SUSTAINED AxN'NUAL YIELD 827 



a lumbering crew could be kept constantly at work — logging, road 

 building and maintenance, silvical work, planting, and fire protection. 

 A crew of forty men could be employed here constantly ; and forty men 

 to 90,000 acres would give a pretty good secondary line of defense in 

 fire-fighting. It would just about insure adequate fire protection. 



The small mobile crew of eight to ten men, experienced in fire- 

 fighting, for each 20,000 to 30,000 acres, is without question the best 

 fire-fighting weapon known. Without them, there can be no worth- 

 while fire protection. 



Next to men, good fire protection is obtained only when the woods 

 are well threaded with roads. "Git thar fustest with the mostest men" 

 is a guerilla warfare adage; and it is of true application in fire-fighting. 

 To arrive quickly to the scene of the fire after it has been reported 

 necessitates roads. Woods traveling, over hill and dale, jamming 

 through the brush, is usually slow, tedious, and decidedly unsatisfactory. 



That forest area which is lumbered continuously is kept in roads 

 which are needed in the lumbering operation. It is nothing less than a 

 bit of the greatest inefficiency to build expensive roads for lumbering, 

 and then to allow them to fall into disrepair, when they are needed so 

 seriously in all the forestry work which should follow lumbering. Yet 

 they most certainly will not be kept in repair unless a use for them in 

 the near future is assured ; and it only is assured when a forest business 

 is established. 



These things every forester of experience realizes. 



The great danger from fire in large areas of reproduction might be 

 mentioned. It is one of the principal adverse criticisms made by the 

 German forester. Doctor Martin, in 1900, in his investigations of the 

 French system of forestry. Such areas are certain to result from 

 forest devastation. 



There is perhaps no greater fire hazard than a great clear-cut area, 

 whether or not the brush and slash have been burned during the opera- 

 tions. The lumbermen of Michigan, who replied to a forest ques- 

 tionnaire, all laid stress upon the extreme difficulty of adequate fire 

 protection of logging slash. Particularly is this true in mountainous 

 regions where lightning fires are common. It is a strong argument in 

 favor of selection cutting on a sustained yield plan. The dark forest 

 does not burn easily. 



The point of discussion is this : It is very unlikely that any organiza- 

 tion. State, Government or private, will spend the money needed to 



