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Canadian Forestry Journal^ August, 191S. 



well attended to. Nevertheless, the 

 Chief Fire Inspector has busied him- 

 self to secure co-operation with the 

 provincial governments for further 

 improvement, and such co-operation 

 has in several cases been already se- 

 cured. In Quebec, for instance, this 

 co-operation is now perfected, and all 

 railways, except the two federal 

 roads, are under the same rules, with 

 the Provincial Fire Inspector at the 

 same time an officer of the Railway 

 Commission. 



This phase of the forest fire pro- 

 blem — protection against railway 

 fires — is in a good way of being per- 

 manently settled, when the two fed- 

 eral roads are brought under the oper- 

 ation of a system like that of the 

 Railway Commission. 



Brush Disposal. 



In the first report of this Commit- 

 tee the propriety of looking into the 

 question of brush disposal in the 

 slashes of the loggers was intimated. 

 Since then the Ontario Government 

 has tentatively licensed some timber 

 limits with the condition that he 

 brush be disposed of. 



The Committee would accentuate 

 again that the manner of brush dis- 

 posal, namely by merely lopping, or 

 by burning, and the method of pro- 

 cedure must vary according to condi- 

 tions in each case, and that there may 

 be cases when neither of these pre- 

 cautions are of practical value, or the 

 cost not in proportion to the bene- 

 fit. Hence discretion in prescribing 

 the condition of brush disposal is 

 needful. It is very easy to bring con- 

 demnation and the charge of im- 

 practicability upon the proposition of 

 brush disposal by injudicious method 

 of application. 



Lately an inspection of the result 

 of lopping in the mixed stands of 

 hardwood and spruce in the Adiron- 

 dacks was made by authorities, in- 

 cluding members of the federal For- 

 estry Branch and the Forester of the 

 Commission of Conservation, and a 

 report of the satisfactory results and 



practicability of the method is to be 

 looked forward to. a 



We may anticipate briefly the in- 

 formation, that logging slash consti- 

 tutes the most serious fire menace in 

 existence; that brush disposal is a 

 practicable and feasible method of 

 minimizing fire danger, though sec- 

 ondary to patrol; that the methods 

 of brush disposal to be adopted in any 

 particular case can be determined 

 only by careful consideration of all 

 the surrounding conditions; and that 

 where brush burning is practicable 

 both financially and silviculturally, 

 this is the most efficient means of re- 

 ducing the slash menace, but that 

 where brush burning is not practi- 

 cable for any reason, the lopping of 

 tops may be advisable. The latter is 

 especially applicable to spruce and 

 cedar operations in the east, but even 

 here lopping may not always be neces- 

 sary. 



These precautionary measures 

 should, of course, be supplemented 

 by other systematic attempts to re- 

 duce fire danger and to limit fire dam- 

 age. There is always room for fur- 

 ther perfection of any organization. 



The Committee also desires to call 

 attention to the claim of the Dupont 

 Powder Works, of the value of dyna- 

 mite for trenching in fighting forest 

 fires. The claim is that a trench six 

 feet wide and two to two and one 

 half feet deep may be excavated by 

 placing cartridges of dynamite on top 

 of the soil two feet apart at the rate 

 of 300 feet in 15 minutes. 



A very decided attempt at organ- 

 izing the protective service was made 

 by the Forestry Branch, some 300 

 miles of trail and 100 miles of tele- 

 phone lines having been constructed. 

 Extension of the fire ranging into the 

 Yukon would appear a matter deserv- 

 ing immediate consideration. 



The new forest service of British 

 Columbia will devote itself for the 

 present mainly to solving the forest 

 fire problem. 



When the forest fire services of the 

 provinces which own timberlands 



