No. 4.J REPORT OF STATE FORESTER. 231 



Slashings or Beusii should be burned. 



The coiniiioii cusluiu of allowing- \hv slashings to remain 

 njxni the gronnd after lumbering operations k-aves a veritable 

 tinder box for forest fires. A tire once started here is soon 

 beyond ecmtrol, and the damage is not confined even to the area 

 covered with slashings, bnt in most cases adjoining properties 

 are endangered and fequently large areas are devastated. With 

 forest products at present prices and the facts well understood 

 that fires are the great menace to future forestry, it is time that 

 we should enact laws regulating the handling of slashings. 



The United States Forest Service requires that the brush 

 resulting from lumbering operations upon the forest reserves be 

 piled and burned as a part of any contract they let. Wisconsin 

 has a special commission ap])ointed by the Legislature to report 

 recommendations toward regulatiitg this matter. 



There are few States that need to give attention to this sub- 

 ject more than Massachusetts. We are thickly populated, and 

 the damages from fires are relatively great. Our markets are of 

 the best, and as a matter of business we can ill afford to practice 

 a slack j)oliey. 



If when operating our forest or wood lots the brush is made 

 at the time into small ])iles, they can be burned at a time when 

 there is no danger from spreading. It is advisable to burn the 

 slashings when operating, if conditions are favorable, as they are 

 then green ; and, as the work is usually done during the winter 

 season, there is snow on the ground, or sufficient moisture is 

 present to prevent any spreading of the fire. 



With the slashings and general debris out of the way, the fire 

 danger is reduced to a mininmm ; and, whether the land is re- 

 forested hy setting out seedlings or a copse growth established, 

 the conditions for future success will be of the best. 



Fire Lines and Protective Moth Belts. 



It is a common practice in the gypsy moth work to surround 

 badly infested colonies that otherwise would spread by making 

 protective belts of 50 to 100 feet wide, and by thinning out the 

 stand and opening up an avenue whereby the insects cannot pass 



