STATE NEWS 



313 



one of our rangers on the Seven Mountain 

 Forest in Centre County, were authorized. 



During; the months of January and February 

 the receipts from the sale of material from the 

 State Forests have amounted to almost $3,900. 



Louisiana 



The Conservation Commission of Louisiana 

 is making a special effort to prevent forest 

 fires and is calling attention to the laws making 

 it a misdemeanor, punishable by fine and 

 imprisonment, negligently or wilfully to set 

 on fire or cause to be set on fire any forest, 

 brush or grass lands. The Commission urges 

 the sheriffs and other parish officials and the 

 officers of railroads and lumber companies to 

 cooperate with the conservation agents through- 

 out the State in preventing, and, if necessary, 

 in punishing violators of the law. 



The Commission considers the application 

 of laws on this subject a matter of vital impor- 

 tance, and is using every means possible of 

 acquainting the public with the laws on the 

 subject and securing their enforcement. 



Massachusetts 



The Massachusetts Forestry Association has 

 been working several years to obtain a slash 

 law which would be workable in Massachusetts 

 and at last, with the cooperation of other 

 organizations, it has succeeded. This law is 

 not all that might be desired in this section but 

 it is a long step in the right direction. The law 

 provides as follows: 



Section 1 . Every owner, tenant or occupant 

 of land, and every owner of stumpage, who 

 cuts or permits the cutting of wood or timber 

 on woodland owned or occupied by him or on 

 which he has acquired stumpage by purchase 

 or otherwise, and which borders upon the 

 woodland of another or upon a highway or 

 railroad location, shall clear the land of the 

 slash and brush wood then and there resulting 

 from such cutting for such distance, not exceed- 

 ing forty feet, from the woodland of such other 

 person, highway or railroad location as the 

 local forest warden shall determine, and within 

 such time and in such manner as he shall 

 determine. 



Section 2. Any person who cuts or causes 

 to be cut trees or bushes or undergrowth within 

 the limits of any highway or public road, shall 

 dispose of the slash and brush wood then and 

 there resulting from such cutting within such 

 time and in such manner as the forest warden 

 of the city or town wherein such cutting is 

 done shall determine. 



Section 3. Whoever neglects to comply 

 with the directions of the forest warden with 

 regard to the disposal of slash and brush, as 

 provided in Sections one and two of this act, 

 may be punished by a fine of not less than 

 five dollars nor more than fifty dollars. 



Section 4. This act shall take effect on the 

 first day of January in the year nineteen hun- 

 dred and fifteen. (Approved Februarv 25, 

 1914.) 



It will be noticed that the local fire warden 

 is the officer named to enforce this law. It 

 would seem that in some cases this may not 

 be very effective, but with our present State 

 fire protective system, with a State fire warden 

 and several efficient deputies who are constantly 

 travelling over the State, that these wardens 

 wilt be instructed and requested to do their 

 duty. With this fact in view, it is felt that the 

 'aw will bring very satisfactory results in this 

 State. 



North Carolina 



The Forestry Club of Tryon, Polk County, 

 North Carolina, was organized last fall and is 

 now in very active operation. This association 

 arose out of the very pressing need of fire pro- 

 tection in that county. Forest fires during 

 November in western Polk County were the 

 worst ever recorded. It was estimated that 

 in four townships, 28,000 acres of hardwood 

 land were burned over, causing a loss of $3,000 

 to $4,000 to property exclusive of the injury 

 to timber and young growth. This latter 

 damage was estimated by one man on the 

 ground at $60,000, which certainly is a very 

 conservative estimate. The people of the 

 county were so stirred up over the necessity 

 of taking some action to prevent a recurrence 

 of such destructive fires that the Forestry 

 Club was organized. Mr. E. R. Rankin was 

 elected president, and G. B. Cobb, secretary, 

 while C. M. Howes was appointed fire warden. 

 The club has already offered a reward of $50 

 through the county commissioners for the 

 arrest and conviction of any person who sets 

 fires in the woods contrary to law. It has also 

 prepared and distributed handbills on which 

 are printed the State laws against setting fires. 



The annual meeting of the State Forestry 

 Association, which is to be held in Asheville 

 April 8th, 9th and 10th, promises to be the 

 most interesting and largely attended of any 

 similar meeting held in the State. The Ameri- 

 can Forestry Association will be represented 

 and several men of national reputation are 

 amongst the speakers. Governor Locke Craig, 

 Mr. Overton W. Price, Vice-President of the 

 National Conservation Association, and Mr. 

 W. B. Townsend, Townsend, Tenn., have all 

 promised to make addresses, while Mr. H. S. 

 Graves, U. S. Forester, and Congressman John 

 H. Small, have also signified their intention of 

 being present and taking part in the proceed- 

 ings. An extra day has been added in order to 

 provide for a trip into Pisgah Forest where 

 logging is now going on in mountain hard- 

 woods under strict and yet reasonable forestry 

 regulations. An alternative trip for this day 

 (April 10) has been arranged to the large pulp 

 factory of the Champion Fibre Company at 

 Canton, N. C. These, with the trips to the 

 forest plantations of the Biltmore Estate, and 

 the spruce forests on the slopes of Mt. Mitchell, 

 make this an unexampled opportunity to 

 become thoroughly acquainted with the 

 southern Appalachian forests and with the 

 practical methods for their management. 



