GRASS AND WOODLAXD FIRES ix TEXAS. 9 



and scrubby growth because they can recover from repeated fires. There 

 is undoubtedly a temporary advantage to grazing in the removal of dry 

 grass during the early spring before the new grass is well started, but 

 the writer knows of localities where the only areas in good grass through- 

 out the season are those which have not been burned over. Fall fires 

 destroy grass which otherwise could be grazed well into the winter. 

 Any beneficial result of burning is a hundredfold offset by the variety 

 and magnitude of the injuries which follow. 



THE COST OF DAMAGES BY FIRES. 



Systematic efforts have never been made to estimate the damages 

 caused by fires in Texas. The census of 1880 placed the damage in 

 salable products and improvements on 600,000 acres burned over an- 

 nually at $274,000. In Forth Carolina a record of forest fires has 

 been kept each year since 1909, where the average area burned annually 

 is 415,000 acres and the average annual damage to timber, young growth 

 and improvements is $648,000. This loss is equivalent to a tax levy 

 of 36 cents on $100 on all the land in North* Carolina, or 13 cents 

 on $100 on all property, real and personal, now listed for taxation. 

 This is paid year after year by the people of that State without a mur- 

 mur. The loss in Texas is scarcely less than in North Carolina and 

 would amount to millions of dollars if the cost of humus destruction, 

 soil deterioration and damage to the streams and overflowed areas were 

 added. During the recent drouth of February and March not less than 

 50 per cent, of the woodland area of Eastern Texas has burned over. 

 Several lumbermen have stated that they believe the area burned over 

 to be nearer 90 per cent. This is a question of vital importance and 

 concerns the future welfare of every man, woman and child in Texas. 



CAUSES OF FIRES. 



The immediate causes of forest fires are many. The responsibility 

 for the tremendous areas of land burned over annually, however, is due 

 to carelessness, general indifference and the lack of information as to 

 the damage done. In North Carolina 50 per cent, of all forest fires 

 are caused directly by carelessness and indifference; 25 per cent, are 

 caused by railroads and logging engines; 15 per cent, are started inten- 

 tionally to improve the range or to see the fire burn; and the balance 

 are due to numerous known and unknown reasons. The causes of fires 

 in Texas are probably not far different than in North Carolina, where 

 similar conditions prevail. Railroad section foremen frequently leave 

 piles of ties burning along the rights of way when the wind may carry 

 the fire to adjoining property. Boys and men often touch a match to 

 a dripping turpentine tree or start a fire in the grass "just to see it 

 burn." Hunters and others carelessly throw down burning tobacco or 

 matches with never a thought of first extinguishing them. . People all 

 too often start fires to clear land or protect their fences and buildings 

 and let the fire run as far as it will in a direction which does not en- 

 danger their property. Many fires are started because of the erroneous 



