3S 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



Inlaid figured gum is tlie latest thing iu fuiuituro. and it is win- 

 ning favor. « . « 



If Tou don't know whether to smile or frowu, smile first. 

 » » » 



The man that undertakes to dry oak and fails to do a thorough 

 job of it is not only wasting substance, but he's abusing a mighty 

 valuable wood. • » » 



Tlie birch people have put lots of fancy wood to plain uses, but 

 there's lots left yet to get more out of by proper and persistent 

 exploitation. 



Brass trimmings on a harness do not help a horse pull. 



* * * 



The way to keep more of our liardwoods for the domestic trade, 

 and to have more of the finished product going abroad, is for our 

 furniture manufacturers to get a hustle on and push their products 

 in the foreign market. 



• * » 



Sanitation is a good thing for the lumber yard. The more trash 

 that is cleaned up and burned this winter, the less lumber will be 

 afflicted witli "insectiitus" next summer. 



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^ Forest Fires and Their Prevention 



While the forest lire question has lung cuuimaudud the atli'iitiuu 

 of everyone directly connected with the forests, there has been 

 little or no specific information as to the consequences of forest 

 fires in general and the possibilities of their prevention emanat- 

 ing from authoritative sources. A new bulletin by .J. S. Holmes, 

 forester of North Carolina, recently issued by the North Carolina Geo- 

 logical and Economic Survey, treats of the causes, effects and 

 possibilities of prevention of forest fires, and reviews the year of 

 1910 in this particular. This state is probably the only one in 

 which there has been any cooperation between local authorities 

 and individuals and the Forest Service towards taking the census 

 of forest fires. The bulletin, while limited in its information to 

 the fires in that section, can well be applied in studying the ques 

 tion in many other states in the South. The information embodied 

 in it is compiled directly from a census taken by the North Caro- 

 lina Geological and Economic Survey and the Forest Service. 



The analysis of table I sliows that out of a total of 980 town- 

 ships in the state, only 328 townships reported on the blanks fur 

 nished, with stamped envelopes, by the Survey. These reports 

 showed a total of 70(5 fires during 1910 which burned over an area 

 of o79,.i5.3 acres. Of this 253,099 acres contained merchantable 

 timber and the standing timber destroyed approximated 62,018,000 

 board feet with a value of $170,020. The cost entailed by private 

 individuals for fire fighting during the j'ear aggregated $35,438. 

 Of the three regions, i. e., mountain, Piedmont and the coastal 

 plain, the latter was far in the lead during 1910 in the number 

 of fires reported, total area burned, area of standing merchantable 

 timber burned over, total quantity of standing timber destroyed, 

 value of standing timber and forest products destroyed and num- 

 ber of lives lost. This was undoubtedly due to the fact that the 

 excessive drouth in 1910 was most severely felt in the coastal 

 plain region. The mountain region was less affected by drouth, as 

 would naturally be the case, and as a consequence was far behind 

 the other sections in loss. Taken as a whole, the year 1910 was 

 rather below normal as to total rainfall. However, there was a 

 long period of drouth in the early spring and heavy rainfall in 

 .Tune and July brought the precipitation nearer to normal. 



The total number of fires reported in 1910 was slightly in 

 excess of that of 1909, but there was an increase of area burned 

 of forty-three per cent. While about half of the burned over area 

 grew merchantable timber, a greater part of it had probably 

 been culled. 



The loss of merchantable timber was nearly twice that of 1909. 

 There is very little mature timber destroyed outright by fires 

 except in the late spring, though fires often seriously injure mature 

 trees and cause their subsequent death by insects. The 

 cost of fighting fires by individuals and lumber companies was 

 two and one-half times that in 1909. Table V shows that about 

 sixteen cents per acre burned over was spent in the mountain 

 region to fight fires, while only three cents per acre was spent in 

 the coastal region. This indicates not only that lumbermen in the 

 mountain region are more alive to the situation than those in the 



i/uustu! ii'giim, but that, iu the mountain region the fact that both 

 timber and land is owned by operating companies or individuals, 

 makes them vitally interested in perpetuation of stand, while in 

 the coastal region the operating companies own only the trees 

 and have no particular interest in the production of second growth. 



The apparent loss reported was approximately $500,000, but this 

 does not represent the total loss entailed during 1910. There are 

 other losses which it is harder to compute, such as that caused 

 by damage to young growth and the gradual elimination of the 

 most valuable species, which are less fire resistant than the 

 inferior sjjeeies, which are gradually taking their place; the grad- 

 ual impoverishment of the soil, due to burning of the humus, and 

 the wash of the soil by the rains following removal of their 

 protective covering by fires. 



Table VI of the bulletin indicates that over thi'ee-fourths of the 

 fires reported in the state are unintentional. Forty-two per cent 

 are duo to individual carelessness in various ways. Sparks from 

 engines proved to be a very common cause of forest fires and 

 probably accounted for one-third of them. For the most part fires 

 starting from that origin will be eliminated when the property 

 owners unite in demanding protection. Of the intentional fires, a 

 majority of them are iu the mountain region where thirty-seven 

 per cent of the total is said to have been purposely set. This 

 large percentage is due to many reasons, but mainly to the habit 

 of burning the woods to "improve the range" for loose cattle 

 and to the feeling of antagonism among the mountaineers towards 

 large land owners who are endeavoring to protect their holdings. 



Under preventive and protective measures, the bulletin groups 

 such measures under three heads: Private measures, co-operative 

 associations and state laws. Under the first it is suggested that 

 private owners keep constantly cleared fire lines through or 

 aroun^l their property. These fire lines can be constructed at from 

 ten to fifty dollars a mile, according to location. An adequate 

 patrol system is undoubtedly one of the most efiScient measures for 

 fire protection. A great deal can be accomplished by posting 

 warning notices at frequent intervals in conspicuous places. Care- 

 fulness of farmers in burning brush, etc., will go a long way 

 towards preventing a great many unnecessary conflagrations. 



Under co-operative associations are those which are purely edu- 

 cational and those dealing with actual protective work. While 

 the educational organizations are all right in themselves, they are 

 without much weight unless backed up by practical applications 

 of their recommendations. The chief benefit from cooperative 

 associations has corao from those that are chiefly protective, such, 

 for instance, as the \V.ashington Forest Fire Association. The 

 directors of this association have the power to levy and enforce 

 the payment of assessments to defray expenses in proportion to 

 the number of acres owned by each member. Patrolmen and fire 

 fighters arc hired to protect the territory from fires and by the 

 application of this method, efficient fire protection at a very low 

 cost has been accomplished. The bulletin claims that there is a 

 large opening for this feature in North Carolina, as there is no 



