140 



OUR FORESTS 



smaller trees are injured. There is great waste in the mills. In fact, 

 man wastes in every step from the forest to the finished product. 



By Fire. Indirectly, man is responsible for fire, one of the great- 

 est enemies of the forest. Most of the great forest fires of recent 

 years, the losses from which total in the hundreds of millions, have 

 been due either to railroads or to carelessness in setting fires in the 

 woods. It is estimated that in forest lands traversed by railroads 

 from 25 per cent to 90 per cent of the fires are caused by coal- 

 burning locomotives. For this reason laws have been made in 

 New York state requiring locomotives passing through the 

 Adirondack forest preserve to burn oil instead of coal. This 

 has resulted in a considerable reduction in the number of fires. In 

 addition to the loss in timber, the fires often burn out the organic 

 matter in the soil (the "duff ") forming the forest floor, thus pre- 

 venting the growth of forest there for many years to come. In New 

 York and other states fires are fought by an organized corps of fire 

 wardens, whose duty it is to watch the forest and to fight forest fires. 



Other Enemies. Other enemies of the forest are numerous 

 fungous plants of which we will learn more later, insect parasites, 



Our birds help protect our forests. This tree has been attacked by boring insects, 

 but woodpeckers have dug them out and killed them. 



