FIRES. 161 



matches while still burning. The most dangerous months for 

 fire are April, when the dead grass and weeds are dried by the 

 east winds, and August, when the soil-covering is parched by 

 the summer drought ; and high wind increases the risk of 

 damage. Fires may seriously damage young plantations and 

 polewoods, and even necessitate the premature felling of older 

 crops, or make them sickly and liable to attacks by insects 

 and fungi. And owing to their resin, Conifers are far more 

 liable to damage than broad-leaved trees. By far the most 

 common form is a ground-fire beginning among dry -grass or 

 dead leaves, and spreading quickly along the surface of the 

 ground. In young crops the plants are usually killed; in 

 polewoods the bark is often scorched so badly that the poles 

 sicken and die; but in old crops of trees with thick bark the 

 damage is seldom serious, except in Beechwoods. Sometimes, 

 however, if there is much dead herbage or foliage on the ground, 

 the fire becomes so strong as to get hold of the crowns of coni- 

 ferous poles or trees, and then becomes a crown- fire or confla- 

 gration of the most destructive nature. 



With regard to fires caused by sparks or cinders from railway 

 engines, under the Railway Fires Act, 1905, which came into 

 force on January 1, 1908, a claim for damage may in each case 

 be made up to <100, but only if written notice of the claim 

 has been sent to the railway company within seven days of the 

 damage occurring, and written particulars of the damage within 

 fourteen days. Light railways and steam-tramways come within 

 scope of the Act. Under sect. 2 a railway company may enter 

 on any land and do all things reasonably necessary for extin- 

 guishing or arresting the spread of any such fire, and may, for 

 preventing or diminishing risk of fire in a wood or plantation, 

 enter upon any part of it, or on any adjoining land, and cut 

 down and clear away any undergrowth, and take any other 

 reasonably necessary precautions ; but they must not, without 

 consent of the owner, cut down or injure any trees, bushes, or 



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