444 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



Octobei 



American Forestry Association, that 

 the Canadian organization expresses 

 itself as strongly desirous that forestry 

 be more generally taught in schools 

 and educational institutions. 



From this meeting it is manifest 

 that there is a constantly growing inter- 

 est throughout Canada in forestry and 

 forest conservation. The Canadian 

 Forestry Association is a power for 

 good in the North Country, and the 

 steadily increasing interest its meet- 

 ings arouse is a significant indication 

 of progress. 



A correspondent, writ- 

 Forest Fires ; n g to t h e Paper Mill 

 in Maine ^ W(Jod pulp Ngw ^ 



gives the cheering information that 

 Maine is getting the forest fire evil 

 under control, and that during the past 

 summer the damage due to fires was 

 small. He says : 



"Considering the extremely dry con- 

 dition of the forests which has pre- 

 vailed in Maine since early in July, the 

 owners of timber land in the State 

 have been fortunate in escaping with 

 slight losses by forest fires. There 

 have been a number of fires in differ- 

 ent sections of the State during this 

 time, but all have been extinguished 

 with slight loss by the fire wardens 

 and the crews employed by the lum- 

 bermen, sometimes assisted in the 

 work by timely showers of rain. The 

 danger from forest fires is now al- 

 most past. There is still a chance for 

 them, of course, and this is a very bad 

 time of year for a fire to start, owing 

 to the dry leaves on the ground and 

 the withered condition of vegetation 

 in general. The fall rains cannot be 

 a great way off, however, and perhaps 

 before many days the woods will be 

 drenched with rain and all danger of 

 forest fires averted for this year. 



"In view of the great expanses of 

 wooded country in Maine and the 

 numbers of campers and fishermen in 

 the woods during the summer it is re- 

 markable that there is not more dam- 

 age done by forest fires. Every camper 

 and every fisherman is a source of 



danger. No matter how careful they 

 may be there are still a hundred and 

 one ways in which a fire may start. 

 Nearly all of the men who go into the 

 woods use tobacco, and this means 

 lighted matches, half -burned matches 

 thrown away and, perhaps, live cigar 

 and cigarette stubs thrown into the 

 dry underbrush, any one of which is 

 potent to cause a forest fire. 



"The work of discovering and lo- 

 cating forest fires has been greatly 

 simplified by the establishment of ob- 

 servatories on high points in some of 

 the most thickly wooded sections of 

 the State. There are now five of these 

 mountain fire observatories located 

 on Squaw Mountain, Bigelow 

 Mountain, Whitecap Mountain, 

 Spencer Mountain and Attean Moun- 

 tain. The men at these stations are 

 provided with powerful glasses with 

 which to detect the smoke of a fire 

 many miles away ; charts which enable 

 them accurately to place the location 

 of a fire and telephones with which to 

 summon crews to go and fight the 

 fire. All of these stations have records 

 for the discovery of fires, and in many 

 cases the promptness with which they 

 have reported them has been the means 

 of saving the owners of the lands thou- 

 sand of dollars. 



"The appropriation for the warden 

 service and fire protection is altogether 

 too small. It is only $10,000 a year, 

 and $10,000 distributed among eleven 

 counties in which there are valuable 

 timber lands and fire wardens goes 

 mighty quick. That is less than $1,000 

 to a county, and when it is considered 

 that there are 160 fire wardens, and 

 nearly all have fires to fight and bills 

 of expense coming in at some time 

 during the year one can readily see 

 where $10,000 would be used up in 

 short order. 



"It is due Land Agent Ring and his 

 assistants to say that the expenditure 

 is very intelligently made and that the 

 service is remarkably efficient for the 

 comparatively small amount of money 

 appropriated for fire protection." 



