112 FIRST l^OOK OF FORESTRY 



broad roadways, as fire lane?;, throuoh the larger pine 

 woods is contemplated, in order to prevent fires and to 

 help in fighting them. Such a s^'stem of fire lanes is 

 used in the larger forests of Europe, and even in British 

 India, and is probably the best means of protection for 

 many of our extensive coniferous forests. Since hardwood 

 forests do not take fire as readily as pine, etc., strips or 

 belts of hardwoods have been used along some of the 

 railways in Europe to protect the pine woods from the 

 sparks of the locomotives. For the same reason it is 

 recommended to use such belts of hardwoods to break up 

 larger bodies of pine, etc., and also to use a mixture of 

 hardwoods with conifers. In addition it is necessary that 

 everybody in and about the woods should watch and help, 

 and for this reason should know the danger and the law. 



To teach and to warn the public, the authorities of sev- 

 eral states and the United States, as well as man}' private 

 owners, are now distril)uting •* fire notices " in conspicuous 

 places along roads, trails, and streams in all parts of the 

 forest. 



Storms. — If we should look over the old maps of the 

 many townships of Wisconsin, we would see so many 

 " windfalls " marked by the surveyors that it would seem 

 as if Wisconsin were a regular storm state. This would 

 be an error, for a trip through the South would convince 

 us that storms have there been more frequent, covered 

 larger areas, acted with more force, and destroyed more 



