Forest and Stream 
Terms, $3 a Year, 10 Cts. a Copy. I 
Six Months, $1.50. 
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, JULY ii, 1908. 
1 VOL. LXXI.-No. 2. 
) No, 127 Franklin St., New York. 
A WEEKLY JOURNAL. 
Copyright, 1908, by Forest and Stream Publishing Co. 
George Bird Grinnell, President, 
Charles B. Reynolds, Secretary. 
Louis Dean Speir, Treasurer. 
127 Franklin Street, New York. 
THE OBJECT OF THIS JOURNAL 
mil be to studiously promote a healthful interest 
8n outdoor recreation, and to cultivate a refined 
I Jiste for natural objects. 
—Forest and Stream. Aug. 14, 1873. 
PUBLIC RIGHT IN PRIVATE TIMBER. 
An opinion recently handed down by the 
judges of the Maine Supreme Court possesses 
great interest and importance to owners of forest 
lands, not only in that State, but all over the 
country. The opinion is not a court decision, 
but was prepared at the request of the State 
Senate to guide the Legislature in enacting laws 
to regulate forest conditions and to protect the 
[ public interests. The opinion holds that the 
jt Legislature has the constitutional right to pass 
laws regulating the cutting of timber on private 
lands in cases where such cutting may be detri¬ 
mental to the public welfare. 
The opinion bears especially on the cutting of 
small timber which should be left standing in 
order to provide a forest cover to hold the water, 
and also to bind together the forest floor and so 
prevent soil erosion, the covering of lower lands 
with wash, and the filling up of rivers and lakes. 
In submitting a proposition to the judges for 
their opinion the Maine Senate declared that it 
was not expected to enact a law which should 
interfere with the clearing of lands for pur- 
|- poses of agriculture, mining or manufacture, but 
that the purpose of any such law is to forbid 
the total stripping of forest land where a forest 
cover is necessary to prevent the wash of the 
soil, the lessening of flood ravages and generally 
where the public good will be served by the 
preservation of such cover. 
The judges, when they submitted their opin¬ 
ion, cited many examples of legislation by which 
property holders are restrained from using their 
property in such a way as to threaten the public 
welfare. Just as an owner may not erect a 
! dangerous building on his city lot, because such 
a building might endanger or damage the prop- 
I erty of others, so a forest owner may be re¬ 
strained from denuding his hillsides to such a 
degree that the soil from his land may wash 
down on to that of his neighbors, cover their 
crops, obstruct streams and injure owners in the 
use and enjoyment of their property. It is 
declared that regulations so limiting an owner’s 
rights cannot be construed as the taking of 
private property for public use, and that the 
State need not pay for young trees which it 
may forbid an owner to cut. It stated that 
there is nothing in the federal constitution nor 
in that of the State of Maine which prohibits 
the enforcement of a forest law such as this. 
Maine’s Legislature recognizes now, as indeed 
it has for a long time, that the State’s greatest 
wealth is in its forests. In various ways Maine 
has been well in advance of other States in 
matters of forest legislation and management. 
Although lumbering has been going on there for 
a long time, this is one of the few States—pos¬ 
sibly the only State—whose forests are nearly 
holding their own. The Maine Legislature is 
doing well to prepare for the enactment of a 
law which shall prevent the absolute denudation 
of the land of its small timber and undergrowth, 
and it has done wisely to apply to the jurists 
of a high court for guidance in so important a 
matter. 
DEATH OF ADMIRAL ROCKWELL. 
Rear Admiral Chas. • H. Rockwell, retired, 
died July 1, at Chatham, Mass., aged sixty-eight 
years. 
Admiral Rockwell was born in Chatham, 
Mass., in 1840, and entered the navy in July, 
1862, as an acting master. In a short time he 
was ordered to the United States steamer Pen¬ 
guin, then in the East Gulf squadron, and for 
some time served as her executive officer. He 
was appointed to the command of the schooner 
Two Sisters in July, 1863, and after perform¬ 
ing services on the coast of Florida was recom¬ 
mended for promotion by the Commander-in- 
Chief and made acting lieutenant and appointed 
to the command of the bark Gem of the Sea. 
