of the federal government, and through an agreement between 

 the Secretary of Agriculture, at Washington, D. C., and the 

 State Forester of Virginia, at Charlottesville, Va., the sum of 

 $2,000.00 per year has been allotted to the state of Virginia, to 

 i)e spent for fire prevention under the direction of the State 

 Forester. While the Legislature of Virginia at the time that it 

 made provision for the establishment of the fire protective 

 system by creating the office of State Forester and providing 

 for the appointment of State Forest Wardens, unfortunately 

 failed to make an appropriation to put the plan into effect, the 

 work has been started by the use of a sum of money put at the 

 disposal of the State Forester by the University of Virginia for 

 general educational work throughout the State. Thus there is 

 $2,000.00 per year from the federal government now available 

 for fire protection, and this amount 1 will undoubtedly be in- 

 creased as soon as the State itself appropriates a larger amount. 

 This sum, $2,000.00, is evidently too small to cover the State 

 thoroughly, hence it has been decided that it shall be used only 

 in localities where there is enough local interest in fire protec- 

 tion to make either the County authorities or the timber land 

 owners willing to go to an expense equal to that of the gov- 

 ernment. This plan results automatically in the money being 

 spent where it is the most needed and where it will do the most 

 good. 



County Authorities May Appropriate Money for Fire 

 Protection. 



The County Supervisors now have legal authority to appro- 

 priate money for purposes of fire protection. This may take 

 the form of paying for the service of Forest Wardens and men 

 employed by them for the time actually spent in fighting fire, or 

 it may take the form of paying for patrol work. The former 

 method is being adopted in nearly all States which have fire 

 protective systems, and it is evidently essential to a thoroughly 

 effective system, and will undoubtedly be in use in most or all 

 of the Counties of Virginia within a few years, but in the mean- 

 time a beginning should be made by the employment of patrol- 

 men. Such men work on a monthly basis only during the danger- 

 ous seasons, particularly in the spring and fall, usually about 

 four months per year, depending upon the dryness of the sea- 

 son. If the County authorities will pay the salaries of such 

 patrolmen for one half of their time, they can be paid for the 

 other half of their time by the United States government, and 

 an offer to this effect is made to the County authorities by the 

 State Forester, as long as the government money holds out. 

 These men would be selected and appointed by the State For- 

 ester with the advice of the County Supervisors and other per- 



