142 REPORT OF ONTARIO GAME No. 52 



of the forest on the ground, the grass, the moss and the very soil are like 

 so much tinder to the liames. So long as the soil is damp and full of 

 moisture the damage done by fire will be confined to the standing trees 

 and a certain amount of animal and insect life. Indeed, it is possible 

 under such conditions for an area to be burnt over more than once and 

 yet not suffer irreparable injury, for unless a high wind prevails at the 

 time some trees will almost always escape with little or no damage, and 

 if the withered trees are removed, which can be done to commercial 

 advantage if undertaken promptly before decay sets in, reseeding will 

 be accomplished naturally, for the soil will not have been seriously 

 affected. Where, however, the soil is once destroyed, human agencies 

 are powerless to replace it and the harm is in consequence irreparable. 

 It is impossible to foretell the extent of the damage that a fire in any 

 particular region will cause, for it depends so greatly on the condition 

 of the forest at the time when the fire occurs, and similarly it is impos- 

 sible to foresee the extent of a forest conflagration which has once got 

 well under way, for it will depend chiefly on such matters as wind 

 and rain which are altogether beyond human control. 



The causes of fire are many and various, natural and human 

 agencies both playing their parts in initiating them, but it is at least 

 evident that, since the smallest beginning may result in untold damage 

 over enormous areas if not promptly checked, the time has come when 

 provision should be made to stamp out the fires wheresoever they occur 

 in accessible portions of the Province before they shall have had time 

 to gain leeway and spread, for once the fire has succeeded in covering 

 a wide stretch of country and is being fanned by a wind, or has a hold 

 of the soil, even with abundant help and ample appliances it is a matter 

 of practical impossibility for man to check it. The sparks from the 

 tree tops will fly through the air to the front and to the sides, igniting 

 whatever they may chance to light upon; the flame in the soil will eat 

 its way unperceived and underground for considerable distances, smol- 

 dering slowly so that perchance men may imagine that it has been 

 extinguished, only to break out again at some fresh spot where a dry 

 or withered root affords it an opportunity of bursting into flame. The 

 only way, indeed, to deal satisfactorily with forest fires is to extinguish 

 them at their birth, but to make arrangements to do so over so vast an 

 area as that covered by the provincial forests cannot but be a great and 

 expensive undertaking. There can, however, be no doubt that the value 

 of the forests will warrant every effort that may be made in this direc- 

 tion. 



As before noted the forest fires may be originated by human or 

 natural agencies. The latter, however, is in all probability a compara- 

 tively rare occurrence. In the majority of cases man is directly respon- 

 sible. Right through the heart of the forests he has carried roads, along 

 which speed great engines of steel and iron, driven by steam, belching 

 out sparks as they fly along. Other railroads are in conrse of construe- 



