REFORESTATION TO PAY DIVIDENDS 149 



burning over of the land to remove debris immedi- 

 ately after the timber is cut is one of the best means 

 of promoting reforestation. A single fire often does 

 result favorably in the Douglas fir country, but for 

 the pine of the south this is emphatically untrue, 

 and although a few seedlings may survive the first 

 burning, the majority are destroyed. The danger- 

 ous season in southern Louisiana is during the win- 

 ter months, for there is no snowfall, and as soon as 

 the first frost nips the long grass which everywhere 

 covers the forest floor, it becomes a most inflam- 

 mable tinder ready to flare up at the slightest spark. 

 Plowed fire lanes, dividing the tracts into the 

 smallest possible units within a reasonable limit of 

 expense have been used with success, and this com- 

 pany Is to supplement the fire lanes with watch 

 towers where a man will be continually on duty. 



The present town site of Bogalusa, Louisiana, 

 was entirely cut over about fifteen years ago. 

 Where repeated grass fires have burned through 

 there is practically no reproduction, but in many 

 naturally protected places a splendid second growth 

 of Loblolly may be observed. For one such group 

 the Forestry Department has carefully counted, 

 measured, and numbered every tree, and keeps a 

 record of annual growth as a check for Its own 

 estimates. During 1920, a few of these trees were 



