and preventing, directly or indirectly, such illegal proceedings. The Committee, after consultation with the Land Agent, are of the opinion that the least expensive and, upon the whole, the most effectual mode of guarding this valuable property will be to grant permits to cut the timber to such persons as may apply for them.

Resolved, That the Land Agent of this Commonwealth be, and he is hereby authorized, to sell such portions of the pine timber now standing upon the Public Lands, situate on and near the rivers and streams tributary to St. John's River, as is particularly exposed to depredations, upon such terms and conditions as in his opinion will best promote the interests of the Commonwealth.

FURTHER MISCELLANEOUS LAWS AND RESOLVES.

April 10, 1839, an act was passed providing that any person setting fire to a coal pit or a pile of wood in any of the woodlands in certain towns in Bristol and Plymouth counties, between April 1 and October 1, should be fined $100. Any one setting fire to brush wood on said woodlands should be fined $50.

March 18, 1840, an act was passed authorizing the city of Salem to establish ordinances and regulations respecting the survey of lumber. February 10, 1841, an act was approved forbidding the erection of a mill dam to the injury of any other mill site on the same stream.

April 11, 1846, the resolve of June 22, 1831, was repealed, in the following terms:

Resolved, That the land agent be directed to suspend the granting of permits to cut down timber, on the lands situated on the river St. John and its tributary streams: provided, that if it shall be necessary for the prevention of trespasses, the land agent is authorized to grant a limited number of permits, not exceeding one for any one township. Approved by the Governor, April 11, 1846.

April 28, 1848, an act was passed giving power to the city of New Bedford to establish ordinances and regulations respecting the survey of lumber brought to that city for sale.

On April 21, 1852, the Governor approved an act establishing a State Board of Agriculture. The act was to take effect upon and after its passage.

May 15, 1857, an act was approved providing a punishment of not more than five years' imprisonment in the state prison, or a fine not exceeding $500 and imprisonment in the county jail not more than two years for any one obstructing the water of a mill dam.

THE SECOND SURVEYORS' ACT.

In 1858 the lumber industry secured a revision of the act of 1783, which had long been outworn, in the shape of a new act, approved March 27, which established and defined grades, and fixed the duties and compensation of surveyors. This important act was as follows:

Be it enacted, etc., as follows:

Section 1. There shall be elected at the annual meeting of each town, and appointed by each city in the Commonwealth, one or more well qualified and skillful surveyors

of lumber, who shall hold office for one year and until their successors be chosen and appointed, unless sooner removed: Provided, that the several cities may, from time to time, establish any ordinances, with suitable penalties, respecting appointment of surveyors for said cities, as they may deem expedient.

Section 2. The said surveyors shall survey oak and other hardwood commonly used in shipbuilding, mahogany, ash and other ornamental wood, and all other lumber, hereafter brought for sale into their Commonwealth, according to the provisions of this act; and shall also survey all lumber manufactured in this State, when requested so to do by either the purchaser or seller: Provided, that no surveyor shall survey any lumber in which he has a pecuniary interest.

Section 3. In the surveying of pine boards and planks, except southern pine there shall be six sorts. The first sort shall be denominated number one, and shall include boards not less than one inch thick, square edged, free from rot, shakes and nearly free from knots and sap, except such boards and planks as are not less than fifteen inches wide and not more than one-eighth waste, which shall be received as number one. The second sort shall be denominated number two and shall include boards not less than one inch thick, and of which not less than seven-eighths is suitable for planing and first class finish; Provided, that such boards as are clear but deficient in thickness as aforesaid, shall be received as number two. The third sort shall be denominated number three and shall include boards not less than seven-eighths of an inch thick and of which not less than three-fourths is suitable for planing and second class finish. The fourth sort shall be denominated number four and shall include boards not less than seven-eighths of an inch thick, nearly free from rot and nearly square edged, and suitable for covering buildings; all norway pine boards and planks shall be included in the fourth, fifth and sixth sorts. The fifth sort shall be denominated number five and shall include all boards and planks of every description not being within the other four denominations, except when one-third is worthless, which boards and plank shall be denominated refuse.

Section 4. In the survey of pine joist and dimension timber there shall be three sorts. The first sort shall be denominated No. 1, and shall include all joist and dimension timber that are sound and nearly square edged. The second sort shall be denominated No. 2 and shall include all other description except when one-third is worthless, which joists and dimension timber shall be denominated refuse.

