32 Report of tee I of est Commission. 



I was called out again. I was not at home, so my son went ^ith suffi- 

 cient help, but he had to back fire again to the same road. About 50 

 or 60 acres were burned over, with a loss of about five dollars per acre. 

 My son thinks some one set fire again where "we kft it the day before 

 as the fire was completely out when we left. 



On August 26th I was called on again as the fire had started up afresh, 

 and was burning everything clean before it. As the timber had just 

 been cut last winter, it did very little damage, burning only 12 cords 

 of wood. We back fired and watched it until 3 o'clock next morning, 

 as there were 60 cords of wood within 30 feet of the fire. About 30 or 

 40 acres were burned over. 



August 29th I was called out by a fire in this town which was not very 

 large ; perhaps 25 acres were burned, doing damage to about $50. No 

 cordwood or logs were burned. I think it was set on fire intentionally, 

 or else it followed a root under the ground outside the back fire. 



September 2d I was again called out, and we back fired along the road. 

 This fire did not burn over many acres, but burned it clean, as it was 

 very dry. No logs, or bark, or cordwood was destroyed. I estimate 

 the damage at about $75. Cause of fire unknown. 



After this last fire I made the remark that all fires after that must 

 be put out without pay, as the bills already were so large that farmers 

 could not pay them; and that was the last fire we had. There were 

 quite a number of bills for fighting fire that the town board of auditors 

 cut down comiderably, and there were some which were not allowed 

 at all. 



Joseph H. Riseley, State forester in the Catskill district, writes 



as follows : 



Allaben, N. Y., October 3, 1894. 



Col. William F. Fox, Superintendent State Forests: 



Dear Sie. — I suppose you have read in the papers the accounts 

 stating that the forest fires were destroying the deer park fence, and 

 that the deer were getting out. There is no truth in it at all. There 

 have been no fires at all near the deer park, with the exception of 

 about two acres of fallow land which were burned over by a farmer on 

 Big Indian creek. As he did not allow the fire to escape from his own 

 premises,, no damage was done. There have been no fires within 15 

 miles of the deer park. There were several small fires, which were 

 put out immediately and without much damage. 



Yours truly, 



JOSEPH H. RISELEY, 



Forester. 



