CANADIAN FOSE S TEY ASSOCIATION. 77 



sport in the State of Maine, and few, if any, fires can be traced to sports- 

 men, accompanied by registered guides. The latter are well aware that 

 their livelihood depends on the existence of the forests. The hunting 

 grounds in New Brunswick, I am informed, are cared for in somewhat a 

 similar manner. Each man has his own territory and takes good care of it 

 his asset is the forest. In Quebec it is practically the same, our fish and 

 game clubs use all precautions, and the results are most encouraging. They 

 are good protectors. Properly orgapized sport will never do much damage 

 to the forests, but the desultory sportsman, having no stake in the forests, 

 and fishing and shooting here and there indiscriminately, and neglecting to 

 take precautions, is often the cause of serious fires. However, the occa- 

 sional and free-lance sportsman belongs largely to the educated class, and 

 needs only to see fire posters here and there to set him a-thinking. Once 

 in that frame of mind, he will be careful. 



If a district be dotted here and there with prominent elevations, not 

 necessarily mountains, the system of "lookout stations" is a good preven- 

 tive of forest fires. These stations, connected by telephone with the set- 

 tlements, can be the means of getting a large force of men to a fire in the 

 incipient stage, and thus prevent a conflagration. In Maine and other New 

 England States this system is spreading rapidly, and I have not heard of 

 any adverse criticism of it. The wireless telephone has not as yet been 

 brought to the point of cheapness and practicability needed to warrant its 

 installation, but when that point is reached, it will, without question, be su- 

 perior to the ordinary telephone. 



In my opinion it would be advisable for the Provincial Governments tp 

 enact legislation, compelling municipalities to patrol the areas under their 

 jurisdiction, and impose a stiff penalty for non-compliance therewith. I 

 believe this would largely reduce the number of settlers' fires, and they, 

 with railways, head the list almost everywhere. The timber-limit owners, 

 or licenses, will undoubtedly cause their holdings to be well looked after, 

 be it in New Brunswick, British Columbia, Ontario, or Quebec, but this 

 avails little, if in a drought, the settlers on the border line of the forests, 

 undertake to burn their clearings, or, if they start these fires in the spring 

 or fall. A settler who fails to pile up his slashings in rows or heaps, at 

 least 50 feet from the forest, or who, in other words, sets fire in a flat 

 slashing, is little short of being a criminal, if at all. The laws should be 

 very stringent on this point. If this debris is piled up and each leeward 

 pile or row burnt in rotation in propitous weather, we would have a very 

 different record to present annually. 



The fire ranger should be equipped with appliances for fire fighting, 

 e. g., a folding canvas bucket, medium sized axe, and a combined spade, 

 hoe and pick. Men patrolling in a municipality close to a forest could, with 

 great advantage, make use of sprayers, which should be supplied by the 

 municipal council, at the public expense. New roads opened up for coloni- 

 zation purposes need strict attention, the cut-down timber should be burned 

 in heaps in favorable weather, and not be left to dry at the sides, where a 

 lighted match or glowing spark may cause a disaster. The railroad ditch, 

 if made on the extreme outside of the right-of-way, would stop many a 

 fire from extending to the nearby forests. As we have all noticed, these 



