fires, arrangements have been made with the 



United States Post Office Department to have 

 all rural and star route mail carriers report 

 to the forest wardens or deputies any fires 

 which may occur on lands bordering their 

 routes. Early last April the Massachusetts 

 Division of the Boy Scouts of America gen- 

 erously volunteered to co-operate with the 

 state in its efforts to reduce the forest fire 

 evil, and by reporting fires and aiding in 

 their extinguishment have been a valuable 

 factor in making the work a success. Each 

 scout master has been furnished a copy of 

 the fire laws and book of instructions pub- 

 lished by the forestry department, containing 

 the names of all forest wardens and deputy 

 wardens in the state. 



Recognizing the importance of a change in 

 the present methods of taxing forest lands 

 if the encouragement is to be given forest 

 land owners, which is necessary to con- 

 structive forestry, the Legislatures of 1911 

 and 1912 passed a resolve providing for an 

 amendment to the Constitution, empowering 

 the General Court to prescribe the method of 

 taxing such lands. This proposed amend- 

 ment will be submitted to the voters of the 

 state at the coming election for their accept- 

 ance or rejection. 



If it is accepted, and it is the general belief 

 it will be, a committee appointed by the Mas- 

 sachusetts Forestry Association and the Bos- 

 ton Chamber of Commerce, working jointly, 

 will begin immediately the preparation of a 

 bill to be introduced into the incoming Leg- 

 islatures, designed to eliminate some of the 

 objectionable features of the present method 

 of taxing wild or forest lands. 



Michigan 



Professor Tyler, of the Michigan Agricul- 

 tural College, announces the formation of 

 local organizations in several counties to 

 prevent the useless waste of trees. Besides 

 preventing the waste, the organizations will 

 also attempt to teach the farmers and others 

 interested how to utilize their waste ground 

 in the interest of reforestation. Mr. Tyler 

 says : "Unless we do something for the 

 trees there will soon be no forests in the 

 northern part of Michigan on account of the 

 great forest fires, and in the southern part 

 we are tree destroyers instead of tree plant- 

 ers. Only 1 or 2 per cent of the number of 

 trees cut down are replanted in southern 

 Michigan." 



LTnder the plan which Mr. Tyler has 

 worked out an experimental woodlot of live 

 acres will be provided in the community 

 where each organization is affected. The 

 farmer who gives up five acres of his land 

 to this work will have to contract with the 

 college not to cut a tree during the first 

 twelve years nor make any radical move 

 without first obtaining the permission of the 

 extension service of the college. Seedlings 

 will be furnished by the college and set out 



