DAMAGES FROM FOREST FIRES. 159 



to consider the measures available for their prevention. Among these 

 may be suggested the following : 



1. Vigilant watching, and an extra number of watchmen in an exceptionally dry 

 time, with suitable iirovision of water where there is great probability of its being 

 needed. 



2. Arrangements for notifying by telegraph, and for bringing by railroad, a suffi- 

 cient amount of aid, in case of dangerous forest-fires. 



3. The clearing away of litter and other combustible materials, or the entire clear- 

 ing of woodlands in the immediate vicinity of the track, with the view of lessening 

 the danger from fire. 



4. Planting safety-belts, as in Europe, where a strip of bircb is set on each side of a 

 railroad-track, wbeVe it passes through a pine forest. 



*. The careful burning oft" of dry gras>J, piles of decayed ties, and other inflammable 

 material, at a season when Ihe fire would not bo apt to escape, and with a sufficient 

 force at hand to prevent this accident. 



6. In improved construction of locomotives, to prevent danger from sparks, and if 

 this implies less speed, from reduction of draught — a modification of time-tables to suit 

 this arrangement, at least through the dangerous season. 



A law making a man liable for damages caused to others by fires that 

 he has kindled would be of service so far as it enforced caution upon 

 owners of lu-operty, but something more would be needed in the way of 

 personal punishment with those who have nothing to lose. The only 

 remedy would be a law declaring the act of setting f3re to woods a crime 

 punishable by fine or imprisonment, or both, according to the circum- 

 stances of the case. 



In all of the States provision is made directly or indirectly for pre- 

 venting the malicious firing of woods, by fines and penalties, bnt there 

 is ]!erhaps no one of these statutes but that might be improved by pro- 

 viding more strictly against the careless use of fire, and for their more 

 speedy extinguishment when once started, by giving power to local 

 magistrates for calling out the aid of citizens in case of great danger, 

 which can now generally be done only by the voluntary act of individ- 

 uals. Amendments are more especially needed to our laws that shall 

 enforce caution, in the use of matches, in smoking, in hunting, in the 

 building of camp fires, in charcoal-making, and in clearing lands, and 

 especially in regard to railroads, as hereinbefore specified.^ 



SPECIAL LEGISLATION IN FRANCE FOR PREVENTING FIRES IN FORESTS 

 UNUSUALLY LIABLE TO CONFLAGRATION. 



The repeated and disastrous fires in the region of Maures and I'Est^rel, 

 some 40 by 70 miles in extent, on the shores of the Mediterranean, be- 

 tween Nice and Marseilles, led the administration a few years since to 

 make special investigations, with the view of finding the proper means 



1 In the colonial-laud grants of New York it was not unusual to include in the patent 

 restrictions upon the setting of forest-fires, and reservations of timber for the royal 

 navy. 



As an example of these restrictions, we will notice them as given in a patent for a 

 tract north of the Mohawk River, granted to William Cosby, June 1, 1739. The 

 grantees were not (or others by their privity, consent, or procurement) to " set on fire or 

 burn the woods on the said lauds, or any i)art thereof, so as to destroy, impair, or 

 hinder the growth of any of the trees there that ara or may be fit for masts, planks, 

 knees, or other timber tit for the use of the royal navy." 



This is however, not to hinder the grantees " from such burning of the woods, or cut- 

 ting down or falling of the trees that, are or shall be growing or being on the above- 

 grsnted lands, or any part thereof, as sliall be necessary or conducive to the clearing 

 or eft'ectually cultivating the same lands or any part thereof, or to or for their own uses. 

 And we do hereby further decla^re that by the said burning of the woods is only meant 

 and intended that our said grantees, their heirs and assigns, are to be restrained only 

 from setting fire to and burning any timber or trees whilst they are standing and 

 growing upon the above-granted lauds or any part thereof." 



