FISHERIES, GAME AND FORESTS. 343 



April 14, 1898. About forty acres were burned over on lot 330, Watson's Triangle; no 

 especial loss. I went to the fire, but did not find it necessary to order out any men. This fire 

 was caused by carelessness in clearing land. The brush heaps were lighted during a very dry 

 time. The man asked permission to burn his fallow, but I refused to grant it, calling his 

 attention to the law, and telling him he must not start any brush fires in so dry a season, or at 

 any time, without my permission. The people here pay no attention to the law. 



July 23, 1898. About fifty acres burned over, none of which belonged to the State. Dam- 

 age to timber estimated at $100. This fire probably started from a smudge left by some hunters 

 who had killed and skinned a deer. A boat was found which was probably used by these 

 hunters. The offal of a deer was left, and the place where the fire was kindled was easily seen, 

 and from which the flames ran into the woods. I ordered out fifteen men and two teams, with 

 plows and tools. 



Mr. J. H. Bintz, town of New Bremen, Lewis county, N. Y. : 



September 12, 1898. I have not made any report, for the reason that there have been no 

 forest fires in my town. What little fires are made by the farmers in burning brush I make no 

 report of. There was just one man that had a ''roller" to burn. Before he started his fire he 

 got his neighbors out to guard it. But I didn't allow any charges to be made. 



Mr. Austin J. Larkin, town of Ballston, Saratoga county, N. Y. : 



March 18, 1898. About two acres were burned over in woods near Ballston Lake. I think 

 the fire was ^caused by an incendiary, as we saw fresh tracks of a man near where the fire 

 occurred. I first saw a slight smoke rising from the woods in the afternoon. I watched it, and 

 as the smoke increased I employed help. We repaired to the place and fought the fire until 

 after dark. It was burning on a spot where timber had been cut several years before, and some 

 of the young pines and hemlocks were twenty feet tall. At one place, where the trees were few, 

 the ground was overgrown with grass and weeds. It was here that the fire started, and as it 

 was dry, the fire ran every way, burning the hemlock and pine leaves from some of the lower 

 branches, and setting stumps, etc., on fire. 



August 29, 1898. I saw this fire myself about five minutes after the 1:55 train on the Dela- 

 ware & Hudson Railroad had left Ballston Lake station. I employed two young men, and 

 when we arrived at the fire an Italian woman came from her house, very near where this fire was 

 burning the grass along the railroad fence. This woman brought two pails and dipped water 

 from a small stream near by, which two of us carried to throw on the flames. The other man 

 used a green brush and whipped the fire, which was spreading very rapidly toward the house. 

 There was a strong wind blowing from the south at the time. 



Mr. A. C. Hickok, town of Corinth, Saratoga county, N. Y. : 



April 8, 1898. About eighty acres burned over; value of standing timber destroyed, esti- 

 mated at $50. Fire caught from a locomotive on the Adirondack division of the Delaware & 

 Hudson Railroad. Warned out eight men to fight it. A high wind prevailed, and fifty acres 

 of pasture land were burned over in a few minutes. On my arrival I found the trackmen of 

 the railroad working to stop it from spreading. It got into the valley near the brook, in some 

 timber, burning an old mill and killing the trees. But we could not stop it entirely and leave 

 it with safety, until after midnight. 



