140 
FOREST AND STREAM 
[July 22, 1911. 
Published Weekly by the 
Forest and Stream Publishing Company, 
127 Franklin Street, New York. 
George Bird Grinnell, President, 
Charles B. Reynolds, Secretary, 
Louis Dean Speir, Treasurer. 
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not responsible for the views of correspondents,. 
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THE OBJECT OF THIS JOURNAL 
will be to studiously promote a healthful in¬ 
terest in outdoor recreation, and to cultivate 
a refined taste for natural objects. 
—Forest and Stream, Aug. 14, 1873. 
THE NEW CONSERVATION COMMISSION 
When Governor Dix signed the Wagner bill, 
on July 12. the New York Forest, Fish and Game 
Commission, the State Water Supply Commis¬ 
sion, the Black River Power Commission and 
the Land Purchasing Board went out of exist¬ 
ence. In their stead the new law provides for 
the Department of Conservation, with three 
commissioners. Portions of the new law ap¬ 
pear elsewhere in this issue. 
The new commissioners were appointed on 
Tuly 17 and the nominations have been con¬ 
firmed by the Senate. They are: George E. 
Van Kennan, an attorney and mayor of Ogdens- 
burg; James W. Fleming, recently appointed 
commissioner of Forest, Fish and Game, a resi¬ 
dent of Troy, where he is interested in various 
business enterprises; and John D. Moore, a 
hydraulic engineer of New York city. Each will 
receive a salary of $10,000 per annum. Mr. Van 
Kennan’s term will expire Dec. 1, 1916, that of 
Mr. Fleming on Dec. 1, 1914, and that of Mr. 
Moore on Dec. 1, 1912. 
The new commission will be a powerful one, 
for it will have control of the protection and 
propagation of fish and game, forestry, the pur¬ 
chase of land for the State reserves,' the leas¬ 
ing of surplus water power along the State 
canals, the regulation of water flow in navigable 
streams, the drainage of swamp lands, and last 
but by no means least, the supervision of water 
storage. 
In the Governor’s public utterances he has 
given the impression that he is not in sympathy 
with the sentimental interest of the people of 
the State in the great public reserves, and the 
forests, the fish and the game in the reserves. 
Instead, he has dwelt on the financial interests 
of the State in the forests, the lands and the 
waters. The law is his own and he has chosen 
the men who are to administer it. The lumber¬ 
ing and water power interests have not opposed 
the measure. The new commission will, we re¬ 
peat, have unusual powers. Much depends on 
its personnel. It is to be hoped that it will be¬ 
come a power for good. 
For this there are abundant opportunities. 
The prevention of waste in stream flow alone 
is a large subject that is receiving attention 
throughout the Union, especially during recent 
years of drouth, and is worthy of the best ef¬ 
forts of the commission. The storage of water 
for power purposes can be greatly increased 
without encroaching on the forest reserves. Pre¬ 
vention of the pollution of streams is important 
in every way, with a direct bearing on the health 
of all the people, and affecting the game fishes 
in these waters. 
Game protection has been brought in recent 
years to a higher plane than ever before, and 
the warden service steadily improved, but there 
are too few men to insure the greatest efficiency. 
The shellfish department has become an import¬ 
ant asset, but there is still much to be done in 
this field. 
In forestry work the State leads, but it is a 
work that is still in its infancy, though worthy 
of continued effort. 
These are only a few of the branches of work 
the new commission will prosecute, and in each 
improvement should be constant. 
AS TO CAMP FIRES. 
The frightful rapidity with which forest fires 
have destroyed lives and property in the Porcu¬ 
pine region -in Canada indicates, if indeed such 
indication be needed, the extent and severity of 
the drouth which since May has been general 
over the larger part of temperate North America. 
