280 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



hold him responsible uucler the law for the damage he inflicts, 

 the solntiou of those questions will not he very near. The 

 following was passed by the last legislature : — 



An Act for the Protection of Forests against Fires. 

 Whoever wantonly and recklessly sets fire to any material which 

 causes the destruction or injury of any growing or standing wood of 

 another, shall be punished by fine not exceeding one hundred dollars, 

 or by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding six months. 



The passage of such a bill, defective as it is, indicates at 

 least a feeling that at last the forests of Massachusetts 

 should be protected. The law, as it now stands upon the 

 statute book, should, however, be amended. It is not com- 

 prehensive enough, and it is not severe enough. It would 

 not be very difficult to draft a bill to cover the necessities 

 of the case if the feelings of the community in regard to the 

 value of forest property were more advanced ; but with the 

 existing apathy in regard to the subject, and the impossibility 

 of securing now, without a full discussion by the press and 

 the people of the forest question, the enforcement of any 

 proper law upon the subject, it seems better to present the 

 subject thus generally for your discussion and consideration, 

 without attempting to sketch even the form of such a bill as 

 seems necessary to afford Massachusetts protection from 

 forest fires. The better understanding of the forest question 

 as it exists in New England to-day which must follow any 

 discussion of this subject, is the best guarantee that our 

 forests will in time be protected, and that they will receive 

 the care and attention which in their present economic 

 aspect, if in no other, they deserve at our hands. 



I commend the subject to the most careful consideration of 

 the press and the farmers of New England. 



Question. Did you ever know a case where a pine for- 

 est that had been cut off, whether the brush was burned or 

 not, grew up to pine again ? 



Mr. Russell. I never did. 



Mr. . I understood the essay to say, or I infer 



from the essay, that if the land was not burned over, it 

 would grow up to pine again. Now, I never knew a case 

 where a pine forest came up again. 



