90 



ARBORICULTURE 



gan forest fire, wliich occurred in 1896, 

 made homeless 2,000 persons and de- 

 stroyed town and farm property worth 

 $1,250,000. Wisconsin lost by fire in 

 May, 1901, 100 square miles of forest 

 and other property worth ij>2.ooo.ooo. In 

 1894. in \\'isconsin, thirteen persons lost 

 their lives and 3,000 their homes, and $2.- 

 000.000 worth of town and farm property 

 was destroyed in the Phillips fire. 



"The enumeration of great forest fires 

 coukl be extended almost indefinitely. 

 One feature, however, is common to them 

 all, they were small fires before they 

 g-rew uncontrollable, and with little trou- 

 ble might have been extinguished. I""or 

 example, the Hinckley fire smoked as a 

 ground fire for weeks and nobody paid it 

 .serious attention. But one day the wind 

 rose and fanned the smoldering embers 

 into flame, the flame caught in the dry 

 underbrush, leaped into the trees and 



berame a fire of so terrible a volume 

 that no human power could stay it. 



"The best fi>rest fire laws are probably 

 those of Pennsylvania, which makes an 

 annual expentliture of $15,000 in sup]H>rt 

 of them. State constables serve as fire 

 wardens in their townships and receive 

 extra i)ay for their services. Minne.'iota, 

 brought to a sense of responsibility by 

 disasters, of which the Hinckley fire was 

 the most terrible, has established an effi- 

 cient forest fire system. .Massachusetts 

 has had good legislation in the matter. 

 The New York forest fire laws, though 

 generally limited in their effect to state 

 reserves and parks, have l)r()ught good 

 results. West of the Rocky Mountains 

 little is done toward the suppression of 

 forest fires except by the fort.-st rangers 

 on government reserves, who are em- 

 ployed by the Department of the In- 

 terior. 



A EUCALYPTUS FORKST, CALIFORNIA. 



