^2 FOREST FIRKS IX XOKTH CAROLIXA. 



III. A)id he it further Enacted, hy the Authoritu afnrcstiid. Th;it every Per- 

 son offeudiug against this Act shall forfeit aud pay the sum of Ton Pounds, 

 to be recovered by Action of Debt, Bill. Plaint or Information, to the Use of 

 the Person who shall sue or prosecute for the same ; and shall also he further 

 liable to the Party injured ])y such unlawful llrin;,' of the Woods, for all dam- 

 ages that may accrue therefrom. 



IV. And he it further Enacted, hi/ the Authority aforesaid, That if any 

 Slave, Free Negro or Mulatto, or vagrant Person, unable to pay the fine afore- 

 said, shall be convicted of setting fire to any Woods, contrary to the true 

 Meaning of this Act, such Person, on Conviction thereof, shall have and re- 

 ceive on his bare back Thirty Nine Lashes, well laid on. at the Public Whii>- 

 ping-Post. 



Hon. Francis B. Winston, in his recent iuidress before the Xorth Caro- 

 lina Piue Association, in speaking of the work of the ISTorth Carolina 

 Forestry Association, eni])hasized the fact that this law was not enacted 

 for the purpose of protecting the forests, but of preventing injury to live 

 stock ranging in the vast areas of then unowned and unoccupied land. 

 He says: 



"Not a word is said about the destruction of timber by fires. A century 

 and a half ago our ancestors were enacting laws against the destruction of 

 hogs in the woods by fires. Today the North Carolina Forestry Association 

 is seeking enactments to protect the woods from the hogs by a general stock 

 law. Our association recognizes that a year's supply of timber on the farm 

 is as necessary as the year's supi>ly of corn and meat. We are seeking to 

 convince the people who own lands that in the place of every tree removed 

 for any cause a new tree should be planted. We hayo in view the establish- 

 ment of experimental forestry farms about the State. The North Carolina 

 Geological and Kcdjiomic Survey is fostering this work." 



In 1885 a law forbidding wagoners and other campers to leave their 

 camp-fires without totally extinguishing them was ])assed. There has 

 been, however, no very general enforcement of either of those laws, 

 though there have been no others covering what we now consider these 

 very serious offenses. The.se two laws (sections 3346 and 3347, Revisal 

 of 1905) have noAv largely been incorporated in the now forest fire Liav, 

 in slightly amended form. 



MORE RKCEXT ATTEMPTS TO SECURE EFFECTIVE LAWS. 



In 1909 an effort was made to obtain increased protection for our 

 mountain forests by the passage of a law (chapter 89, Public Laws 1909) 

 which allows "any owner or owners of Avooded land situated in North 

 Carolina above contour line 2,000 feet" to apply to the Governor for the 

 establishment of such land as a "State forest." Tlie owners pledge them- 



