161 



Most fires destroy far greater values than this. Periodic fires burn- 

 ing at three or four-year intervals, or even at ten-year intervals, may de- 

 stroy all the reproduction for the period ; hence effect a loss equaling 

 from three to ten times the annual income, when harvested. This loss 

 is seldom visualized or reckoned, but constitutes a damage far greater 

 in its eventual total than the complete destruction of the existing stand 

 of old timber. It would be as sensible for a farmer to try to continue 

 a live-stock industr}' and pay no attention to losses of young stock because 

 at the time of birth they had no market value as for an owner of forest 

 land to expect to continue to derive revenue from it while permitting fires 

 to consume the progeny of the forest. 



The questionnaire here gave interesting results. Out of 217 replies 

 44 or 20.28 per cent were not opposed to fire in wood-lots, in fact favored 

 it, while the remaining 173 or 79.78 per cent desired its complete exclu- 

 sion. As was to be expected the chief cause of fire in these woodlands 

 is the hunter or camper. Fox hunters, bee hunters, coon hunters, nut 

 and berry pickers, and ginseng hunters are all charged by the woodland 

 owner with a share in the guilt. The following causes w6re listed by the 

 given number and per cent of owners, and the list serves to indicate the 

 relative prevalence of these agencies in the starting of fires : 



No. Per cent 



Campers and hunters 103 35.7 



Carelessness 54 18.7 



Burning to kill insects 37 12.8 



Brush and grass burning 32 11.1 



Railroads 26 9.0 



Smoking 25 8.7 



Lightning 8 2.7 



Incendiary 3 1.0 



288 99.7 



Of these causes the burning to kill insects and the burning of brush and 

 grass are due to practices of the land owners. Comparatively few rail- 

 road fires occur since most railroads do not run through forest lands, 

 yet such fires do occur frequently along timber stretches, especially in 

 southern Illinois. The Chief Entomologist of the Natural History Sur- 

 vey, in an effort to correct the practice of broadcast burning of wood- 

 lands against the chinch-bug, has called attention to the fact that these 

 insects do not hibernate in damp or shady spots, but seek the sunny 

 borders of woods or fence-rows, where it is comparatively dry. The 

 burning-over of a wood-lot to kill bugs when a 50-foot strip along the 



