PROTECTION 161 
lie must be educated, good laws must be passed and 
enforced. In many States there is no end of fire 
legislation. These laws are mainly on paper, and serve 
no purpose whatever owing to a lack of the proper 
kind of machinery for their enforcement. 
Fire protection is the first step in forest con- 
servation. In the British colonies and in France the 
head of each administrative unit or conservancy pos- 
sesses the official title of Conservator. The term im- 
plies protection and. preservation rather than propa- 
gation. Conserve the forest—that is, protect it from 
needless spoliation, and Nature will do the rest. 
When this is accomplished, the work of the forester 
will consist in guiding the forces of Nature, lending 
a helping hand to Nature, and finally, reaping the crop 
in such a way that regeneration of the proper kind 
may follow. 
2. Protection against Atmospheric Agencies.— 
One of the most important destructive atmospheric 
agents to the forester is frost. Two very strongly 
marked geographical lines are the frost-line in the 
South and the timber-line in the North. Frost may 
be wide-spread or local, early or late. The leaf- and 
flower-buds and shoots are killed by late frosts. Early 
frosts prevent the ripening or maturing of the wood 
in the fall. The stems of trees are cracked by winter 
freezing, and young plants are heaved or uprooted by 
