494 Forestry Quarterly. 



An important part of the work of fire protection is disposal of 

 slash. - The method known as lopping and scattering although 

 fairly cheap, greatly increases the fire hazard in the few years 

 before the yellow pine brush, which is so resinous, rots away. 

 The stands are too open and the snow too irregular to permit 

 burning of green brush in winter as the trees are cut. Experience 

 proves that the best method of brush disposal in this kind of 

 timber consists of (i) trimming the tops of the trunks so that they 

 will fall flat on the ground where they will rot rapidly, (2) piling 

 the brush away from living trees. This costs 35 or 40 cts. per 

 acre, a sum that compounds at 4% to $1.20 in 20 years, 20 years 

 being probably the longest interval between cuts under conser- 

 vative management. As the growth of timber in 20 years is 

 worth about $6.00 per acre, the cost of piling brush is within the 

 bounds of financial practicability. It is important to have the tops 

 of the trunks left flat on the ground where they will rot quickly 

 because these snags are dangerous in fires on account of their 

 spark-emitting capacities. Much latitude is allowed in the shape 

 and size of brush piles provided they are not close to living trees. 

 After the brush is dried a little, the loosest piles will burn hotly. 

 The danger in all methods of brush disposal is that more stress be 

 put on the neat appearance of the woods than on the economy and 

 efficiency of the method for protective purposes. As a matter of 

 fact, it is not important that the brush piles be burned. The 

 prime advantage of piled brush is that it gives space for making 

 a stand against fire. On the Manitou Park Reserve some brush 

 has been burned for purposes of instruction. 



Taxes are not excessive in this region. They do, of course 

 further too early cutting. A tax on logs at the time of cutting 

 would be an improvement over the present system of taxing stand- 

 ing timber. 



Competent technical advice is necessary for both adequate fire 

 protection and for tax revision. If the state wishes to maintain 

 the population and industries of its forested district, it should 

 undoubtedly give technical advice free to all who may be interested 

 in forestry. Free technical advice is the first step towards better 

 methods of cutting. Fortunately these smooth, brush-free lands 

 can be logged as cheaply for a portion of the stand as for the 

 whole, except in so far as more frequent mill-sets are necessitated. 

 That permanance of industry and of population are worth while, 

 need not be argued with any who is familiar with the demorali- 

 zation in decadent mining and lumbering camps. 