Section 5. In survey of spruce, hemlock, juniper and southern pine boards, planks, sawed timber and joists, there shall be three sorts. The first sort shall be denominated No. 1, and shall include all boards, planks, sawed timber and joists that are sound and nearly square edged. The second sort shall be denominated No. 2 and shall include all other descriptions, except when one-third is worthless, which boards, planks, sawed timber and joists shall be denominated refuse.

Section 6. In survey of ash, maple and other hardwoods and ornamental boards, planks and joists, there shall be three sorts. The first sort shall be denominated No. 1 and shall include all boards, planks and joists that are free from rot, shakes and bad knots. The second sort shall be denominated No. 2, and shall include all other descriptions, except when one-third is worthless, which boards, planks and joists shall be denominated refuse.

Section 7. In survey of hewn timber, except mahogany and cedar, there shall be three sorts. The first sort shall be denominated No. 1 and shall include all timber that is sound and nearly square edged. The second sort shall be denominated No. 2 and shall include timber of all other descriptions, except when one-third is worthless, which timber shall be denominated refuse.

Section 8. In survey or oak, juniper and spruce knees, there shall be two sorts. The first sort shall be denominated No. 1 and shall include all sound knees of the following dimensions: Arm or root two feet long, body of knee four feet long, working thickness four inches; arm or root two feet and six inches long, body of knee four feet long, working thickness five and five and a half inches; arm or root three feet long, body of knee four feet and six inches long, working thickness six and six and one-half inches; arm or root three feet and six inches long, body of knee four feet and six inches long, working thickness seven and seven and a half inches; arm or root three feet and nine inches long, body of knee five feet long, working thickness eight and eight and a half inches; arm or root four feet long, body of knee five feet and six inches long, working thickness nine and nine and a half inches; arm or root four feet and six inches long, body of knee six feet long, working thickness ten and ten and a half inches. The second sort shall be denominated refuse and shall include all other descriptions of less dimensions than those specified in the first denomination; all knees shall have working thickness marked thereon, respectively, and on the first sort the number "one," shall be marked thereon.

Section 9. In the survey of mahogany and cedar there shall be but one sort and it shall be the duty of the surveyors, who are especially appointed to survey mahogany and cedar, to number all the mahogany and cedar logs or sticks contained in each lot or cargo in regular numerical order, and to mark the number of each log or stick upon the same, in legible characters. And the said surveyor shall, to the best of his ability, ascertain the whole number of feet, board measure, in each and every log or stick, and what quantity thereof is merchantable, and what is refuse. And said surveyor shall thereupon issue a certificate or survey bill of said survey, in which shall be stated the number of each log or stick, and the whole number of feet contained in the same, and specifying the number of feet which is merchantable and refuse respectively.

Section 10. All hewn timber, and all round timber, used for masts and shipbuilding, shall be surveyed and sold as ton timber, at the rate of forty cubic feet to the ton; oak and other timber and planks commonly used in shipbuilding, shall have the true contents marked thereon in cubic feet or board measure, and in the first and second sorts the numbers "one" and "two" shall be marked thereon respectively. In the survey of white and norway pine boards, planks, joists, sawed timber and dimensions, the contents of the same shall be truly marked thereon in legible numbers and on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th sort of white and norway pine boards, planks and dimensions, the numbers shall be marked thereon respectively. All boards, planks, joists, sawed timber and dimension lumber shall be received and sold according to contents thereof as fixed and marked under the aforesaid regulations. In the admeasurement of rough timber, one-quarter of the girth shall be taken for the side of the square. Section 11 provided for the fees for surveying and marking.

Section 12 provided for a fine of not less than $10 nor more than $50 to be imposed upon any surveyor guilty of fraud in surveying, or refusing to survey lumber when requested.

Section 13 provided a penalty of a sum equal to double the amount of fees for surveying, to be paid by any one buying or selling unsurveyed lumber.

Section 14 provided a penalty of not less than $50 nor more than $200 to be paid by any person acting as surveyor without authority.

Section 15 repealed all previous acts inconsistent with this act.

AFFORESTATION AND FOREST PRESERVATION.

April 9, 1878, an act provided that new plantations of timber trees, on lands whose actual value at time of planting did not exceed $15 an acre, of chestnut, hickory, white ash, white oak, sugar maple, European larch and white pine, in number not less than 2,000 trees to the acre, should be exempt from taxation for ten years after trees had grown four feet on the average, after planting.

