TREATMENT OF INJURED WOODS. 657 



should go completely round the burned area and see that it is 

 properly isolated from the surrounding forest by clearings of 

 the soil-covering and trenches. All burning pieces of fallen 

 wood on the site of the fire should be covered with earth, and 

 wherever any fire reappears, it should be at once beaten out. 



8. Treatment of Woods Injured by Fire. 



The treatment of burned woods depends on their age, the 

 extent of the fire and the amount of injury done to the trees. 



Burned young coniferous tvoods should almost always be dug 

 up and the area at once restocked. Occasionally young Scots 

 pines may put out fresh needles and recover. 



Older coniferous ivoods with uninjured crowns and with 

 merely their bark singed may be left standing. If, however, 

 the bast and sapwood should be seriously affected, it will be 

 necessary to fell the trees, and especially if it is subsequently 

 found that they have been attacked by beetles, as, for instance, 

 Myelophilus piniperda, L., which will breed in the summer in 

 pine woods that have been burned in the spring, and pro- 

 ceed in the autumn to thin out the crowns of all the trees 

 around the site of the fire. Where this is to be feared, it is 

 better to fell all trees that are apparently so weakened by the 

 fire as to encourage the breeding of these destructive insects. 



We should not, ho\vever, be very ready to fell broadleaved 

 trees, as oak-woods, for instance, sometimes recover after 

 being burned, especially the dominating trees, but beech are 

 more susceptible to damage by fire. It is better in doubtful 

 cases to await the next season of vegetation before deciding 

 what is to be done. Young broadleaved woods may be cut 

 back if seriously injured, but even this operation may be put 

 off till the ensuing spring, as it may then prove unnecessary. 



More information is necessary as to whether it is advisable, 

 in particular cases, to fell, cut back or leave trees that have 

 been injured by fire. 



9. Insurance against Forest Fires. 



After several fruitless attempts to found a society for 

 assuring forests against fire, in 1895 the Munich Gladbacher 

 F.P. u u 



