240 



THE FORESTER 



October, 



Municipal Care of Trees. 



The Department of Forestry of the 

 City of Springfield, Mass., has shown 

 commendable energy in the protection 

 of trees along streets in that city. The 

 City Forester, William F. Gale, has 

 lately issued a circular letter saying : 



"The cutting of roots of trees being 

 one of the most common injuries to which 

 shade trees are subject, the Supervisors 

 of Highways and Bridges, at the request 

 of the City Forester, have instructed the 

 employees of the city having the laying 

 of walks and the setting of curbings, 



not to cut the roots of trees without his 

 consent. 



"The attention of contractors, exca- 

 vators, builders, and all others having 

 to do with the laying of walks and grad 

 ing, is called to the order of the Super- 

 visors, and they are requested to instruct 

 their men that the cutting of roots of 

 trees within the highway is not allowed, 

 except as provided above. Section 7 of 

 Chapter 54, Public Statutes of this State, 

 which forbids the mutilation of trees, 

 applies to their roots as much as to any 

 other portion of the tree." 



Forest Fires of a Month. 



Extensive forest fires throughout the Adiron- 

 dacks were not only the cause of some property 

 loss, but of much uneasiness to summer resi- 

 dents and campers. However, Col. William 

 F. Fox, superintendent of State forests, in an 

 interview concerning the fires, declared that 

 the reports were exaggerated. 



He said the fires were alarming in appear- 

 ance, and made much smoke, but that with few 

 exceptions no merchantable timber was de- 

 stroyed, as the fires in almost every instance 

 stopped when they reached a piece of thick 

 woods. The most damage to timber was done 

 by the fire on top of Black Mountain, Schroon 

 Lake, Fulton Chain. The Tupper Lake fire 

 threatened the lands of the Cornell College of 

 Forestry at Axton, in Franklin County. 



The college professors, with a large body of 

 students, fought this fire and kept it out of the 

 college forest. They were assisted further by 

 some engineers of the State engineer's office, 

 who were busy surveying the lines of the col- 

 lege tract. All the lumber and wood pulp 

 companies put men at work to save their own 

 woods. There were 281 fire wardens at work, 

 who receive $2 a day, one half of which is paid 

 by the town in which the fire wardens are put 

 to work. The expense of paying for this work, 

 so far as the State is concerned, will be taken 

 out of the $350,000 appropriated this year to 

 buy forest lands. 



In New England, the forest fires in South 

 Harwich and South Chatham continued with 

 unabated energy. One section of fire, which 

 threatened to sweep through the entire village 

 of South Chatham, was checked by backfires 

 and trenching just in time to save the village 

 from a general conflagration. The fire wardens 

 and their gangs of men came from all direc- 

 tions and fought the flames. 



After having been beaten back, the fire soon 

 started again in two new forks, one toward the 



western section of South Harwich and the 

 other toward the eastern section of Chatham, 

 the former having crossed the railroad track. 

 Everything was as dry as tinder, there having 

 been no rain for about two months. 



In Arkansas disastrous fires were reported 

 in the southern portion o^ Calhoun County, the 

 only hope of relief being a heavy rainfall. 

 Fire fighters worked day and night, several 

 being prostrated by the heat while at work. 



A large area in the Ouachita Valley was 

 devastated, and large herds of stock were 

 driven from their pasturage. Considerable 

 property of stave-makers in the woods was 

 destroyed. 



A great fire was reported in the early part 

 of September in the Sierra Madre Mountains, 

 southeast of Old Baldy, in Southern Califor- 

 nia. The fire started in Stoddard's Canyon, 

 the press reports estimating that at least 40,000 

 acres were burned over, some of the trees be- 

 ing from four to six feet in diameter and nearly 

 200 feet high. 



Forest Superintendent B. F. Allen issued a 

 statement denying these claims, and placing 

 the area at 3,000 acres, entirely of brush. 



Big Timber, Mont., September 26. A 

 raging forest fire is in progress west of this 

 town, on the east side of the Crazy Mountains. 

 It is likely that disastrous results will follow to 

 some of the ranchers in the Norwegian settle- 

 ment, toward which the fire is rapidly approach- 

 ing. The fire is between the east fork of the 

 Big Timber Creek and Antelope Creek, and 

 will in all probability destroy an area of sixty 

 square miles of fine timber before it burns out. 

 The flames are plainly visible from this town, 

 twenty-five miles distant. The whole east side 

 of the Crazy range is brilliantly illuminated 

 and presents an awe-inspiring spectacle. 



