340 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



on which we are depending for data 

 to shape future poHcy. 



One ranger this year estimated that 

 he needed eleven men. an automobile, 

 six horses and a wagon to secure ideal 

 protection in his district. This is very 

 interesting and proves the ranger is a 

 progressive, but necessity forbids that 

 his ideas be incorporated at this time 

 in a secondary fire-working plan. The 

 estimate must be narrowed down to a 

 practical basis and all Utopian schemes 

 eliminated first of all. The process of 

 reasoning as regards the number of 

 men that can be employed is similar to 

 that applied in figuring on the number 

 of improvement projects that can be 

 undertaken. Attention is given to the 

 efticiency with which each particular 

 district was guarded last year on the 

 basis of its fire record. A tentative 

 assignment of men on paper is then 

 made over the entire Forest based on 

 the fire hazards and facilities for co- 

 operation. After this is done the sift- 

 ing process of men between districts 

 goes on until it reaches a point wdiere 

 it is considered that the best disposal 

 of the funds available has been made. 

 The Supervisor then correspondingly 

 readjusts his estimate on improvements 

 to fit the patrol organization. 



The secondary plan next proceeds to 

 outline the routes of patrol in each dis- 

 trict in accordance with the number of 

 men that can be assigned to that dis- 

 trict. The station of each man is given 

 as well as the route he will be expected 

 to cover. The details of this matter 

 are not considered in the plan, but are 

 left to the judgment of the district 

 ranger who is picked for his position 

 on account of his administrative abilitv. 

 His chief instructions are to the efi'ect 



that he arrange to have some one avail- 

 able at the telephone during the fire 

 season in case the Supervisor's ofiice 

 wants to get into quick communication 

 with the district. He is, of course, ex- 

 pected to take charge of all serious 

 fires in his district, but most of the 

 patrol work will be done by his as- 

 sistants. 



After the Supervisor has gotten the 

 matter of men and improvements sifted 

 down to what he considers the last 

 analysis he still finds that he is going 

 to have parts of his Forest more or 

 less unprotected. This prompts him 

 to seek cooperation among the various 

 interests on the Forest, and he closes 

 his fire plan by tirging the rangers to 

 work along this line and organize fire 

 brigades in difl^erent parts of their dis- 

 tricts as well as make arrangements 

 for having supplies on hand in emer- 

 gency cases. 



Having threshed out the ideal plans 

 and embodied all that he thinks will 

 w^ork during the coming season in his 

 secondary fire plan, the Supervisor 

 sends it down to the District Forester 

 with an itemized cost sheet. If he is 

 lucky, he may get what he asks for, but 

 the chances are that he must be con- 

 tent with less and that his fire plan will 

 have to undergo further readjustment. 

 He has it in such a shape, however, 

 that he can easily make the necessary 

 changes. 



By this time the fire season has open- 

 ed and with his fingers on the paw-ns 

 he plays many games of chess all sum- 

 mer in his efiforts to checkmate his grim 

 adversary which, like its crafty master 

 Mephistopheles, is fond of appearing 

 unawares and in difi'erent guises to the 

 innocent. 



All educatiojial effort is being made ihrojtgli the forestry department of the University 

 of Georgia to increase the timber supply of the South by reforestation. The department 

 points out that cherry among other trees admirably adapted to the soils of the Appalachians; 

 that the black zvalnut grows readily on the Cumberland plateau, and that other trees find, 

 particular areas of the South exactly suited to their growth. The Georgia department of 

 agriculture is also interested in the subject of reforestation. 



