278 



BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



[Pub. Doc. 



A fire line some 2,000 feet long was also constructed along one side of 

 our plantation in Gardner, and a fire line surrounding a plantation in 

 Templeton, which was made two years ago, was mowed over to clean up 

 the brush that had grown up in the mean time. Altogether, about $450 

 was invested in this work. 



These fire lines were all of the same pattern. First a strip about 50 feet 

 in width is cleared of brush, which is piled and burned, and on the inside a 





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ditch about 4 feet wide and 1 foot deep is dug. The theory is that the 

 cleared portion will offer so little fuel for the fire that by the time it reaches 

 the ditch it will be unable to cross. 



Forest Fires of 1911. 



It is with considerable reluctance that each year we include in our 

 annual report a chapter on this painful subject, — painful, because forest 

 fires are the greatest obstacle to the advancement of practical forestry 

 throughout this Commonwealth. As long as this State continues to burn 

 over from 35,000 to 100,000 acres each j'ear, just so long will forest owners 

 hesitate to make provision for natural reproduction, to plant trees, to make 

 improvement thinnings, or to do other work looking to continued forest 

 production. 



The season just ended has undoubtedly been the worst fire season this 

 State has experienced in many years. When we stop and compare figures 

 with the records of the past three years we fir.d that during 1908, 1909 

 and 1910 there was burned over throughout this State 110,976 acres, 

 with a damage of §600,017, and in the year 1911 our reports show 99,693 

 acres burned over, with a damage of $537,749, nearly as much as the three 

 previous years combined. Estimating the forest area of the State at 

 2,500,000 acres, which is a very conservative estimate (and in order to 



