FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. I05 



responsible for all damages arising from this source. They also manifest an 

 interest in forest preservation because their summer traffic is dependent on it. 



Our present law is insufficient in its provisions to prevent a recurrence of 

 these railroad fires, and the only remedy lies in an amendment compelling 

 the companies to use electric motors or petroleum burners; or, failing to do this, 

 to patrol their lines during the dry season with a sufficient number of men to 

 extinguish the live coals and sparks wherever they may fall outside the tracks. 



In the forests of Germany, although traversed most everywhere by railroads, 

 there is no loss caused by locomotives; at least the fires from this source are so 

 few and far between that the woodlands of that country are practically exempt 

 from this evil, a fact often alluded to in discussing the damage to woodlands 

 caused by railroads in the Adirondacks. But it must not be inferred from this 

 that the widespread destruction of standing timber caused by the railroads in 

 Northern New York is due to any inefficiency on the part of the forest 

 management. The conditions differ widely from those which exist in the European 

 forests — conditions beyond the control of the Department. 



The locomotives in Europe throw sparks the same as here. But in a German 

 forest, where timber cuttings have been made, there is an entire absence of tree- 

 tops, limbs and brush. All this is removed when the timber is taken out, leaving 

 the forest floor clean and free from inflammable material. Moreover, there is 

 scarcely any undergrowth aside from the seedlings which are to furnish the future 

 crop, while in some forests even these are not found, the ground being as free 

 from litter or young growth as a city park. The right-of-way along the railroads 

 is cut out to a greater width than in our State, and is entirely free from logs, 

 stumps and bushy growth. Except in mountainous districts, the land between 

 the railroad tracks and the adjoining forest is ploughed, leaving a broad strip of 

 fresh, upturned earth over which a creeping fire cannot pass. Where the right- 

 of-way is wide enough two strips of fresh earth are thus exposed, which are 

 connected at short intervals by cross-ploughing, thereby preventing a fire running 

 lengthwise in the grass between the strips. A good example of this may be seen 

 by tourists in traveling along the railroad from Heidelberg to Darmstadt. I 

 mention this route in particular as so many of our summer tourists travel that 

 line. For many miles this railroad is bordered on either side by contiguous 

 forests of Scotch Pine, a highly resinous species. The ground is level, sandy and 

 easily ploughed. 



But in our Adirondack forests we have entirely different and more dangerous 

 conditions. The forests along the railroad lines, owing to their accessibility, have 

 all been lumbered recently, and the ground is covered waist deep with dead tree- 



