MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS. 15 



show that 60 per cent of all the fires in the Michigan and Wisconsin have very little of A thorough private patrol backed by a law 



live years preceding 1910 were set by home- that kind of timber left. like that proposed for Wisconsin, under which 



steaders, 15 per cent by railroads, and 25 per The burning of slashings in most cases only the state would provide a regular patrolman 



cent by campers, careless hunters and others, relieves the situation temporarily, for no one ' cr every 40.000 acres or less of forest land, 



including the lumbermen. It seems probable (i re w j]] t ake the stumps and o'ld wet logs, w ' : ' g a long way toward eliminating fires, 



that the number of fires for which the lumber w hj c h when well rotted burn like tinder, and The only laws that will be of any avail will 



companies are directly responsible are not these, together with the brakes, wintergreens be those that will help the state, and private 



many Few people respect the forests as they and other vegetation that naturally springs up owners do that wcirk. 



should. Some abuse the railroads for setting ; al , burned districts, find a fire as quickly Son . e ,,. fhat t he lumbermen never have 



fires and then throw ighted cigars and cigar- oirolv is tho nricriml d-.sl-iincr A/fanv 



'Tn aou as sure Jy as ine original siasiiinn. ivianjr a+nrwi tneir c h*i re nf the* taxps I will venture 



ettes from car windows in dry seasons. There re - medies considered impractical might be of ' "other business ever received 



icaltrtcr*atli(irt^nmiir i ri/"irf>l('ccn^cc T^ir*>ica r . i i r i *" S*V HldL IIU ULI1CI UUBUUCBS C\C1 I tt^ci V CU 



o be ohved wi h ^'"l " lne , ^^Pu '^or that can be found , css r * turn for taxes aid than the lumbermen 



tor the work could be relied upon to use judg- of the north cen tral states. They have had 



The experience and training of average ment and care. That class of labor seems to | iu | e or no po ij ce protection; hunters and 



lumbermen should enable them to be the best have almost disappeared from the earth. The fishermen roam their lands at will and set 



judges of what is practical legislation for the cost of burning the slashings must not be lost ,-J. es wnen and wne re they please. They have 



protection of forests from fire, while the peo- sight of because any added expense will prove had f ew roads and no public improvements 



pie in general are not wel, informed on these ruinous to a large number of lumber manufac- u . ort h mentioning 



matters. trrers at this time. 



Few outside the lumbermen and forests un- The price cf lumber at the mills is very low , There should be no rl ld , laws Providing 

 derstand the difficulty of enacting laws that and admits of no profit to the producer. Hem- tb *\ "rtarn things must be done regardle 

 really will help the situation. Many laws that lock lumber at the saw mill is now worth of locality. The conditions often are very 

 have been passed in the various states in re- j ust about what it was ten years ago. and Different .'" adjoining geographical townships, 

 cent years have made matters worse instead there was very little profit in it then. Our What 1S feasible in one county may prove oth- 

 of better. Some laws actually have set a mixed timber forests of Wisconsin and Mich- e Ke ln th . e next Tt 7 uld seem ?* thoug1 ' 

 premium on setting fires by providing such j gai , contain 50 to 80 per cent hemlock. The abe commissions, as far as possible non- 

 high daily wages for fire fighting that fires pre sent stumpage cost is three times what it Political, clothed with the necessary aut 

 were set to get the money. Xew York was was then, and thc manufacturing costs have could best handle this matter Nothm 

 compelled to change her laws to stop that increased considerably. be 'one that will be such a burden upon the 



practice. Several other states will soon fol- with()llt , lue st-on the only cheap way to l mb rmel ! tha ' the y wl11 have any harder 



Witti out quest.on, t miy cneap way j tjnle meetlng t h e ruinous competition of the 



burn slashings in general is to set fire to manu f ac turers of yellow pine in the South. 



The so-called self-dumpmg-ashpan law, l arge areas and allow the fire to run before x b fi WO uld accrue to the citizens of 

 passed by our National Congress a few years t he wind. Anyone making a practice of burn- ., , k t jn that wa Qn the ot her 

 ago has proved to be a source of many rail- ing that way hardly will be regarded as a good h d nothi must be done 'to stop the de- 

 neighbor. If slashings are to be burned they velopment of the f arms that follow in the 



The Minnesota law passed at the last ses- must be burned with great care. In heavy. wa j t j of t he logger How important this is 



sion of the legislature that provided for the mixed timber the cost will then be prohibi- m bg geen in {ne fact tbat upper Michigan 



burning of the slashings left by the Jumber- live. But we all will admit that something ^ s fl5 per ce]lt O f what she eats. This great 



men has proved to be impractical, in fact, very must be done and at once. In the first place, i nlpor t' a tion is due to the lack of developed 



dangerous. An attempt to burn slashings by the timber owners must help themselves, after f arms not because she can not grow more 



a large operator during the last season re- that they may expect some help from others. , .' j Qod SU ppHes 



suited in the burning of 200,000,000 feet of By concerted action the lumbermen can 



white pine show the country that they are taking an in- Experience has taught the forester that 



Men have said in public that the lumbermen telligent interest in the protection of our for- best way to Prevent fires from s r K 



.honld not be a'lowed to make any slashings, ests Unless they combine their efforts to ore- by clearing out paths or fir, : lines 



. 



