31 



The protection cannot be made absolute, just as the protec- 

 tion of town property is not absolute. In spite of the most 

 stringent building regulations and trained fire departments, 

 fires continue to occur in town. But the risk to town prop- 

 erty has been reduced to a very small quantity; in some 

 cases it is calculated to be less than three chances out of a 

 thousand. In places where an effort has been made to pro- 

 tect woods from fire, it has been found that the risk can be 

 reduced to a smaller quantity than in the case of town prop- 

 erty; in some cases it is calculated to be less than one chance 

 in a thousand. 



146. The protection of farm woodlands from fire is a sim- 

 ple matter. It is a common practice when working in the 

 woods in cold weather to build a fire to warm the hands and 

 feet by. The fire should be placed where it will not spread; 

 and it should be put out before leaving. When a field ad- 

 joining the woods is brushed out, the brush should be piled 

 far enough away to prevent setting the woods afire when it 

 is burned. When a field is burned off to prepare for plowing, 

 if it adjoins the woods, a few furrows should be run between 

 it and the woods before the fire is set. All tenants and 

 hands on the place should be made to turn out and help fight 

 a fire in the woods should one by any chance get started. 

 This will tend to make them careful in handling fire. 



147. Where woods join the woods or fields of a neigh- 

 bor or lie along a railroad, it is a good plan to separate them 

 by a fire line. A fire line is a strip about 20 feet wide from 

 which the dry brush, litter, and grass have been removed. 

 It is made by raking paths about 3 feet broad on either side 

 of the proposed line and burning the area between the paths. 

 The burning should be done when the wind is low and when 



