FORESTRY COMMISSIONS — PENNSYLVANIA. 177 



treble damages if demanded in the complaint. Every buch person also forfeits to the State the sum of twenty-five 

 dollars for every tree cut down or carried away by him or under his direction, to be recovered in a like action by the 

 forest preserve board. All sums recovered in any such action shall be paid by the board to the State treasurer and 

 credited to the general fund. 



Sec. 21. Service of a notice by the forest preserve board under section four must be personal if the person to be 

 served can be found in the State. The provisions of the code of civil procedure relating to the service of a summons 

 in an action in the supreme court, except as to implication, apply, so far as practicable, to the service of such a 

 notice. If a person to be served can not with due diligence be found in the State, a justice of the supreme court 

 may, by order, direct the manner of such service, and service shall be made accordingly. 



Sec. 22. The court of claims, if requested by the claimant or the attorney-general, shall examine the real 

 property affected by the claim and take the testimony in relation thereto in the county where such property or part 

 thereof is situated. The actual and necessary expenses of such judge and of each officer of the court in making 

 such examination and in so taking testimony shall be audited by the comptroller and paid from the money appro- 

 priated for the purposes of this act. 



Sec. 23. The power to appropriate real property, vested in the forest preserve board by section four, is subject 

 to the following limitations : Such real property must adjoin land already owned or appropriated by the State at the 

 time the description and certificate are hied in the office of the secretary of state, except that timber land not so 

 adjoining State land may be appropriated whenever in the judgment of the hoard timber thereon other than spruce, 

 pine, or hemlock is being cut or removed to the detriment of the forest or the interests of the State. 



Sec. 24. The sum of six hundred thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is hereby appropri- 

 ated for the purposes specified in this act, out of any moneys m the treasury not others ise appropriated. In addition 

 to the amount above appropriated, the comptroller, upon the written request of the forest preserve board, is hereby 

 authorized and directed to borrow, from time to time, not exceeding in the aggregate the sum of four hundred 

 thousand dollars for the purposes specified in this act, and to issue bonds or certificates therefor payable within ten 

 years from their date, bearing interest at a rate not exceeding five per centum per annum, and which shall not be 

 sold at less than par. The sums so borrowed are hereby appropriated, payable out of the moneys realized from the 

 sale of such bonds or certificates, to be expended under the direction of the forest preserve board for the purposes of 

 this act, and to be paid by the treasurer on the warrant of the comptroller. 



Sec. 25. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent with this act are hereby repealed. 



Sec. 26. This act shall take effect immediately. 



Under this act the State spent last year $1,000,000 in purchasing forest lands to the amount 

 of over 250,000 acres, so that the total holdings comprise now over 1,000,000 acres; and during 

 the present year (1898) another half million dollars is being disbursed ior the same purpose. 



In New Jersey the appropriations for the State geological survey have since 1894 contained a 

 clause which provides that the State geologist shall make (1) a survey to ascertain the extent, 

 location, and character of the wild lands or forest lands of the State, and the advantages of their 

 retention in forestry; (2) a survey of the more important watersheds or drainage basins and their 

 forested areas, with reference to the protective measures needed to save this forest cover and 

 thereby maintain the purity of the water, as well as promote the more equable How of the streams; 

 (3) a study of the relations of forests as climatic factors, and particularly to the rainfall; (4) a 

 compilation of the forest legislation in other States and countries in so far as it may be applicable 

 to conditions in New Jersey. 



Two reports have been published discussing forest conditions in various parts of the State, 

 effects of forest fires, relation of forests to stream-flow, etc. 



In Pennsylvania, through the efforts of the State forestry association, a commission of inquiry 

 was first created by the following act on May 23, 1893 : 



AN ACT relative to a forestry commission. 



Be it enacted, etc. : 



Section 1. That the governor he authorized to appoint two persons as a commission, one of whom is to he a 

 competent engineer, one a botanist, practically acquainted with the forest trees of the Commonwealth, whose duty- 

 it shall he to examine and report upon the conditions of the slopes and summits of the important watersheds of the 

 State, for the purpose of determining how far the presence or absence of the forest cover may be iniluential in 

 pioducing high and low-water stages in the various river basins; and to report how much timber remains standing 

 of such kinds as have special commercial value, ho vr much there is of each kind; as well, also, as to indicate the part 

 or parts of the State where each grows naturally, and what measures, if any, are being taken to secure a supply of 

 timber for the future. It shall further be the duty of said commission to suggest such measures in this connection as 

 have been found of practical service elsewhere in maintaining a proper timber supply, and to ascertain, as nearly as 

 practicable, what proportion of the State not now recognized as mineral land is unfit for remunerative agriculture 

 and could with advantage be devoted to the growth of trees. 



Sec 2. The said commission shall also ascertain what wild lands, if any, now belong to the Commonwealth, 

 their extent, character, and location, and report the same, together with a statement of what part or parts of such 



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