646 PROTECTION AOAINST FOREST FIRES. 



In Fi-cance, between 1865 and 1870, about 25,000 acres of 

 cluster-pine forest was burned in Gascony, and a large area 

 was burned in 1893, including 1,200 acres near Arcachon in 

 the forest de la Teste. There was also a large conflagration 

 in these forests in 1898, extending over 63 miles, and causing 

 damage valued at i;80,000. The worst districts in France, 

 however, for forest fires are the Departements of the Maures 

 and Esterel, north of Marseilles, where large areas of forest, 

 chiefly consisting of Quercus Ilex, L. and Pinus Halepensis, 

 Mill, are burned every year, and a special law has been 

 enacted for their protection from fire. 



Extensive forest fires occur every year in Eussia. In Canada, 

 in 1868, it was estimated that 400,000,000 dollars worth of 

 standing timber was destroyed by fire. One of these fires 

 extended 160 miles in ten hours. 



The forest fires in September, 1881, and again in 1894 in 

 the States Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan of the United 

 States of North America were of enormous extent, hundreds 

 of human beings being burned with their houses and cattle. 

 Statistics are wanting to give some idea of the enormous 

 annual destruction of forests in N. America by fire, and 

 especially of the Southern pine {Pinus jidlt'stris, Mill.) which 

 yields the best coniferous timber known in the whole world.* 



Protection from fire of the State forests in British India has 

 been seriously undertaken during the last forty years, and 

 measures with this object in view are carried out on a large 

 scale and at considerable cost to the State. Thus, in 1899 — 

 1904, measures were taken to protect from fire 35,236 square 

 miles of State forest, the failures in this area amounting to 

 8 per cent. The cost of protection in 1891 — 92, averaged 10 

 rupees a square mile, or at Is. 2(1 per rupee 11-9. 8^/., being as 

 low as 2.9. 4d. in the Bombay Presidency. Besides the above, 

 there are 66,196 square miles of State forest, in which either 

 the forest is of such a character as to demand no special 

 protective measures against fire, or its protection has not yet 

 been undertaken. This takes no account of protection against 

 fire in the forests of Native States, some of which are 

 admirably managed. 



* Of. A Primer of Forestry, GifTord Pinchot. AVashington, liio:?. 



