CAUSES. 639 



Smoking in forests ; throwing down burning cigar- ends or 

 matches. 



Carrying on dangerous industries in or near forests, such as 

 the manufacture of pitch or turpentine, and also iron-smelting 

 furnaces, or foundries. 



Sparks from locomotive engines, especially when burning 

 turf or lignite, and unprovided with spark-extinguishing 

 apparatus. 



Intentional firing of forests for selfish motives, as when 

 shepherds or farmers burn extensive forest areas to obtain 

 fresh grass for their flocks and herds, for it grows up luxu- 

 riantly after a forest fire. 



Motives of revenge, or superstition, as in India, where a 

 deodar forest was burned to propitiate the goddess of sniall-pox. 



It follows from a consideration of the numerous causes, of 

 forest fires that the forester must be wide awake to prevent such 

 calamities'. Private resources are here quite insufficient, and 

 the State must assist by framing suitable laws, and by in- 

 structing officials to be active in enforcing them. 



2. Kinds of Forest Fires. 



Forest fires may be in the ground, in the soil-covering, or in 

 the crowns or stems of the trees. 



a. Ground-fires. 



These occur in peat, lignite, or. coal; they proceed slowly 

 unless they come to the surface, when they partake of the 

 character of fires in the soil-covering. Ground-fires rarely occur 

 in forests. 



1). Surface-fires. 



These are the commonest and most important fires the 

 forester has to contend against, burning the dead leaves, 

 heather, grass, and other soil-covering of a forest. 



c. Fires in the Crowns of Forest Trees. 



These are less frequent in Central Europe, though common 

 in North America and not unfrequent in India. They 

 generally arise from surface-fires, which spread to the crowns 



