CHAPTER VIII 

 HOW THE FOBEST IS GUAEDED 



FORESTS like any other communities are subject to 

 attacks which cause their numbers to decrease, and the 

 forester like the health commissioner in any city must 

 be on guard to prevent any unnecessary deaths in the 

 forest community. 



During youth when each tree is struggling against 

 its neighbors for light and plant food, the mortality 

 is rather high, but this may be considered an ordinary 

 condition as usually more trees start to grow than the 

 land can support. In addition to these heavy losses 

 during the early years, forests may be attacked from 

 time to time by a variety of injurious agencies which, 

 while not always preventable are rather abnormal. The 

 most common of these agencies are fire, insects, fungi, 

 wind, ice and snow. Of all these enemies fire by all 

 odds causes the most damage. 



Fire Fighting. When it is realized that since the set- 

 tlement of this country more timber has been cut and 

 burned than is now standing, some idea of the forest 

 products consumed may be gained, and it is safe to say 

 that as much has been burned as has been used. The 

 loss due to forest fires has been estimated by the United 

 States Forest Service as $50,000,000 per year. The pity 

 of it is that at least seventy per cent of this enormous 

 loss is caused by fires that are preventable. 



Forest fires are not entirely a product of the white 

 man's civilization, for investigations in the West have 



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