70 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



trees and their character. It will be 

 found to be, in brief, readily under- 

 standable form, a compilation of an- 

 swers which fit practically all inquiries 

 about the choice of shade trees. 



Next month will follow an article on 

 how to plant them and when, with 

 sound advice regarding their protection 

 and care. 



There is happily a noticeable growth, 

 throughout in the entire country, of a 

 desire to know more about trees. 

 School children are keen to learn of 

 them and their characteristics and many 

 a youngster knows more about them 

 than his parents. It is a knowledge 



which should be fostered. Many a city 

 would be infinitely more attractive if it 

 had more and better shade trees or had 

 made better selection of those already 

 planted. There is hardly a progressive 

 city in the country which does not now 

 recognize the need of a city forester or 

 city tree commission. Arbor Day is a 

 recognized institution. School readers 

 contain tree stories. The public knowl- 

 edge of trees and their value is growing 

 while the public desire for the conserva- 

 tion of the forests is so marked that no 

 man can deny that our citizens are at 

 last awakened to a realization of the 

 need for their perpetuation. 



DOES FOREST FIRE PROTECTION PAY? 



IF ANY one has any doubts about 

 the value of fire protective work in 

 the forests they will be dispelled by 

 reading the article "The Fire protec- 

 tion on the National Forests in 1914," 

 by Chief Forester Henry S. Graves, in 

 this issue. The fact that in 1914 there 

 were over one thousand more fires on 

 the national forests than in the "bad 

 year" of 1910 indicates how much 

 greater was the danger of tremendous 

 damage than four years ago, while the 

 fact that in 1910 the damage was be- 

 tween $15,000,000 and $25,000,000, and 

 in 1914 is was only about $450,000, in- 

 dicates the wonderful progress made in 

 the system of fire protection, and the 

 inestimable value of such fire protec- 

 tion. 



It is remarkable that in four short 

 years the fire protective work could be- 

 come so well systematized and its op- 

 eration so perfect that, despite a large 

 increase in the number of fires and fire 

 conditions quite as bad if not worse, 

 the loss should be only four per cent 

 of what it was in 1910. 



This unusual efficiency was due en- 

 tirely to a systematic organization, the 

 establishment of lookout stations from 

 which large areas of forests could be 

 watched, the extension of telephone 

 lines from these lookout stations to 

 points from which aid could be called, 



and the opening up of roads and trails 

 through the forests in order to enable 

 the fire fighters to have ready access 

 to points whtere fires started. Dur- 

 ing the past four years there have 

 been added in the development of the 

 national forests and as fire protective 

 measures 1,368 miles of roads, 9,617 

 miles of trail, 12,000 miles of tele- 

 phones, 300 fully equipped lookout 

 stations and 695 headquarters stations. 

 So thorough was the organization and 

 so well was the system of fire protec- 

 tion aided by the facilities afforded by 

 the new roads, trails, telephones and 

 lookout stations for fire fighters getting 

 to the scene of a conflagration quickly, 

 that fifty per cent of the fires were ex- 

 tinguished before they had reached a 

 quarter of an acre in extent. 



It might be supposed that this won- 

 derfully good record was made by the 

 expenditure of sums of money much 

 larger than the amount used in 1910, 

 but the fact is the expenditure was 

 smaller. In 1910 over one million dol- 

 lars were spent in fire fighting on prac- 

 tically the same area while in 1914 the 

 expenditure for the same purpose was 

 about $670,000. 



What more effective answer than 

 these facts could there be to the query, 

 "Does fire protection on our forests 

 pay" ? 



