No. 4.] REPORT OF STATE FORESTER. 259 



Acts of 1910, Chapter 141. 

 An Act to prohibit the Use of Fire Balloons. 

 Be it enacted, etc., as follows: 



It shall be unlawful within any city or town in this commonwealth 

 for any person to liberate or fly fire balloons of any description. Who- 

 ever violates this act shall be punished by a fine of not more than one 

 hundred dollars, or by imprisonment for not more than one month, or 

 by both such fine and imprisonment. [Ajjproved March 2, 1910. 



The enactment of the following law will undoubtedly result 

 in lessening the number and size of forest fires, by stimulating 

 a desire on the part of many towns to adopt reasonable preven- 

 tive measures, and to provide proper apparatus to extinguish 

 fires when they do occur. This law is dealt with more in detail 

 in the chapter devoted to forest fires. 



Acts of 1910, Chapter 398. 

 An Act relative to Protection against Forest Fires. 

 Be it enacted, etc., as follows: 



Section 1. Every town in the commonwealth with a valuation of one 

 million five hundred thousand dollars or less which appropriates and 

 expends money, with the approval of the state forester, for apparatus 

 to be used in preventing or extinguishing forest fires or for making 

 protective belts or zones as a defence against forest fires, shall be enti- 

 tled, upon the recommendation of the state forester, approved by the 

 governor, to receive from the treasury of the commonwealth a sum 

 equal to one half of the said expenditure, but no town shall receive more 

 than two himdred and fifty dollars. 



Section 2. A sum not exceeding five thousand dollars in any one 

 year may be expended in carrying out the provisions of this act. 



Section 3, This act shall take effect upon its passage. [Approved 

 April 13, 1910. 



So numerous have been forest fires in Barnstable and Plym- 

 outh counties within the past few years, the cause of which in 

 many cases has been attributed to the carelessness and indiffer- 

 ence of berry pickers and camping parties, that many prominent 

 citizens of those counties petitioned for legislation which, if 

 properly enforced, would serve to lessen the danger of fire from 

 the above-named source. The following law was therefore 

 enacted : — 



