PROTECTION OF FOREST PROPERTY 27 



ground and after three or four years decay largely eliminates the 

 danger from tire. Fires in lopped slash do not become as violent 

 as when the brush is left in the tops to dry out. The cost of 

 lopping in the spruce forests of the Adirondacks ranges from 10 

 to 15 cents per cord. 



Brush burning is recommended for forests where the stand 

 of timber is heavy and the brush dense. These conditions exist 

 in parts of the Lake States, Inland Empire and on the Pacific 

 Coast. The practice is either to pile and burn, or to burn broad- 

 cast. Brush can be burned with safety during the wet periods 

 in the spring and fall, after a Hght fall of snow in the early winter, 

 and in the South during the summer after heavy rains. 



Where the aim is to save the seedHngs and young timber, 

 brush should be piled and burned. This can be done cheapest 

 at the time of logging because less labor is required for the work, 

 and the removal of the slash facilitates skidding and reduces its 

 cost. In white pine where the brush is dense, the saving in 

 logging expense may be greater than the added cost due to slash 

 burning. As a rule one extra man is required for each 10,000 to 

 12,000 feet logged. Many lumbermen in the Lake States and 

 the Inland Empire do not log extensively during the danger 

 period in the summer months and hence the above method may 

 be employed to advantage during the greater part of the logging 

 season. 



The method followed where brush is disposed of at the time 

 of logging is for the swampers of each skidding crew to select 

 suitable spots where brush can be piled and burned without 

 danger to standing trees and reproduction and where it will not 

 inconvenience the skidding teams. These piles should not be 

 placed nearer than 15 feet to any standing tree. One or more 

 fires are started and the brush as cut is thrown on the nearest 

 blaze. Brush can be burned even during rainy weather and 

 where there is quite a heav}^ snow, because the latter is shaken 

 off the branches in handhng. Studies made by the U. S. Forest 

 Service in Minnesota show that not over 2 per cent of the total 

 acreage of a given operation is burned over when this method 

 is employed. 



