39 



inflammable material. They should have some knowledge of harmful 

 insects and fungi, in order that attacks may be promptly reported to 

 the proper authority and effective measures taken to check them. 



During fire seasons, there should be men employed to patrol the 

 woods, if there are not enough rangers to do it properly. There^ should 

 be one man to not more than 5,000 acres. "Look-out" stations, with 

 telephone connection when possible, should be built on points com- 

 manding a good view of the surrounding country. There should be 

 a man stationed at each of these stations while there is danger of 

 fire. With the aid of field glasses he would locate fires as nearly as 

 possible, and report them so that men might be sent out promptly. 

 If a system of telephone lines were established, one can readily see 

 rhat help could be had soon after the fire started and in many cases 

 could be controlled, with little damage. A system of telephone lines 

 has been successfully operated in the state of Maine, and in 1904 re- 

 ports from one telephone are said to have saved many thousands of 

 dollars. 



All lumbering contracts should obligate the careful burning of 

 clashing, whether on state land or private land adjoining other forest 

 land. Although lumbermen do not meet such demands favorably, 

 on account of the expense, experiments show a very small cost. In 

 pine regions the slash has been piled and burned at the rate of less 

 than 25 cents per M. B. F. logs scaled, and in some cases it has been 

 as low as 15 cents. In California experiments have been made in 

 which the slashing was burned as the lumbermen left it, by burning 

 small areas at a time, in a way that the fire can be controlled at all 

 times. This has been done successfully and at a small cost. 



Many advantages are derived from the burning of slashing, among 

 which are clear ground for better reproduction, destruction of so- 

 called "fire-traps," breeding places for insects and fungi, and easier 

 means of travel through the woods. 



There should be on all large tracts, a network of roads and trails 

 in order to confine fires to areas as small as possible. When cutting 

 fire lanes it is advisable to cut them in places where there are likely 

 to be permanent roads in the future, which will be used as fire lanes. 

 All fire lanes should be kept free from inflammable material and 

 should be opened up annually, soon after the growth stops "and before 

 the fall fire season begins. When there are railroads through forest 

 land there should be a strip burned on either side of the tracks and 

 kept free from inflammable material during the time there is danger 

 frem fire. 



Protection from trespass through ignorance may be established by 

 cutting a clean and distinct path along all boundary lines. This path 

 should be made conspicuous by marking line trees with a special 

 blaze and posting warning notices. Warning notices should also be 



