FISHERIES, GAME AND FORESTS. 28 1 



The provision of the law requiring a statement as to the means used in fighting or 

 extinguishing the fire was generally complied with by the firewardens in their reports. 

 From the information thus furnished it appears that the common method used in 

 stopping a small fire was by whipping it out with brush, after which fresh dirt was 

 thrown on the smoking leaves and embers; or, if there was water near by, it was 

 carried in buckets and poured over the ground. Where the fire had gained a good 

 headway and spread beyond control, a line of defence was chosen along some road or 

 stream, from which back fires were started. In some places where there was a slow 

 ground fire, and the soil would permit it, furrows were ploughed and a space was 

 swept bare of leaves and combustible material, thereby making a line at which the 

 creeping flames stopped for lack of fuel. In most cases where the fire covers a large 

 area, the men work in the early and late hours of the day, or in the night; for then 

 the flames die down, and can be fought easier than in the daytime or noon hours, 

 during which they burn with uncontrollable fury. 



In the case of a " top " fire, driven by a strong wind, little or nothing can be done 

 to stop it, aside from extinguishing the small fires that start on all sides, lighted by 

 falling sparks or brands. Sometimes, a sufficiently large posse of men having been 

 warned out, a top fire has been encircled by a cordon of fire fighters, back fires started, 

 and the conflagration held in check until rain came to their relief. With few excep- 

 tions, our larger forest fires in the Adirondack and Catskill regions burn until rain 

 comes. Fortunately, in the spring and fall, the times when all our woodland fires 

 occur, the rains are most frequent, especially on the mountain plateaus where the 

 forests are situated; and a fire seldom lasts four days without being extinguished by 

 some opportune downpour. The frequency with which showers follow forest fires 

 has led to a prevalent belief in the certainty of this phenomenal succession as an 

 ordinary exhibition of cause and effect. Rain is the best firewarden we have, and 

 were it not for this agency there would be no forests to-day on the Adirondack and 

 Catskill uplands. But, it is hoped that through some better organization and man- 

 agement of the. firewardens our forest fires can be prevented or extinguished without 

 dependence on any such fortuitous agency. 



I submit herewith, also, the usual annual compilation of statistics showing the 

 product of the Adirondack forests for 1897. These statistics show the amount of 

 timber consumed by the sawmills and pulpmills, but do not include the minor products 

 of the forest. Although none of this timber is cut on State lands, and the work is. .in 

 no way connected with the duties of this Commission, still, the information furnished by 

 these tables is absolutely necessary to a correct understanding of the forestry situation 

 in the Adirondacks. The extent of our future supply of merchantable timber, and 

 the change in forest composition can be ascertained only through these statistics. 



