188 NOTES ON FOREST TREES. 



on the hills near Demmora ; now there are not even 

 young trees on this land. 



The reason for this is that old pines were cut for some 

 particular purpose, one or two in a place as they happened 

 to grow, and as they were surrounded by other kinds of 

 large trees, there was not sufficient ground opened to the 

 influence of the sun to allow the seeds to germinate and 

 grow. The entire township of Demmora of some ten 

 square miles was owned by the state ; ten j^ears ago it was 

 covered with a heavy growth of forest trees. The pines 

 were cut first, then the valuable black cherry and such 

 trees as "Bird's Eye Maple" until at last the entire growth 

 was killed. Another cause of the destruction of forests 

 is the careless use of fire in clearing land for the purposes 

 of tillage ; often in burning over a ten-acre lot one hun- 

 dred acres or even more are destroyed by allowing the 

 'fire to get beyond control. A few such fires in any county 

 in New York will destroy the remains of its natural forest. 

 To remedy this evil is difficult, as usually the parties to 

 blame cannot possibly pay damages, nor is it now a crime 

 punishable by imprisonment. 



There should be a law making it as great a crime to 

 start a forest fire as to set a factory on tire or any other 

 building. The railroads are able to pay damages, and 

 after paying for a few fires they will become of rare oc- 

 currence. In Danvers, Mass. , for three or four years, there 

 were fires originating from railroads, but the companies 

 were obliged to pay heavy damages ; the result is, the road 

 is kept free from weeds and in early spring, when there is 

 plenty of surface water, a number of men are sent to 

 burn over a strip of land on each side of the track, the 

 whole length of the road or that portion of it where there 

 is danger of tires. 



