40 



elaborate system of reserves, but if the State Forester could be 

 allowed an appropriation for purchasing cheap lands, and be 

 permitted to replant them for demonstrative purposes, the object 

 lesson would be valuable, and the State could not help profiting 

 thereby financially. It is even possible that some towns or indi- 

 viduals would be willing to give lands to the State, provided they 

 could be accepted and planted by the State Forester. One such 

 offer was made during the year, and it is believed offers of land at 

 low cost can be easily secured. 



III. We must stop Forest Fires. 



After traversing the State and studying conditions carefully, 

 I feel that it will take some drastic mandatory laws in order to 

 cope with the situation. Our people have been so indifferent 

 toward forestry and the protection of forest property that we are 

 absolutely wasting thousands upon thousands of dollars, not 

 only for the present but the future, through sheer negligence. 

 Even much of our so-called scrub growth would yield cord wood, 

 if not lumber, were it not for fires which periodically run over 

 these lands. 



With the newly appointed forest warden system better results 

 are expected; but why not clothe this officer with the power to 

 arrest without a warrant any person or persons found in the act 

 of unlawfully setting a fire or trespassing on forest property. 

 This right is given the fish and game wardens; why not the forest 

 wardens and their deputies ? 



We have a law in our statutes at present (Revised Laws, chap- 

 ter 32, section 24) which reads as follows : 



In a town which accepts the provisions of this section or has accepted 

 the corresponding provisions of earlier laws, no fire shall be set in the 

 open air between the first day of April and the first day of October, 

 unless by written permission of a forest warden. The forest warden 

 shall cause public notice to be given of the provisions of this section, 

 and shall enforce the same. Whoever violates the provisions of this 

 section shall be punished by a fine of not more than one hundred dollars, 

 to be divided equally between the complainant and the town, or by im- 

 prisonment for not more than one month, or by both such fine and 

 imprisonment. 



This law, it is believed, should not be left to the discretion of 

 the towns, but should be enacted as a State law. 