March 17, 1880, an amendment to the act of April 9, 1878, included "all" pine trees instead of "white" pine.

"An act for the Protection of Forests against Fires," approved April 19, 1882, provided a penalty not exceeding $100, or imprisonment not exceeding six months for any person setting fire to any growing or standing wood. May 25, 1882, it was enacted as follows:

The voters of any town . . . and the city council of any city, may, for the purpose of devoting a portion of the territory of each town or city to the preservation, reproduction and culture of forest trees for the sake of the wood and timber thereon, or for the preservation of the water supply . . . take or purchase any land within the limits of such town or city, may make appropriations of money, . . . may receive donations of money or land for the said purposes, and may make a public domain of the land so devoted..

Section 3. The State Board of Agriculture shall act as a board of forestry, without pay, except for necessary traveling expenses, and shall have the supervision and management of all such public domains, and shall make all necessary regulations for their care and use and for the increase and preservation of the timber, wood and undergrowth thereon, and for the planting and cultivating of trees thereon.

By a resolve approved May 24, 1884, it was directed that the chief of the Bureau of Statistics of Labor should incorporate in the blanks for taking the next decennial census such inquiries as should determine as far as practicable the acreage of the woodland in the Commonwealth over thirty years' growth, the average age at which the forests of the Connecticut were then cut off, and make such other inquiries as might be practicable fully to determine the facts as to the cultivation, protection and depletion of the forests throughout the Connecticut Valley.

June 16, 1886, "An Act for the Better Protection of Forests from Fires" was approved, providing a penalty of not more than $250 for setting fire to woods. The act also provided for the appointment of forest firewards in all towns annually.

April 9, 1897, an act was approved providing that any town might accept the provisions of this act. The selectmen of such towns should annually appoint a forester to have charge of all trees in highways, public ways or squares of town, and to enforce laws relating to the setting out, cultivating and preserving of shade, ornamental or forest trees. The forester should be the chief forest fireward in such town.

In this place might be given the Massachusetts State law of 1904 in regard to the inspection of lumber; but as it applies particularly to Boston, and is commonly known as the "Boston survey," it is given in a succeeding chapter devoted to that market.

FOREST CULTURE IN MASSACHUSETTS.

The first attempt to promote forest culture in Massachusetts by legislation, in distinction from forest preservation, dates back to 1818, and was evidently intended to provide against a famine in ship timber. It is given in "Revised Laws," chapter 124, as follows: "Section 10. Every such society shall annually offer such premiums and encouragement for the raising and preservation of oaks and other forest trees as it considers proper and adapted to perpetuate within the Commonwealth an adequate supply of ship and other timber." The records show that in all $36,336.75 have been offered and $3,375.20 awarded. Of the funds offered, $12,000 was supplied by the Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agriculture; and of those awarded, $2,000 was paid by this society, making in all $1,375.20 awarded by the Commonwealth. No record of the acreage planted has been made, and the probability is that most of the contests were in ornamental rather than economic planting.

The next law intending to promote timber culture was passed in 1878. It provides for tax exemption of artificial plantations for a period of years. It is found in "Revised Laws," chapter 12, and is as follows:

Section 6. All plantations of chestnut, hickory, white ash, white oak, sugar maple, European larch and pine timber trees, in number not less than two thousand trees to the acre, upon land, not at the time of said planting woodland or sprout-land and not having been such within five years previously, the actual value of which at the time of planting does not exceed fifteen dollars per acre, shall, with such land, be exempt from taxation for a period of ten years after said trees have grown in height from four feet on the average subsequently to such planting, upon satisfactory proof by the owners to the assessors of these facts; but such exemption shall not extend beyond the time during which said land is devoted exclusively to the growth of said trees.

The law has been a failure, as practically no planting has been done under it.

The last law is found in chapter 409 of the Acts of 1904:

Section 3. The State forester may establish and maintain a nursery for the propagation of forest tree seedlings on such lands as the trustees of the Massachusetts Agricultural College may set aside for that purpose on the college grounds at Amherst. ... He may distribute seeds and seedlings to landowners, citizens of the Commonwealth, under such conditions and restrictions as he may, subject to the approval of the Governor and Council, deem advisable.

The State forester has established the nursery under the authority given in the law cited above.