FIRE PROTECTION AND CONTROL 99 



them more thoroughly cleared than in the past. In the in- 

 spection of Bougie, the lines on nine forests (aggregating 35,451 

 hectares) (87,599 acres) had 6,095,262 square metres (7,289,933 

 square yards) of fire lines or an average of 172 square metres 

 (206 square yards) per hectare (2.5 acres). This means that 

 for each hectare of forest there was, theoretically, an equiva- 

 lent of 36 running metres (39 running yards) of fire line 10 

 metres (n yards) in width. An examination of the original 

 sheets shows a still further peculiarity. As explained, the lines 

 are either brushed or cleared of brush supplemented by stump 

 extraction. In Bougie, on the nine forests referred to, 63,280 

 metres (69,204 yards) of lo-metre (n-yard) lines were cleared 

 of stumps, and, in addition, the entire length of 2o-metre (22- 

 yard) lines enumerated in Table 8. No stumps had been 

 extracted prior to 1904 and the lines, where the stumps were 

 extracted since then, were solely trail fire lines (Chemins-tran- 

 chees). On the other hand, in the Bone inspection, the lines 

 included boundary fire lines, trail fire lines, etc., and the 

 stumps had been extracted on all classes. In La Calle, the 

 stumps had been extracted on about half the lines, the narrower 

 ones comprising chiefly those designed for trails. This diver- 

 sity of policy denotes clearly that the French Service of Waters 

 and Forests in Algeria has had to experiment with the width 

 of fire lines. This alone explains the dissimilarity in the dif- 

 ferent inspections. The form which follows illustrates the 

 records which are kept for all fire lines. 



