

FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



January 



wardens and men assisting them, print- 

 ing, etc. The charge per acre is so 

 small as not to be a burden on any one, 

 especially on the owners of small 

 tracts, amounting as it does to but six- 

 ty cents per one hundred acres of land. 

 Notwithstanding the insignificant pe- 

 cuniary contribution, effort is made to 

 secure the co-operation of the owners 

 of small lots, the idea being that the 

 greater the number of members the 

 greater and more extended will be the 

 interest in the work of the organiza- 

 tion. 



A novel method of fighting fires has 

 been adopted in this region by the use 

 of the ordinary hotel fire extinguisher. 

 A number of these are put in a wagon, 

 with barrels of water, and taken to a 

 fire. One man running at top speed 

 with an extinguisher can put out or 

 check fifty feet of fire before exhaust- 

 ing it. When this is empty another is 

 ready at hand for use, and the men fol- 

 lowing are able to beat out what fire 

 remains. We do not know that this 

 has been done elsewhere, but we have 

 used these extinguishers with signal 

 success. 



The association has just completed 

 the second year of its existence. Dur- 

 ing the first year there were but two 

 fires not directly traceable to the rail- 

 roads. All the fires which occurred 

 during the second year were proven to 

 have been caused by the railroads, but 

 fortunately none of them was of a verv 



serious nature. As a result of our ef- 

 forts to secure evidence against these 

 companies, one of them has taken the 

 precaution to burn all the grass, etc., 

 on its right of way, and for some dis- 

 tance beyond, so that the danger from 

 this source is minimized. 



The practical result, therefore, of 

 the two years' work has been the crea- 

 tion of a public sentiment against these 

 promiscuous fires, as well as a whole- 

 some respect for the association, back- 

 ed as it is with its officers and mem- 

 bers, with the necessary money at their 

 disposal to prosecute all offenders. 

 There have been but two incendiary 

 fires in the two years, both of which 

 were caused by persons seeking re- 

 venge. There have been no negligent 

 fires which have not been put out by 

 those who started them, and the rail- 

 road companies have been forced to 

 clean their right of way to a greater 

 extent than heretofore. Thousands 

 of acres have thus been saved from 

 devastation, which in time, if protected 

 from fire, will gradually be reforested 

 by natural means, if not by scientific 

 methods. All this has been accom- 

 plished by an expenditure of less than 

 $900 for the two years. 



While the work of the Pocono Pro- 

 tective Fire Association has been some- 

 what limited in area, the principle on 

 which it works is one of general appli- 

 cation. 



GIVING MEN HOMES ON LAND- 



A Discussion of the Sociological Phases of the 

 Campaign for Irrigation and Homebuilding 



BY 

 GUY ELLIOT MITCHELL 



Secretary The National Irrigation Association 



""HE minds of many thinking men piece of ground, where he may make 



are running in these days toward his home and from its products become 



looking to the improvement of the so- to an extent independent of his daily 



cial conditions of the laboring man wage. A large number of organiza- 



through placing him upon a small tions have sprung into existence within 



*Paper read before the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Philadelphia, Dec., 1904. 



