68 FORESTRY 



so that damage may be immediately repaired and any changes 

 noted. 



Against theft of forest produce the best protection is the 

 maintenance of a sufficient staff of wood reeves or keepers, 

 along with effective penal laws. Much may also be done 

 by avoiding undue exposure of material under circumstances 

 calculated to provoke the temptation to steal. In localities 

 where there is an indigent population, permission can be given 

 for the gathering of dead, fallen wood ; or the less valuable 

 parts of trees and cheaper kinds of wood may be sold at 

 specially low rates. Happy relations are thus established 

 with persons whose uncontrolled entrance might be very 

 harmful to the forest. 



Protection against Fire 



In the virgin forest, fires originate in making clearances 

 for agricultural land, in extending pasturages, in failing to 

 extinguish camp fires, etc. They are generally the result of 

 carelessness or wanton recklessness, the throwing down of 

 lighted matches, lack of proper attention to fires lighted for 

 the disposal of forest refuse, heather burning, and so forth. 

 Occasionally they can be traced to incendiarism, though 

 sparks from railway engines are a much more fruitful source. 

 Great Britain with its moist climate is not specially subject to 

 forest fires, but a large proportion of those which do occur 

 are due to the last-mentioned cause ; and it is a remarkable 

 fact that forest owners have as yet no proper security against 

 incurring the loss thus occasioned. 



Forest fires are most common in March, April, and May 

 during dry east winds, because at that season there is much 

 withered grass and dead leaves, but they may also occur in 

 summer, especially after a long period of drought. 



Young coniferous woods are those most endangered. The 

 soil-covering of needles and twigs is exceedingly inflammable, 

 and, when lighted, leads not only to its own destruction, but 

 generally to that of the trees as well. Mainly on account of 