Present-day methods of lumbering and of 
clearing land are largely responsible for con¬ 
flagrations. Once a fire is started nothing checks 
it save rain, unless indeed the wind takes it to 
lakes or rivers. Belts of green timber are grow¬ 
ing so scarce that they seldom turn or delay 
serious fires until forces of men can be organ¬ 
ized to assist, and when everything is parched, 
their best efforts are often futile. 
The various State departments are better 
equipped than at any other time heretofore to 
cope with forest fires, and the Forest Service 
is prepared for active work on a large scale, 
but the co-operation of every person who goes 
into the woods is imperative if the efficiency of 
these bodies is to be maintained. The camp¬ 
fire builder is responsible for a great deal of 
the loss annually,- for he controls the agency 
which, harmless enough in its proper sphere, 
becomes a menace when, through his careless¬ 
ness, it spreads through inflammable material 
and becomes a forest fire. 
Veterans seldom break camp, leaving a fire 
smoldering, but many persons do this, thinking 
the embers will die out for lack of fresh fuel. 
Hours may pass ere the rising wind carries the 
feeble sparks into the dry leaves, and the party 
responsible for the resulting loss may be far 
away before the smoke is discovered and at¬ 
tempts made to check or beat out the fire. Even 
a little fire in the leaves, harmless though it ap¬ 
pear, cannot be safely left to take care of it¬ 
self, and every person who goes to the woods 
should consider it his extraordinary duty to 
completely quench, with earth or water, every 
spark in the camp-fire before abandoning it. 
In the June issue of the National Geographic 
Magazine is printed a remarkable half-tone re¬ 
production from a photograph made in the 
vicinity of Field, B. C. The plate is 8 feet 2^ 
inches wide and 7 inches high. It is a pano¬ 
ramic view of the Van Horn Range, showing a 
dozen high mountain peaks. It was made on 
one film with a camera which was turned to 
describe a complete circle during the exposure, 
which was made from Burgess Pass, in the 
Canadian Rockies, by Charles D. Walcott, secre¬ 
tary of the Smithsonian Institution. The ex¬ 
posure for each portion of the film was one- 
tenth of a second. The effect is that of a long 
range of mountains, such as one sees on ap¬ 
proaching the Rockies from the plains, and the 
picture is a beautiful one. 
K 
The State board of forestry of Indiana has 
issued a bulletin calling for 100 tree planters for 
the experimental tracts of the State located in 
the southern portion of Indiana. The investi¬ 
gation for the purpose of determining the pos¬ 
sibilities of tree growing in the various parts 
of the State carries with it no financial remuner¬ 
ation, but gives the planter the advice of experts 
without cost, lends aid in the planting and helps 
the planter in the knowledge of reforestation. 
Evidently the drouth has been favorable to 
the pheasants liberated last year in various por¬ 
tions of Missouri. Commissioner Tolerton has 
received reports from several places telling of 
pairs of pheasants seen recently with good-sized 
broods of little ones. The commissioner will 
distribute 4,000 aduit pheasants during the pres¬ 
ent summer, and eggs as well so long as the 
supply lasts. 
* 
Secretary Stimson has denied the request of 
California for the assignment of regular troops 
to the forest reserves in that State during the 
summer and autumn months, the season of forest 
fires. Troops, however, may be called out in 
emergencies to assist fire rangers in putting out 
forest fires. This was done last autumn during 
the great fires in the Northwestern and Western 
States. 
K 
About sixty years ago the value of a copy of 
the first edition of Izaak Walton’s “Compleat 
Angler” was estimated at $63. At a recent sale 
in London a copy of this edition together with 
a copy of Cotton’s first edition sold for $4,500. 
This is not the record price, however, for a 
first edition sMd a few years ago for nearly 
$6,500. 
The State of New York has, through pur¬ 
chase, acquired, all told, about 150 acres of land 
in and about Saratoga Springs. This will be¬ 
come part of the State Mineral Springs Reser¬ 
vation. With the sale of these lands the pump¬ 
ing of carbonic gas ceased, and the mineral 
springs have been saved for the public. 
