FOREST FIRES. 273 



den the loss was in each case below 1,000 acres, and that 

 Franklin only suffered a loss of one hundred acres. 



During the present year a great tract of tree-covered land, 

 probably nearly 7,000 acres in extent, not very valuable forest 

 to be sure, still of very great prospective value at least, was 

 burned over in Barnstable County, and the average annual 

 losses by forest fires in Massachusetts may probably be safely 

 put down at some 10,000 acres. The loss is considerable, but 

 hardly enough to cause any serious anxiety if it was confined 

 to the actual destruction of the wood growing upon the land. 

 But forest fires destroy not only the growing wood but the 

 fertility of the soil itself and its capacity to produce valuable 

 trees again ; they destroy, moreover, the confidence of the 

 community in the value and stability of forest property. 

 The destruction by fire, then, of the wood standing upon a 

 few thousand acres, more or less, does not by any means 

 represent the entire or more than a small portion of the loss 

 which forest fires entail upon the State. 



Sufiicient attention has not been paid to the eflects of 

 forest fires upon the soil and the subsequent growth of 

 plants. We have been accustomed, in treating forest fires, 

 too generally to consider the damage done to the growing 

 wood alone, and have not considered the much greater loss 

 the land itself suffers from being burned over. If only a 

 portion of the trees growing on a tract of land are cut, a 

 sufiicient number being left to protect the soil and produce 

 a supply of seed, — if these are guarded from fire and browsing 

 animals which, next to fire, are the most active and destruc- 

 tive enemies of the forest, the same species will continue to 

 grow almost indefinitely and a constant succession of young 

 trees will regularly spring up to replace those which have 

 been removed. This is a system of forest management very 

 often adopted, especially wnth certain varieties of trees, 

 where scientific forest management prevails ; and it is on 

 many accounts a very sensible and economical method, 

 although, of course, susceptible of very considerable modifi- 

 cations to meet peculiar cases of forest growth or climatic 

 conditions. If, on the other hand, a forest is destro3^ed by 

 fire which kills the trees and undergrowth of shrubs and 

 herbs, the same species, except in the case of some of our 



