season, and a high wind causes it to break away into the 

 open and grow into a conflagration. Many of our bad fires 

 have started in just this way. 



Under the law a person permitting a fire to burn unat- 

 tended on his own property is guilty of a misdemeanor. 

 These bog fires come well within the meaning of this law, 

 and it is up to the landowner to put them out at his own 

 expense. It is the cheapest course for him, and he should 

 do it willingly rather than be called into court. No man in 

 the city gets pay for putting out a fire in his own house, and 

 no settler has a right to expect pay for putting out a fire 

 on his own homestead. 



The reasonablenss of this demand should appeal to every- 

 one, and the respect for the property of others should enforce 

 this precaution without any other incentive. 



3% Hoai aa a 



The following letter, addressed by the State Forester to 

 the chairman of all the Boards of County Commissioners in 

 the State should change the country roads from firetraps to 

 firebreaks, and develop the most comprehensive protective 

 system that could be devised with practically no expense. 

 The rangers can enforce this order in their districts, but 

 they should be backed up by every citizen in the county. 

 No road contract should be let hereafter without a clause 

 requiring this disposal of slashings. 



Even if the land on either side of the road is to be quickly 

 cleared for agricultural purposes, this precaution is not 

 wasted. The pile of slashings along the edge of a right-of-way 

 makes an ugly place to build a fence, and the disposal of it 

 when it has once been piled in the standing brush is much 

 more expensive than it would have if it had been piled in 

 the middle of the road in the first place. 



9 



