Till-. H >REST IK )!. >' \ I SI 





a-o. that at the prc-ent rate of con- 

 sumption of timber the end >f the 

 American forests as Sources of supply 

 of good material would o>me in twenty 

 \ears. The warning was ha-cd mi a 

 study <>f condition^ in every part of 

 the United States. The tire- that have 

 been in pro--v-- -ince the present 

 period of drought began have been the 

 most damaging in a (|iiarter of a 

 century. 



"If adequate protective measure.- are 

 not taken the limit of twenty year-' life 

 set for the woodlands will be cut in 

 half. If prompt action is taken, even 

 in view of the great losses of the year, 

 the fore-t- may be preserved for all 

 tin 



WHAT FOREST KIRKS SICNIFY 



"If the people of Minnesota and 

 neighboring- states had taken in earnest 

 all that has been said of late about 

 o>ii>er\ing our natural resources, they 

 would have done something to prevent 

 these calamitous forest fires or to make 

 them less destructive. Probably if an 

 attempt had been made to obtain an 

 appropriation from the Minnesota leg- 

 islature for a sufficient number of men 

 to patrol the forests during the more 

 dangerous part of the year, it would 

 have met with failure have been 

 called a useless and extravagant ex- 

 penditure. 



"I >ut a comparatively small outlay 

 would have cut down to insignificant 

 rit'.ures a fire-loss which is in the mil- 

 lions. \Yisconsin had one great foi 

 fire more than thirty years ago; if it 

 were to have another, the fault would 

 rest with a state government which 

 failed to adopt preventive mca-nr- 

 -The Chicago Tribune. 



I'RKYKXTIOX ol FORES1 KIR I - 



"The prevention of forest tires is 

 really the most strenuous problem that 

 confronts the department of the gov- 

 ernment concerned about increasing the 

 forests of the t'nited States. It will 

 take a great deal of replanting every 

 vear to overcome the ravage- which 



are worked b\ these lire-. In a night 

 a fore-t tire- may burn up ni'-re w 

 than would supply half a -tate uith 

 lumber. 



"( >ne who has not traversed the . 

 pin. its can't reali/.e what are the 



<'an-er- that con-tantly menace such 

 forests, e-pecially in the belts wl: 

 summer drouth 1 long pn.'racted 



and severe. Tl - a !< 



deadwiM.d and dried grasses in which 

 the sparks from locomotives an 1 the 

 fagots from the careless camper- find 

 lodgment and -tart .^reat comla^ 

 tion- The railroad compan :n- 



ingly take every precaution. They 

 plough furro\\s and they burn over 

 -trip.- mi which sparks are apt to fall, 

 but all these precautions often go for 

 naught. One way in which the ''aiiL; 

 from railroad locomotives might 

 overcome is by the u-e of oil for i" 

 instead of coal'. Oil as fuel means that 

 no sparks are scattered over the coun- 

 try. Many railroads now use a very 

 soft coal and -parks and cinders are 

 thrown out in vast quantitie There 

 ought to be some way of preventing 

 such danger-."- -The Kepitblican. Cedar 

 Rapids. Iowa. 



I OKI :.-[ RY AS AN IX.-rKAM K 



"Forest tire- in the Mcsaba ra 

 Minnesota, which wiped out the town 

 of Chi-holm and destroyed more than 

 XDO.OOO worth of property, were fed 

 largely by the tangle of dea 'wood and 

 brush which had accumulated in years 

 of fore-t neglect. The intensity of the 

 average forest tire i- due to similar 

 conditions. Improved fore-try prevents 

 such timber heaps. It cost- money for 

 lalx.r to clear the woods of brush and 



to remove fallen trees and deadw 1. 



but such work does -oniethinnr more 

 than save all the living powers of the 

 soil for the -rowing trees. It prcvcnt- 

 the accumulation of fuel \\ith which 

 to feed sweeping flames. Is it not worth 

 while? The value of foi as an 



insurance against tire ' apable 



of mathematical demonstration."- - 

 n He mid. 



