FOREST FIRES. 285 



this time, one man and two of my sons went into the forest 

 send dug out about three thousand trees. A hirge number 

 were put into nursery rows, and covered up with boughs, until 

 into the spring, and, as far as they were well covered, they 

 are living, but as far as they were exposed to the winter and 

 spring sun and winds, they are about all dead. I think these 

 facts prove that transplanting can be applied to renew our 

 forests, and that trees may be taken from their native growths ; 

 but it is doubtless better, in most cases, to make a young 

 plantation with nursery trees. 



John A. Hall of Raynham, set out many acres with white- 

 pine trees, planting them ten feet each way. In my native 

 town, Bedford, N. H., I remember a white pine that grew 

 from seed, in forty or forty-two years, to be two and a half 

 feet in diameter. There was nearly a cord of wood in the 

 body and limbs. If that can be done in forty years it is 

 worth tr3dng for, and I believe it should be the determination 

 of every farmer to plant from a few hundred to a few thou- 

 sand trees as regularly as he plants his farm crops. The 

 danger of his pine forest being injured by fire is something 

 of a drawback, but he can manage the fires, generally. We 

 need a better public sentiment to encourage forest planting 

 to keep up our forest growth. It is not popular enouo-h to 

 plant forest trees yet. There is no fear about the sale of 

 white pine. It is especially in demand, and always likely 

 to be. I can remember white-pine pastures where there 

 were only a few small trees, Avhich are now, with their good- 

 sized trees, the most available part of the farm to raise money 

 on. The wooden-ware manufacturers at Winchendon and 

 vicinity are seeking such timber, buying whole farms where 

 white pine abounds, and working it up. They are con- 

 stantly looking out for white-pine lumber. Even small 

 sapling pines, six inches in diameter, are in demand. 



The matter of forest fires is a difiicult subject to deal with. 

 You do not have the sympathy of the surrounding people in 

 trying to get any redress when fires have occurred, and it is 

 very difficult to get proof that will answer the law, or courts 

 to convict the incendiary. 



Mr. Cheever. How old were those little white pines, 

 of which you transplanted about two thousand ? 



