398 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



Importance of controlling Forest Fires in Massachusetts. 



Mr. President and Gentlemen of the State Firemen's Association: 

 — I first desire to give you the assurance of my grateful appreciation of 

 the invitation which enables me to be present at this time, privileged to 

 participate in the deliberations of your association. 



I believe that it is fast becoming an acknowledged fact that no question 

 is of greater importance in its relation to the future prosperity of our 

 Commonwealth than the development of forestry. The development of 

 forestry in Massachusetts is an effort to apply a policy of foresight in 

 handling what may be termed one of our greatest natural resources. In 

 other words, it is a part of the great conservation movement, the impor- 

 tance of which is acknowledged by all thinking people. 



But, gentlemen, forestry, like all other great undertakings, has to 

 encounter obstacles and overcome them before the fullest measure of 

 success can be attained. 



In speaking to your organization at this time I shall endeavor to con- 

 fine my remarks to that branch of the forestry service which, in my 

 opinion, most directly appeals to you, namely, forest fires. 



Fires injure forestry and forests in this State in several ways, which 

 may be classified under two general divisions, — direct and indirect 

 damage. 



We all recognize the injury when commercial woodlands are burned 

 over and the trees are killed outright, or are so injured that they will die 

 in time. In the more thickly settled portions of our Commonwealth our 

 woodland has a worth in excess of its value as timber or cord wood, — 

 an aesthetic value, so to speak, — and in such cases fires cause a damage 

 which cannot be reduced to terms of money. In any case, it is difficult to 

 express the damage caused by fires in terms of money, but in those com- 

 paratively few cases in which it can be done, the average yearly loss is 

 more than $200,000, and I feel safe in saying that this sum represents 

 only a fraction of the real danger. 



A direct injury, which is caused by fire and which is not considered by 

 the ordinary layman, is the destruction of young growth. From this 

 young growth our future forests must come, and if these immature stands 

 are destroyed, future values are wiped out at the same time. If a plan- 

 tation of young trees which has been artificially set out is destroyed, 

 we are quick to recognize the loss, but a reproduction which has 

 come up naturally is just as valuable, provided it gives indications of 

 making a stand of trees as large and as salable as the artificial planta- 

 tion. Young stands are not to be judged by their present condition, but 

 by their future possibilities. 



Constant fires exhaust the soil, consuming as they do the humus or 



dead-leaf matter which is the material from which nature manufactures 



our loamy soils. By the destruction of this same humus the waste-stor- 



' age possibilities of the soil are taken away and drought and floods become 



more frequent. 



