December 28, 1900.] 



SCIENCE. 



983 



along which combustible materials are kept 

 cleaned up. In addition to this a sugges- 

 tion with regard to ' forest farms ' shows 

 how the southern part of the State might 

 be to a large extent divided up into farms 

 in which the cultivated portion of each 

 would surround a body of timber, which 

 would then be isolated by a wide fire lane 

 from other woodland, thus almost entirely 

 obviating the danger of extensive fires. 

 Suppose a person possesses one hundred 

 acres of woodland out of which he wishes 

 to make a combination forest and farm. 

 The first step is to clear a fire lane around 

 the whole of it, at least two hundred feet 

 in width. This lane should constitute the 

 cultivated portion of the farm. * * * If 

 the hundred acres referred to is perfectly 

 square, a fire lane two hundred feet wide 

 around it would contain about thirty-five 

 acres, as much as one man can comfortably 

 till. There would be left in the center a 

 forest containing about sixty-five acres. 

 * * * If the whole area of woodland in 

 southern Jersey were treated in this way, 

 sixty-five per cent, would be left in wood 

 and the whole would be cut up in such a 

 way that extensive fires would be impossi- 

 ble.* The plan here suggested is appar- 

 ently as capable of application, in a modi- 

 fied form, in Michigan as in New Jersey. 



PENNSYLVANIA. 



The history of the forestry movement in 

 Pennsylvania is particularly instructive, 

 since the conditions in that State are in vai-i- 

 ous important particulars similar to, if not 

 identical with, those prevailing in Michigan. 

 Without attempting a complete review of 

 earlier legislation in Pennsylvania, it is de- 

 sirable to consider in some detail such im- 

 portant features as those pertaining to for- 

 est fires and forest reservations. 



Early Legislation. Forest Fires. 



As early as 1860 the setting on fire of 

 *GifEord, 1. c, p. 45. 



woods or marshes to the loss of any other 

 person was made a misdemeanor punish- 

 able by fine and imprisonment, and penal- 

 ties were also provided for the cutting and 

 removal of timber from the land of an- 

 other. Failure to fix responsibility, how- 

 ever, made the law a dead letter, and it 

 was followed by disastrous fires and by 

 laxity of public sentiment in regard to 

 them. An attempt was made in 1870 to 

 remedy this by the enactment of a law re- 

 quiring the commissioners of the several 

 counties of the commonwealth to appoint 

 persons under oath whose duty it should be 

 to ferret out and bring to punishment all 

 persons who either wilfully or otherwise 

 cause the burning of timber lands, and to 

 take means to have such fires extinguished, 

 the expenses to be paid out of the county 

 treasury, the unseated land tax to be first 

 applied to such expenses. 



Laxoa of 1897. 



This law, like the former one, remained 

 inoperative, or at least insufficient, until in 

 1897 it was amended so as to make the 

 commissioners of the several counties re- 

 sponsible to the commissioner of forestry 

 for compliance with its provisions, and pre- 

 scribing a penalty of fine or imprisonment 

 for failure. The expenses incurred in the 

 employment of detectives were to be borne 

 one-half by the county in which they were 

 employed and one-half by the State. "With 

 this definite and not easily evaded respon- 

 sibility, followed up by most determined 

 and persistent eSbrt on the part of the 

 commissioner of forestry, real progress 

 has been made. Offenders are lodged in 

 jail with as great publicity as possible, and 

 it is safe to say that public sentiment with 

 regard to forest fires has never before in 

 the history of Pennsylvania been formed so 

 rapidly. 



The same year, 1897, an act was passed 

 making constables of townships ex-officio fire 



