No. 4.] FORESTRY IK MASSACHUSETTS. 77 



are supposed to turn in their reports ; some do, and some do 

 not. 1 have examined all of the records for the last five 

 years, and have travelled over the State, and 1 do not believe 

 more than half of the fire losses have been reported. 



We believe that there should be one man in each town, 

 appointed by the selectmen, who shall be responsible for the 

 putting out of forest fires. Each town should be divided 

 into districts, with a competent man in each district, under 

 orders of and responsible to the fire warden. If you are 

 going to make the fire warden responsible, you must try and 

 control the people so that they will be less careless. They 

 are not careless because they Avant to be mean, but they 

 don't know the danger. If you are going to make a town 

 fire warden responsible, let him know who has the right, and 

 who has not the right, to light a fire. If he goes to a fire, 

 he must know that it is a real fire, and not, after driving a 

 long distance, find a man is simply burning a big lot of 

 brush. Or, what perhaps would be better still, let the State 

 be the controlling power, and put this work into the hands 

 of one responsible head, — for the selectmen of towns have 

 many duties, and may neglect this one. 



Our association has oft'ered to make examinations through- 

 out the State of forest lands. So far as possible we will go 

 and look over the lands, find out the needs and conditions of 

 the owner, the condition of his property, and advise him as 

 to the best methods of handling it. There is as much neces- 

 sity for properly handling the existing wood lands as for 

 forestry work in planting up the waste lands. 



I want to say a word about the cost of forest planting. 

 Dr. Fernow put the cost at $10 an acre. This year we have 

 brought the cost down to $5 an acre. Then the lecturer 

 spoke about a State nursery. I am very strongly in favor 

 of one. It is rather difficult to raise white pine without con- 

 siderable expense, if you want to raise it profitably. I 

 believe the State should start a nursery, where the white 

 pine could be raised and sold to land owners at cost for 

 forestry purposes. I do not believe the State should give 

 aAvay anything except advice ; that is cheap enough. 



Now, with regard to our work at the Wachusett reservoir. 



