Methods of Fire Protection. Ml 



the first years of growth, up to the time of the first or second thinning 

 of the trees. The loss of wood-growing space is not serious, for a 

 strip 6 yards broad is nearly always overgrown by the crowns of the 

 trees on its border. These strips also serve as roads for the transport 

 of thinnirgs, etc. In Germany, a crop such as Seradella is sometimes 

 raised on these strips, with the view to providing food for the forest 

 animals, thus checking the damage they might otherwise do to the 

 bark of the trees, while at the same time assisting in keeping the 

 strips clean by eating down the growth. 



Most of the cane fields and mealie lands are divided up into 

 hlocks, and if more of our farmers would adopt similar precautions 

 for their veld areas, by ploughing strips where natural opportunities 

 do not obtain and where the need for such strips is indicated, the 

 constant recurrence of burnt areas as are now to be seen might 

 appreciably be reduced. 



As regards the 



Fires originating from Railway Engines, 



the endeavours of railway engineers to remove the danger of fire by 

 arrangements in the smoke stacks for preventing the scattering of 

 glowing cinders from the locomotives, have met with little or no 

 satisfactory results. The falling of the burning fragments from the 

 ash boxes may be preventible to some extent, but those falling on 

 the track are not responsible for much damage. At the same time 

 it is not possible to stop the sparks which fly from the smoke stack, 

 without affecting the draught necessary for the heat required by the 

 engines. This does not perhaps apply to the engines for transporta- 

 tion of the sugar-cane to the mills, for here spark arresters are used, 

 as the rapidity of locomotion is of secondary importance. 



With the use of oil-fuel engines the danger would be obviated, 

 but until such time some arrangement is required on both sides of 

 the line that will in itself afford protection against the possibility 

 of causing fires in the planted areas. On the knowledge that the 

 breaking up of the ground constitutes a remedy against the spreading 

 of fire, a strip kept free from vegetation should be provided on each 

 side of the railway track. 



The danger of causing a fire by engine sparks depends on^ — 



(1) The size of the glowing particles. 



(2) The strength and direction of the wind. 



(3) The inflammability of the ground cover. 



The larger the cinders, the more easily may they start a fire. 

 If the ground cover in a wood is but slightly inflammable, it may 

 be sufficient to divide the railway track from the plantations by a 

 strip, kept cultivated, so that a fire starting on the side of the rail- 

 way line cannot run over into the wood. Under certain conditions, 

 it has been proved that where a railway line passes through a forest, 

 and the wood comes close up to the line, the danger of fire is smaller 

 than when the woods are furtner off. If the wood is close to the 

 line, the wind is diverted to follow the narrow passage along the 

 track, wliereas the sparks may be blown across broader openings into 

 the wood. 



Efficient protection is therefore afforded by having "safety belts 

 of trees along each side of and close up to the railway line, and land 

 is used also for growing timber, which otherwise would lie idle and 

 probably be a menace. Sparks have been observed to glow at 



