416 PrRE-COHSERVANCY. 



ant enough to litter thickly even the most completely cleared por 

 tions of the trace. Long unburnt sections of a trace should be 

 cleared in the same manner as if they were being fired for the first 

 time, the precaution being taken of previously sweeping all fallen 

 leaves off the guide lines towards the edge of the grass to be burnt. 

 This second firing will, as shown before (p. 430), be less trouble- 

 some and risky than the first operation, since to the original width 

 of the guide line is now added the cleared belt formerly occupied 

 by the cushion of dry grass and also by some of the standing grass 

 beyond. The burning of the patches is very much easier and 

 seldom requires more than a single man to fire them one by one. 

 This man will find more occupation lor his broom in sweeping the 

 dry fallen leaves together round the patches than in beating out 

 fire. The second burning may not suffice to clear the traces com- 

 pletely, as many patches of grass, on traces running through low- 

 lying land, may be still too green to take fire. A third burning 

 will then be required. Indeed, in moist localities the grass may 

 never become dry enough to burn, or may become inflammable so 

 late in the season as to require a fourth and even a fifth burning 

 before it is completely cleared. The forester need not to be 

 alarmed at the idea of so many repeated operations, for even if all 

 the grass has been burnt off in the first one, the countless dead 

 leaves shed by the trees, abundant enough, if left undisturbed, to 

 form a layer from six to eighteen inches thick, must in any cir- 

 cumstances be got rid of by fire. As often as they accumulate to 

 any dangerous extent, they should be swept towards the middle of 

 the trace in small heaps and fired. When the leaves are falling 

 thickly, the same trace may have to be gone over at least once a 

 week. 



IMMEDIATE SUPPRESSION OF FIRE ACCIDENTALLY LEAVING THE 

 TRACE. In spite of every precaution and conscientious care the 

 fire will occasionally get across the check lines, whether it be from 

 the wind becoming suddenly very strong or gusty, or because the 

 firing has been delayed at that particular point until the grass has 

 become too dry or the weather too hot for the broom-men to face 

 the fierce conflagration along the cushion of cut grass. The 

 moment the fire has escaped beyond the guide line it should be 

 vigorously attacked at once at its two extremities (Fig. 128, e e), 

 the broom-men ultimately, at the moment of putting it out, meet- 

 ing at (7i), where it has been making headway. It is no use 

 attempting to overcome it in any other manner, for labour spent 

 in putting it out at any other point but its two extremities will be 



