33° REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF 



woods. Too often he is known to set fire to his brush heaps and then go away to 

 attend to other work, leaving the fire unwatched. Nearly all the burned areas in 

 the Adirondack region are due to the carelessness of men employed in these petty 

 agricultural operations. It is the farmer, not the lumberman, who has destroyed 

 >• so many thousand acres of timber land. The lumberman takes only a few trees 

 per acre of some merchantable species ; the farmer in his operations destroys the 

 entire forest. 



The forest fires resulting from the clearing of land grew so numerous and destruc- 

 tive that legislation became necessary, in order to control or restrict this evil. The 

 forest law was accordingly amended in 1897 by the insertion of a paragraph 

 prohibiting the burning of fallows in certain specified towns between April 1st and 

 June loth, and between September 1st and November 10th, these being the periods 

 during which the ground was covered with dry, dead leaves, and in which the 

 conditions were most favorable for the spread of fire. At other times, when the trees 

 are in full leaf, or when the ground is covered with snow, little danger is to be 

 apprehended from the brush fires of the farmers. As a result of this amendment to 

 the law there has been a noticeable decrease in the destruction of timber lands from 

 this source. There yet remains, however, much to be done in the way of the enforce- 

 ment of this law. 



What is known as the firewarden system is a good one, and is well adapted to the 

 prevention of woodland fires so far as any plan can be made effectual which does not 

 involve the services of a regularly paid force. As our present forestry law makes no 

 provision whatever for the patroling and proper care of our forests, we must depend 

 solely on the firewardens for the protection of our forests from fire. The system could 

 be made much more efficient were the firewardens and their deputies placed under 

 the control and management of some one person. At present there is no head to the 

 organization. There should be some official, provided by law, whose sole duty should 

 consist in perfecting the organization of the firewardens, and in attending to the 

 vigorous prosecution of all violations of the law regarding forest fires. 



Among the firewardens there are too many who are inefficient or indifferent. It 

 frequently happens, also, that vacancies occur, through a change of residence or 

 death, which are not reported to the superintendent ; and when a fire occurs in these 

 towns there is consequently no one to look after it or order out the necessary force of 

 men to extinguish it. These evils could be remedied largely by the appointment of a 

 chief firewarden, who should travel continually from town to. town in order to see that 

 the force is completely and efficiently organized, and that every violation of the law is 

 promptly prosecuted. There are over seven hundred firewardens, including the deputies, 

 and it must be evident that a force of this size needs some special officer at its head 



