Canadian Forcstrij Journal, September, 1918 



1887 



regarded as 'the friend of the settlor" 

 everywhere." 



"The business of the hre ranger 's 

 to warn all persons of the dangers of 

 carelessness with fire, to patrol a 

 route laid out for him by the fire 

 inspector, to post notices and dis- 

 tribute literature, to win the goodwill 

 of all good citizens in the interests of 

 forest protection, to supervise the 

 dangerous work of clearing land ])y 

 fire for which he issues a signed i)cr- 

 mit. He has many other duties, 

 including the organizing of bands of 

 fire lighters, but the chief part of his 

 job is to prevent fires from ever 

 starting." 



Can I be a Fire Ranger? 

 "When you grow a little bigger, 

 perhaps you can. But for the 

 present you can be a 'Deputy Fire 

 Ranger,' which is almost as impor- 

 tant. Every boy and girl can sign 

 the pledge at the back of this booklet 

 which will help you to remember 

 your duty every time you see any 

 danger of a fire starting." 



Do the Fire Rangers protect People 

 as well as Trees? 

 "A good question, indeed! Some- 

 times we think of fire rangers as 

 helping the forests only, but they 

 save human lives and valuable 

 property as well. If the fire rangers 

 were dismissed tomorrow nothing 

 could save the province from the 

 terrible disasters that formerly swept 

 across the settlements of Eastern 

 Canada." 



Tell me what causes Forest Fires? 



"'People. Natural accidents, like 

 lightning, play a very small part in 

 an average year. Here are some of 

 the people responsible for the trouble: 



"The settler who clears his land 

 without a burning permit and chooses 

 a hot or windy day and does not 

 properly pile his debris." 



"The railroad engineer who runs 

 without a protected smoke stack 

 and perfect ashpan and who dumps 

 his ashpan on the ties without ex- 

 tinguishing the live coals." 



"The track-repair gang that thinks 

 nothing of leaving a camp fire burn- 



ing or tossing a lighted cigarette into 

 the dr> grass." 



"The camper who neglects to ex- 

 tinguish his camp (ire thoroughly 

 with a few spades of earth or a few 

 buckets of w^ater." 



"The berry \ ickei" who is willing 

 to imperil his neighbor's life and 

 properly ])y carelessness in smoking 

 or cami)-fires." 



Do Forest Fires cause much Harm? 



"Forest lires seldom do anything 

 except HARM. One may as well 

 ask: 'What good is smallpox?' 

 vSmallpox and forest fires are twins. 

 They represent misery and poverty 

 and often death. We all are trying 

 to drive disease out of the country. 

 Forest fires ought to be dismissed 

 too. We cannol afford them an> 

 longer." 



"You have seen your daddy or 

 your uncle go to work in the woods or 

 in a lumber or paper mill, perhaps. 

 One day there may come a great 

 forest fire, caused by some careless 

 person. Most of the timber within 

 reach of the mill may be destroyed. 

 What happens? The big mill may be 

 forced to close its doors because the 

 timber has been uselessly burned. 

 The owner tells his workmen: 'A 

 forest fire has ruined us all. We 

 cannot continue a single day without 

 the forest.' Disappointed families 

 pack their belongings and move to 

 other parts of Canada. The new 

 school and church buildings arc left 

 uncompleted and houses and stores 

 are deserted. These sad results have 

 followed forest fires in all parts of the 

 Dominion." 



Will not Farms come when the 

 Forests go? 



"Please turn back the pages to 

 the little heading, 'Which is best, a 

 Forest or a Farm?' There, we ex- 

 plained that nearly all the land in 

 Ontario now growing forests will not 

 grow farms. Two-thirds of Canada 

 is no good for farms but will grow 

 splendid trees. Let us make the 

 point very clear:" 



"The spruce and balsam and pine 

 trees maintaining hundreds of Ont- 

 ario mills grow, as a rule, where wheat 



