FISHERIES, GAME AND FORESTS. 



345 



July 13, 1898. About two hundred acres burned over, none of which belong to the State. 

 Estimated damage to standing timber, about $200. Cause of fire not known. Number of men 

 called out, twenty-five. Total number of days' labor, thirty-eight. The leaves, muck, and 

 everything were so dry that it was almost impossible to stop this fire ; but by attending to it 

 night and day we kept it under control. If I had not attended to it, it would have destroyed 

 hundreds of dollars' worth of property. 



Mr. E. H. Sturtevant, town of Fort Ann, Washington county, N. Y. : 

 July 12, 1898. Number of acres burned over, 150; value of standing timber destroyed, 

 estimated at $100. Cause of fire : supposed to have been started by an Italian who was shooting 

 robins for a potpie. Measures employed to check and extinguish fire: water pails, hcse, shovels, 

 axes, brush, poles, and anything that would or could do any good. Number of men called out 

 to fight fire : forty -five men and boys. Total number of days' labor by men called out: about 

 fifty, if all of them put in accounts. Some of them say they will not do so. I gave the boys 

 only half price. Is that O. K. ? This fire was on a rough, hilly and rocky wood lot, which was 

 cut over the last two winters by Charles Curtis. He notified me of the fire and promised to 

 return with four men to fight it until we could get a crew on the spot. I ordered more men 

 there immediately, and had worked two and one half hours when he came and served a written 

 notice on me that he would not help any more, as he had to do his haying, and said that it was 

 my business to put out the fire. He retained a copy of this notice to put on file. If he had 

 remained and helped us we could have stopped it without much trouble. 



MORNING IN THE CAMP. 



