FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 37 



commence until after a fire has started ; the work of the patrol is directed to the 

 prevention of fires. The best way to fight fires is to have no fires. A patrol would 

 know of each hunter, fisherman, tourist, or picnic party that came on his township. 

 He would follow them, caution them about carelessness in this respect, and see that 

 their camp or coffee fires were extinguished when they moved on. He would also 

 be in a good position to obtain the necessary evidence for a prosecution, if these 

 wandering parties violated the provisions of the law relating to the use of fire in the 

 woods. 



During the dry season of 1899 there were 327 fires in the Adirondacks ; but none 

 of these occurred on the private preserves, although these preserves include nearly 

 one-third of our northern forests. Their exemption was due to the fact that their 

 lands were constantly patrolled. The preserves employed ninety-eight patrols in 

 all ; the State did not employ one. 



In addition to the forestry and police work carried on by the Department there 

 are numerous suits involving the litigation of titles to lands in the preserve. It is a 

 matter of congratulation that the Commission has been uniformly successful in 

 these cases. In one important suit growing out of the cutting of timber on the pre- 

 serve, the defendant set up a claim of title which was based upon a certificate from 

 a county treasurer's sale. On the first trial of this case a verdict was given against 

 the prosecution, the court holding that the defendant's title, which was obtained 

 from the county treasurer's sale, was a valid one, although the State held title from 

 a tax sale subsequently made by the State Comptroller. As this decision would 

 affect unfavorably the State's ownership to a large amount of land in the Forest 

 Preserve, an appeal was taken, and I have the pleasure of announcing that recently 

 we received notice that the appellate court had reversed the decision of the lower 

 court. 



I would also mention the important decision made by the United States 

 Supreme Court in the suit of Benton Turner v. The State of New York, in which it 

 affirmed the constitutionality of the law of 1885. This law makes legal and regular 

 all the tax sales under which the State holds title to lands in the Forest Preserve. 



I take pleasure also in mentioning that we have received a communication from 

 the office of the Paris Exposition conveying the information that the Forest, Fish 

 and Game Commission of this State received a gold medal for the forestry exhibit 

 sent there one year ago. This exhibit consists of six large frames, each containing 

 thirty specimens — or 180 in all — of the commercial woods of this State. There 

 were eighty-four species represented, two or more specimens being exhibited of each, 

 showing different kinds of finish. This collection is a valuable one. It is not only 



