94 ANNUAL liEPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



and are now littorod with trox^s which woro killed by the fires. This 

 dead timber constitutes a great menace to the forest. There is an 

 immense amount of it, and there is no way of disposing of it at once. 

 When timber is cut in the National Forests, the tops arc piled and 

 burned in order that there may be no further accumulation of such 

 debris, and in such cuttings also the old material which is found on 

 the ground is disposed of where it is at all practicable. Where it can 

 be disposed of, dead timber is sold or given away to settlers. More 

 than three-fourths of the total free-use cut of last year, which exceeded 

 100,000,000 feet, was dead timber. 



The plan has frequently been suggested of burning over the surface 

 of the ground every year or two in order to prevent the accumulation 

 of inflammable material. The theory of this proposition is that if 

 the surface is burned over early in the spring, before it becomes 

 very dry, the inflammable material will be destroyed and any fire 

 which subsequently may start will do comparatively little damage. 

 Some have even gone so far as to assert that the burning of the 

 forests by the Indians and early settlers was the proper way to 

 protect them. As a matter of fact, these early fires were exceed- 

 ingly destructive. Not only did they destroy enormous bodies of 

 timber, but they killed young trees and prevented the reproduction 

 of the forest. Moreover, the dead trees now standing and lying on 

 the ground, which resulted directly from these early fires, to-day 

 constitute a great menace to the forest. Any wholesale annual or 

 periodic burning of the surface of the ground will result in putting a 

 stop to forest growth. It is unthinkable that anyone should seriously 

 advocate a system of handling public forests by which there is no 

 provision for a future production of timber. It has been customary 

 in portions of the Southeast to burn over the forests annually or peri- 

 odically, and the ultimate result, as is already actually illustrated in 

 a great many places, is the final destruction of the forest. 



There are certain types of forests where annual or periodic burning 

 of certain specified areas is feasible. An example is the open yellow 

 pine forests of the Southwest. Carefully regulated burning of the 

 surface is practicable in those areas where there is no young growth 

 and the timber is sufficiently old to resist the fire. Most of the 

 National Forests are composed of trees of all ages mingled together 

 by individuals or groups. Annual or periodic burning over the surface 

 in such forests would inevitably result in the death of the small trees 

 and the prevention of new reproduction. The plan of burning the 

 forest for protection is therefore not applicable in most of the National 

 Forests. If the principle of surface burning is to be used, it is best 

 applied in the open types of forest, to bu^-ning broad fire lines located 

 here and there at well selected points. The whole surface should 

 not be burned, but only wide lines about 100 to 200 feet wide. In 



