156 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



FORESTS HAZARDOUS PROPERTY— FIRES. 



It is to be admitted also that the hazardous nature of forest property} 

 resulting from the prevalence and destructive character of forest tires, 

 oilers a strong inducement for the rapid conversion of the trees into 

 lumber. In the timbered regions of the country one can ncarcely look 

 around him, especially at certain seasons of the year, without seeiug 

 the smoke of burning forests. In some parts of the country these fires 

 are of alarming frequency and extent. It is estimated by competent 

 and trustworthy judges that as great an extent of the forests is con- 

 sumed by fires as by the axe. If it is so, this class of property cannot 

 be regarded as otherwise than hazardous. It may be said that there 

 are at present no safeguards against forest fires. 

 ^ The laws hitherto enacted by the different States are of little efficacy. 

 No State is as yet sufficiently awake to the value of this species of 

 property to make adequate laws for its protection, and the owners are 

 not disposed of their own accord to adopt such a course as is needful for 

 their own protection. There is such a community of interest involved 

 in the possession of this kind of property, that a combination of action 

 is requisite for its protection, which is very difficult to secure without 

 legal compulsion. It is of little use for one person to adopt expensive 

 measures of protection unless the same are adopted by those in his 

 neighborhood. If fire breaks out by accident or is kindled by design 

 in a forest near him, it may sweep through his most valuable timber 

 despite all that he may have done for its security. The consequence is 

 that forest property is a very unsafe kind of property. The holders of 

 it live in constant fear that any day, in certain seasons of the year es- 

 pecially, may witness its swift destruction by the flames. One can 

 hardly open the newspapers without reading of some such disaster. As 

 a consequence of this condition of things, few persons are ready to in- 

 vest their funds in the purchase of timber except with a view to its 

 speedy conversion into lumber, and those wiio possess timber lands are 

 strongly urged to cut their forests rather than risk their consumption 

 by the flames. 



MARKETS OVERSTOCKED. 



As the natural result of these various motives of action, the forests 

 are consumed much faster than the natural demands of their products 

 require, and the lumber market is overstocked to such extent that the 

 price of lumber is in some cases below the cost of producing it, and far 

 below what it would naturally be in face of the fact that the source of 

 supply is so rapidly diminishing. And this is a condition of things not 

 peculiar to our ow T n country. 



The lumber markets of Great Britain are equally crowded with the 

 produce of the forests, and as a consequence the prices of lumber are 

 very low. Great Britain is comparatively a treeless country, having 

 only about 4 per cent, of her area in wood, Denmark being the only 

 European country having less. Yet such is the supply of lumber 

 crowded upon the English market from the great forests of Norway, 

 Sweden, and Eussia, as well as from the Canadian provinces, that com- 

 plaint is made that her home-grown timber cannot be sold at remuner- 

 ative prices. So overstocked are the markets that hundreds of British 

 vessels are reported to be laid up at their docks without employment, 

 which have been used formerly in the lumber trade. 



