212 FIFTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



Any person violating the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a 

 misdemeanor and shall, upon conviction, be fined not more than twenty- 

 five dollars or shall be imprisoned for not more than thirty days, or both, 

 for each offense, and in addition thereto shall be liable to a penalty of two 

 dollars for each and every coniferous tree felled from which he shall neglect 

 to cut or lop off the branches." 



Does this law accomplish the purpose for which it was intended? In 

 order to answer this question one should have evidence extending over a 

 period of years ; have a record of the condition of forests some years after 

 cutting and lopping of the timber ; and this compared with forests in which 

 this precautionary measure was not employed. 



Probably the best example of results obtained by lopping branches in 

 a lumbering operation carried on several years ago is found at Nehasane 

 park. At this point lumbering was examined that was carried on ten 

 years ago. This was a spruce operation, cutting to a diameter limit of 

 ten inches and lopping the branches as a precaution against fire. Here 

 can be found examples and comparisons that in themselves are conclusive. 



It is evident in the first place that it makes a great deal of difference 

 how the work is done. Occasionally a top is found which was not properly 

 lopped. In such a case as is shown in the photograph the workmen cut 

 off all the branches that were sticking up out of the upper surface of the 

 log and these falling to the ground have decayed and scarcely a vestige 

 of them remains. The failure to cut off the side branches and the branches 

 underneath has prevented these portions from getting down to the ground, 

 and to-day the top and branches that are raised and supported above the 

 ground are in a good state of preservation and would furnish excellent 

 material for a camp fire. In the case of tops that were properly lopped, 

 branches, stem and all soon came into contact with the ground, and retain- 

 ing and absorbing moisture they soon decayed. In such cases there is 

 little left but the badly decayed stem, and that, ten years after the opera- 

 tion, is in no condition for camp fire purposes. In this day of more com- 

 plete utilization this stem would have been made into pulpwood and prac- 

 tically nothing would have remained. The branches, as a rule, have dis- 

 appeared entirely or are covered over with the leaves and other litter of 



