THE NORTHERN HARDWOODS REGION 29I 



Holdings of between 5000 and 10,000 acres are considered 

 large, while one containing more than 10,000 acres is only 

 occasionally found. 



Title to the land and timber goes together in practically all 

 cases, except where stumpage is bought for immediate cutting. 



Forest Protection. 



Forest Fires. — Surface fires characterize this region. The 

 litter of the northern hardwoods forest does not afford oppor- 

 tunity for a ground fire, as did the accumulations of coniferous 

 duff and moss in the spruce region, and crown fires are of rare 

 occurrence and then run only in the few coniferous stands. 



The fires are worse on cut-over lands with heavy slash, but 

 are by no means confined to such lands. In dry times surface 

 fires can easily run through virgin stands, feeding on the leaf 

 litter. The rapidity with which hardwood reproduction springs 

 up on cut-over lands, shading and keeping the ground moist, 

 soon lessens the fire danger. The most dangerous season is 

 ordinarily considered to be in the spring and fall, but a httle 

 earlier in the spring and a little later in the fall than is the case 

 in the spruce region. In reality the occurrence of drouths 

 during spring, summer, or fall determines the dangerous season, 

 for a drouth in midsummer will make this the most dangerous 

 season. The hardwood leaves furnish the chief fuel for the fires, 

 and these are dried out easily by even a short drought. 



The chief known cause of forest fires, ^ at the present time, is 

 carelessness in burning brush while clearing land. The railroads 

 are the principal cause of fires where they pass directly through 

 woodlands, but fortunately their location in most cases does 

 not bring them in close contact with such lands. What is 

 true of the Vermont portion of the spruce region is true quite 

 largely for the whole northern hardwoods district, namely, that 

 the railroads lying in the main valleys have belts of cleared land 

 adjacent to their rights of way and are therefore responsible for 



1 Forest Fire Statistics for the northern hardwoods region will be found in the 

 Appendix. 