A little later he was given command of the 
steamer Hendrick Hudson and put in charge 
of the blockading force off St. Marks, Fla. 
Here he again showed great energy and ability, 
organizing an expedition which destroyed some 
salt works operated by the enemy and much 
valuable property. He was again highly praised 
in official dispatches, and in 1865 was appointed 
aide on the staff of Brig. Gen. Newton. For 
his services in an engagement at Newport and 
in the battle at Natural Bridge, Fla., he received 
the personal thanks of Gen. Newton. Promoted 
again to the rank of lieutenant-commander, he' 
resumed command of the Hendrick Hudson, 
which he held until the end of the war, when 
he was mustered out of the Volunteer Navy. 
In November, 1866, he was appointed acting 
master in the regular service and was soon pro¬ 
moted. He commanded the United States ship 
Palos in Chinese waters in 1868, and took part 
in the actions against the Korean forts under 
Rear Admiral Rodgers. In 1878 he was execu¬ 
tive officer of the Jamestowm in Alaskan waters, 
and after serving in the torpedo school and in 
the war college was appointed to the Yantic. 
He became captain in 1899, and in 1901 was ap¬ 
pointed captain of the navy yard at Mare Island, 
Cal. Finally in 1902, after forty years of faith¬ 
ful and meritorious service he retired with the 
rank of rear admiral. 
Admiral Rockwell was a keen sportsman and 
an acute observer, and was personally one of 
the most delightful of men. He was long a 
correspondent of Forest and Stream and wrote 
most interesting articles on angling, on travel 
in Alaska and on his experiences in China, to¬ 
gether with many sea tales of very great in¬ 
terest. 
Quite remarkable is the statement of one of 
the Canadian game overseers in reference to 
the law prohibiting the killing of does and 
fawns. He says: 
The fawn clause is most objectionable for the following 
reasons: First—It is most difficult when taking a snap 
shot at a deer when running through the bush, to dis¬ 
cern, in many cases, whether it is a buck, doe or fawn, 
particularly whether a fawn or a yearling. Second—Many 
fawns are sure to be killed by mistake, and the result 
is that they are used in camp, fed to the dogs, or left to 
rot in the bush, and other deer killed to make up the 
hunter’s complement—perhaps fine does, which if saved 
would probably produce two good fawns in the spring. 
Third—It tends to make sneaks of honest men, as it is 
only human nature to resort to actions which one does 
not approve in order to evade the paying of a fine. 
There is no doubt truth in this, but if the law 
is strictly enforced, we question whether a hun¬ 
ter will feel safe in taking snapshots at objects 
in the woods. It is at present the theory that 
the laws protecting fawns and does also protect 
men from this same form of quick shooting. 
Time will prove or disprove the present belief 
that the number of “woods accidents” is de¬ 
creasing. 
n 
A bill which is being considered by the 
British Parliament will, if it becomes a law, 
seriously affect the fishing tackle trade in Eng¬ 
land and Scotland, and compel the consumers to 
pay still higher prices for artificial flies. This 
bill is intended to prohibit the importation of 
bird plumages, and is aimed principally at the 
millinery trade, but if it becomes law it will stop 
the manufacture of certain salmon and trout 
flies, for these cannot well be tied with dyed 
feathers, and the imported natural feathers will 
not be available. 
K 
A cablegram received in Washington recently 
conveyed the announcement of the deatht of 
H. D. Everett, of New York, a member of the 
Philippines Forestry Service. Mr. Everett and 
T. R. Wakely, a companion, were killed in the 
island of Negros by natives, but when is not 
known, as they had been missing since the 
middle of May. Mr. Everett was formerly in 
the Forestry Bureau in Washington, but was 
transferred to the Philippine Forestry Service 
three years ago. 
