7^.2 



Canadian Forestry Journal, October, igi6 



impenetrable forest. Even as far back 

 as March 29, 1626, Plymouth Colony 

 began to cry the wolf of timber fam- 

 ine, which to us of this day seems al- 

 most amusing. The Plymouth ordi- 

 nance of 1626 recited the inconveni- 

 ences that were likely to arise in any 

 community from the lack oi timber, 

 and declared that no man should sell or 

 ship any timber whatever out of the 

 colony except with the Governor's or 

 Council's approval. Was this the 

 original seed of conservation, or was it 

 due to a realization that here were il- 

 limitable quantities of fine timber at 

 their very doors, and with the prover- 

 bial New England thrift and foresight 

 they desired this resource to remain 

 forever within their little colony? 



"Only Upon Warning." 



As early as 1633, in the Plymouth 

 Colony, the setting of fires in the 

 woods was forbidden during the fall 

 and winter months, and the firing of 

 woods during the remainder of the 

 year was allowed only upon warning 

 to one's neighbors. The stern and 

 grim penalty for breaking this law was 

 a fine of 10 shillings or a whipping. 

 The restriction regarding the setting of 

 fires in Massachusetts Bay Colony an- 

 tedated the Plymouth law, being pass- 

 ed in July, 1631. Here also a whip- 

 ping was the wholesome penalty, to be 

 administered to either man or woman 

 breaking the law. Other New Eng- 

 land colonies very early passing some 

 form of forest or fire legislation were 

 New Hampshire, Connecticut, and 

 Rhode Island, most of the laws provid- 

 ing for an open season for setting fires. 

 Rhode Island prohibited the setting of 

 fires in the woods except from March 

 10 to May 10, and on Saturdays and 

 Sundays within this period. 



Damages or Stripes. 



New York, under the Duke's Laws, 

 published in 1665, likewise forbade set- 

 ting fires out in the woods or commons 

 or on one's own lands, and the person 

 so doing should be liable for one and a 

 half times the damage, and in default 

 should receive stripes. New Jersey 

 and Pennsylvania passed forest fire 

 laws in 1683, and Delaware, as a sepa- 

 rate colony, in 1739; North Carolina, 

 in the acts of 1777, went on record 



against fires, stating that forest fires 

 were "destructive to cattle and hogs, 

 extremely prejudicial to soil, and often- 

 times of fatal consequence to planters 

 and farmers by destroying their fences 

 and other improvements." Here we 

 get a new point of view — that forest 

 fires were injurious to the soil, and 

 therefore to planters and farmers— but 

 nothing was said of the destruction of 

 the timber. The North Carolina laws 

 went more into the details of the pen- 

 alties, stating that any vagrant, slave,, 

 free negro, or mulatto unable to pay 

 the fine, should "receive on his bare 

 back 39 lashes, well laid on." Would 

 that such a Federal law existed to- 

 day ! Our fire organizations and plans 

 would be useless. 



Laws Far Afield. 



Not only did the early colonies real- 

 ize the disadvantages of fires in the 

 forests, but provided restrictions on 

 shipping lumber, the felling and not 

 using of timber, restrictions in the cut- 

 ting of timber for one's personal use, 

 prevention of timber trespass, cutting 

 of timber on another's land, etc. 



Typical of the name which he gave 

 to the State, William Penn published 

 a document in England which, among 

 other wise things, declared that care 

 must be taken to leave one acre of 

 trees for every five acres cleared ; 

 whether the selection, clear-cutting, or 

 strip-system, was to be followed rec- 

 ord sayeth not. 



Maryland, in 1692, granted certain 

 free use of timber to any one who 

 would build a mill. The General As- 

 sembly of Virginia, in a letter dated 

 March 28, 1628, to the King, advised 

 him that pipestaves, barrel boards, and 

 clapboards, as well as pitch and tar, 

 could be procured in great abundance, 

 but that the 'freight was too high! Not 

 until 1752 did Virginia recognize the 

 need for timber inspection, although 

 Massachusetts Colony had provided 

 for, for barrel staves for export from- 

 Virginia to Madeira and the West In- 

 dies, the Virginians probably being 

 brought to realize the importance of 

 havins: good, solid barrel-stave mate- 

 rial from having suffered a loss of many 

 gallons of good old Madeira in its long 

 journey across the Spanish Main. 



