PROTECTION AGAINST FOREST FIRES. 233 



debris littering the ground, or else as conflagrations or crown-fires, 

 assuming the form of vast flames centred in and devouring the 

 leaf-canopy formed by the crowns of the trees. 



This, of course, leaves out of consideration such cases as the 

 burning and destruction of single stems, when hollow, by lighting 

 a fire inside them for the purpose of smoking out a marten, 

 for instance, or a hive of bees, or the still less frequent occurrence 

 of an actual soil-fire when peaty land has become ignited and the 

 fire begins to spread on an extensive scale. 



By far the most frequent form of forest-fire is the ground-fire, in 

 which the flames, ignited among the dry soil-covering of parched- 

 up grass or dead weeds, run along the ground consuming these and 

 any dry moss or dead foliage scattered about. In the older 

 classes of timber crops, where such soil-covering is usually 

 scantier than in younger woods, and especially in those formed 

 of species with thick cortaceous bark, the damage done is often 

 comparatively slight ; but in young seedling crops the tender 

 plants are generally apt to get killed off, and even in pole-forest 

 when the heat developed is intense the bark of the stool and the 

 lower portion of the stem is often so much scorched and damaged 

 as to entail the sickening, and finally the death, of the plants. 



When a ground-fire finds sufficient food on the soil it develops 

 in intensity and power, and is apt, more especially in coniferous 

 woods, to secure a hold on the foliage of thickets and of young 

 pole-forests ; it then assumes the proportions of a conflagration 

 or crown-fire sweeping onwards and feeding itself upon the 

 foliage and the branches of the crowns forming the canopy of 

 the crop. When once such a conflagration has established itself, 

 it may be carried on by favourable winds to older crops and leave 

 nothing behind save the charred stems and poles. 1 



1 The statistics of the Bavarian Forest Department show that in the State 

 Forests covering about 2,325,000 acres, during the seven years, from 1877-1883 

 inclusive, 509 fires occurred over a total area of 1160 acres, which were classifiable 

 as follows : 



Ground-fires, ..... 416 



Ground-fires combined with conflagrations, . 70 



Ground-fires combined with burning of stems, . 15 

 Burning of stems only, .... 6 



Soil-fires, ...... 2 



Note. Although in India the returns of areas run through by fire too often prove 

 unpleasant reading for those concerned in the administration of the State Forests, it 



