CHAPTER XVIII. 

 FIRE LINES. 



IN our moist clime little attention is paid as a rule to 

 destruction of plantations by fire encroachment, and 

 yet past dry seasons have not been unattended by 

 loss loss which would have been avoided had fire- 

 lines been in existence. 



It may be asked by some What are fire-lines? 

 Fire-lines are lines of deciduous trees, or bare spaces 

 passing through plantations, and dividing the area, 

 like water-tight bulk-heads formed for the purpose 

 of checking the encroachment of water in ships. 



In our opinion, when planting large areas bordering 

 on waste land covered with heather or gorse these 

 lines should never be omitted they are unnecessary 

 only where the plantations are surrounded by arable 

 or pasture land. It is seldom that fires occur inside a 

 plantation or directly, although such is possible where 

 dead branches or ddbris are burned upon the spot. 

 Fires usually arise through encroachment from con- 

 flagrations on the surrounding wastes, and if once fir 

 plantations catch, nothing can prevent great loss and 

 possibly entire destruction. 



