PROTECTION OF FORESTS FROM FIRE 261 



So far as the author is informed this method was first 

 used on an extensive scale in the Adirondack Mountains 

 in lumbering spruce and pine. At first the plan was to 

 cut off only the upper branches of the top as it lay on 

 the ground. This left the stem still propped above the 

 ground, as shown in Fig. 53. The next step was to cut 

 off the under branches and lower the whole mass to the 

 ground. The heavv snows during the first winter after 

 cutting flattened down the top and the branches. (Fig. 

 54.) In this condition the brush absorbs moisture so 

 rapidly that after three years there is little risk of fire. 



This method was first used in private shooting pre- 

 serves, mainly to prevent the tops from obstructing the 

 hunter's view. It also enables a freer movement over 

 the ground and facilitates the fighting of fires. 



A later development of the method is to cut up and 

 scatter the branches about over the ground. This has 

 been used in the cuttings on second-growth woodlands 

 when the amount of material left after cutting the cord- 

 wood in the tops was small. It has also been extensively 

 used in certain National Forests in the dry districts of 

 the West, where the scattered branches serve as protection 

 to the soil and aid reproduction. 



The cost of lopping the tops of spruce in the Adiron- 

 dacks was 12 cents per thousand feet of lumber cut. 



Lopping is the most advisable method of brush dis- 

 posal under the following conditions: 



1. Where there is very little danger of fires start- 

 ing. 



