

190] 



AMERICAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION. 



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stand is especially endangered by the main is loosened so that the fresh broken soil 

 line of railroad from Berlin to Stettin, but is always exposed. The strip and ditch 

 despite these conditions there have been together form the regular form of fire line 

 very few serious forest fires in it. That along railroads and are excellent in pre- 

 there have not been more is due solely to venting large fires. Suppose that a spark 

 the excellent system of fire lines which alights in the ground covering and this 

 cut up the stand into small sections and takes fire ; there are no dry lower branches 

 successfully prevent the spreading of any nor any weed growth which can furnish 

 fire that may start. fuel to the fire so that it runs but slowly. 



If the fire is not discovered and put out 

 it finally reaches the ditch and there, not 

 having previously attained any size, it is 

 unable to get across and therefore burns 

 itself out. 



In those localities which are most en- 

 dangered by the trains, a further system of 

 fire lines is employed. This extra pro- 

 tective belt occurs back of the before- 

 mentioned ditch. A section of the nor- 

 mal stand is divided, by four-foot ditches 

 similar to the first, into squares with a 

 side of about thirty feet. The area em- 



SETTING A BACK-FIRE ON THE brace( j wUh j n these squares ^ kept free 



windward side of a from all such thingg as fallen branches, dry 



ROAD ' grass and the like. The ditches arc swept 



Adjoining the line of the railway, and clear of all pine needles and other easily 

 running parallel to it, is the main fire line. inflammable stuff and the ground is kept 

 This is a strip, about thirty-five feet wide, bare by hoeing. This extra protective belt 

 on which a small number of trees are prevents the spread of any fire which starts 

 kept as " spark-catchers." The trees used within the ordinary fire line beside the rail- 

 for this purpose are of various genera, way, and is only a necessity in especially 

 birch, beech, pine, etc., but the forester exposed localities where sparks are liable 

 in charge gives the pine the preference, as to be blown beyond the ordinary lines. 

 it is evergreen and conse- 

 quently of greater service in 

 the early spring when the 

 danger from fire is greatest. 

 The trees are kept clear of 

 branches for at least two to 

 three feet from the ground ; 

 and the ground covering is 

 of grass or some low grow- 



ing green herb. All dry 

 material and all weeds are 

 carefully removed. These 

 precautions are taken to pre- 

 vent the fire from making rapid headway. 

 Back of the strip just described is a shal- 

 low ditch some four feet in width which 

 runs parallel to the track. This ditch is 

 very carefully freed of all growth what- 

 ever and from two to three times in the 





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----j 



A FIRE LINE ALONG A RAILROAD WITH TWO CLEARED SPACES 

 SEPARATED BY A DOUBLE ROW OB TREES IN- 

 TENDED TO CATCH THE SPARKS. 



In the interior of the stand still another 

 protective system is employed. This con- 

 sists of a series of roads which intersect 

 the stand forming a sequence of squares 

 the sides of which are about seventy yards, 

 roads are twent) Eeet in width; are 



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course of the spring and summer the earth ploughed up each spun- and 



