236 BURNING OF PASTURE LANDS 



ways should be so located that they will constitute effective fire- 

 breaks. On lands which are used exclusively for pasture, and 

 which each year are fully and uniformly utilized, burning is 

 unnecessary, as only a small amount of growth remains at the 

 end of the season. 



A little attention directed to the control of fires by judicious 

 grazing will considerably simplify the protection of large bodies 

 of range and woodland, and the profits derived from the livestock 

 will increase the returns from the land. 



SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 



From the unmistakable evidence afforded on old " burns " in 

 the forests, from Indian legends, and from the accounts of early 

 explorers it is well established that large areas of our country, 

 both East and West, have been repeatedly swept by fires. 

 Most of these fires were started by Indians and white hunters 

 to control the movements of game. After the country became 

 settled, stockmen and farmers in many parts of the country for a 

 long time continued burning off the forage each year, contending 

 that its removal stimulated early spring growth and that the 

 resulting ash was invaluable as a soil fertilizer. Experience and 

 close observations by scientists as well as by practical men, 

 however, have clearly disproved in general the argument in 

 favor of burning. Nevertheless, firing the lands is still practiced 

 in certain sections in the South and to a lesser extent on unpala- 

 table or otherwise undesirable tangles of brush in the far West. 

 The effect of burning off rank-growing grasslands in the South 

 and the chaparral type in the South and far West has long been 

 a much-mooted question. The conclusions regarding the effects 

 of burning, all types considered, may be summarized as fol- 

 lows: 



I. The vegetation that remains on the ground to decay en- 

 riches the soil by the addition of humus, nitrogenous matter, and 

 other materials important to plant growth ; it increases the water- 

 holding capacity of the soil, thus making a large amount of 

 moisture available to plant Hfe; and it protects the soil from 

 excessive evaporation and the vegetation against injury from 



