THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 107 



green timber. This added work later is many times that 

 necessary to safeguard the burning in the first place. 



In every case that fire ever escaped from clearing opera- 

 tions, the cause was either thoughtlessness or unwillingness 

 to perform certain work. Because it is easier to burn a slash- 

 ing than to pile and burn; or when a ground burn is desira- 

 ble, because it is easier to take chances than to clear a fire line 

 around the area and have a force of men present; because 

 burning at a dry, dangerous time will be cleaner and thus 

 save work after the fire ; inexperience, coupled with unwilling- 

 ness to take advice from the experienced these and like 

 reasons are responsible for the destruction of lives and prop- 

 erty worth over and over again the sum that was saved by the 

 attempted economy. And, although this does not save others, 

 the person responsible also usually loses instead of gaining. 



Without deprecating in the least the importance of agri- 

 cultural development or of lightening the useful and not easy 

 task of the settler, it is still terribly true that the agricultural 

 industry and the settler suffer an annual loss through the 

 destruction of improvements, crops and stock by fires from 

 careless clearing that is far greater financially than the sav- 

 ing in clearing cost which was the cause. In other words, 

 agricultural development is retarded instead of advanced by 

 its present careless use of fire. 



PLANTING FOE FUEL AND TIMBER 



Great as are the timber resources of the Pacific Northwest, 

 there are extensive regions in central and eastern Oregon and 

 Washington where timber is a scarcity, and wood for fuel and 

 farm repair purposes for settlers and ranchers can be obtained 

 only at heavy cost. In such situations it will be a paying 

 investment for the farmer to set out a small plantation simply 

 to produce his own wood for fuel, fence posts and other pur- 

 poses. It is true that some time must elapse before planta- 

 tions begin to be productive, but by choosing rapid-growing 

 species and planting closely, the thinnings which will be 