While such a demand is ridiculous it is no vent it they may expect much impractical sible that the clearing up *' 



more so than a general slash-burning law legislation ,n the next few years. There must a few rods wide between the sla shines and 



would be. Advocates of >uch a law surely do be a campaign of education to spread the the timber may help to keep fires with in small 



not realize what they propose to make thf truth. The public still needs educating. areas. If that plan was adopted and the 



lumbermen do. They have not stopped to A little over five years ago I organized the lumbermen were compelled to cut 



think that very few people own solid blocks Michigan 1-orestry Association, and. outside dead timber of any variety for a certain d 



timber tint there mav be neighbors who of a very few, I could find no one who under- lance back from the hre lines, at tne sam 



are completelv surrounded by slashings The stood what I was talking about when I dis- time they cut the sound trees, and a good 



day. when slashings of that kind, in most cussed problems such as we are discussing system of patrol was put in orce, 



timber, could be fired without damage to the here. Today everyone knows, something about certain that large fires would be a thine 



adjoining stumpage would be few and far be- these matters and nearly everyone takes a the past. The cleared lanes around slasl 



tween 'Tn fact at no time during the summer lively interest in them. Five years more with would make access to fires much east 



month* is it safe to set large fires, for when a proper educational campaign and the average it is today. Fires are more easily prevent 



once started they creep into the roots and citizen will be able to solve some of the diffi- than stopped. If they do start f 



and smolder for weeks, so that a high cult problems we must meet in trying to save as soon as possible and put them c 



wind may fan them to a blaze at any time, our remaining forests from devastation by they are small. 



Thc>e ground fires have been known to last fire. -p^ meat o f the nut is an active campaign 



from midsummer until snowfall, and even There is no better way to prove that the on the part of every one to prevent fires and 



through the winter. Some will suggest wait- timber owners mean to do their share in this quick action if they start. In this matter an 



ing until winter to burn cutover land. The matter than by active organizations, the object ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, 



early part of the winter finds the fuel too wet ^f which shall be to prevent forest fires as The fuel is always on hand and always will 



and later the snow is too deep, in many parts f ar as it is possible to do so. The timber be No law can prevent its accumulation. It 



of the lake states. In mixed timber there are owners of the Pacific Northwest are banded j s necessary. 



many small trees and defective mature trees together in a dozen or more associations . . . . 



left after logging. In a few localities the im- whose object is the prevention of forest fires. Nature takes care of this accumulation 1 



mature trees may become valuable timber They are trying to educate the rest of the decay, adding humus to the soil 



stands if allowed to grow. Nearly all the tim- people to help them by being more careful. "Ceded bv the farmer of tomorrow i 



her remaining is valuable for wood and is the Their rangers fight the fires that do start, and fort to feed the ever-increasing populati 



chief source of the settlers' income during they have been very successful. During the Ver y SPOn the clearing of land trom wnicl 



the first few years they occupy their farms. l ast season when Washington, Oregon, Idaho the timber has been cut 



My own personal experience leads me to be- and Montana were swept by a perfect hurri- problem for the homesteader or pionee;- farm 



lieve that this valuable remainder cannot be cane of fire, comparatively little damage was er . and not for the lumberman t. 



saved where slashings are burned. done on the timber lands patrolled by them, over lands suited for agriculture will 



In the hemlock forests the bark must be Many fires started but few of them gained ldle lc "K ln the future. 



peeled in June, July and August, and often a headway enough to cause extensive loss. The y o( ^ make h;|<te slow] The on l y | aws 



sear's supply of logs is cut then. Long be- rangers of one association put out about 1,200 th;lt can be of , a , ting vahu , tn lls win , K , those 



fore winter comes those slashings are as dry fires last season. |]u , enforcement o f w hi c h will not be hindered 



and dangerous as any. Where the hemlock 1 recently organized the Northern Forest by politics. Laws passed on the impulse of 



hardwood timber stands thick upon the Protective Association along the lines of the the moment urged by those with little or no 



ground a great deal of small timber will be western associations. It started out with a practical knowledge of conditions, will be 



killed b v the heat when the land is burned membership representing 2,1)00.000 acres in ,,,- ] aw ^ Tn the opinion of many we have 



Even where great care is exercised the upper peninsula of Michigan, and it is too nl anv laws of that kind now. "i can see 



ich will be thc result. In a very large num- expected that there will be 4,000.000 acres in ,,o remedy for this unless s'atherines similar 



ber of cases there is more fuel for fires a the association within six months. The organ- | this one at which all interested parties 



second year than there was at the first burn- ization is broad enough to take in all of Wis- CO nfcr are to become ever a more important 



This is not true of solid pine stands, but cousin and Michigan. part o 'f our commercial and political life. 



