PROTECTION AGAINST FIRES AND MOVING SAND 27 



phones, and invariably costly fire lines which will be described 

 in detail hereafter. 



In the small forest gardens at the oases in southern Tunisia 

 there is no necessity for any kind of protective measures. In 

 addition to the fire lines along railroad rights-of-way the fol- 

 lowing notice is posted in railroad cars: 



"... Travelers are warned that it is forbidden to 

 throw anything on the track and that a violation is punish- 

 able with a fine of from 16 to 2000 francs ($3.08 to $386.00) 

 and by an imprisonment of from 3 days to a month. . . . 

 It is especially important to refrain from throwing anything 

 hghted on the track (such as burning matches, ends of cigars 

 or cigarettes, etc.) which could set fire to grass, brush, etc., 

 that might in their turn communicate fire to crops." 



While this notice is evidently designed to protect crops, it 

 is also an excellent warning to be posted by all railroads passing 

 through inflammable forests. 



Protection of Cork-oak Forests. — The policy of concentrating 

 costly protection on the most valuable forests is followed in 

 Tunisia. The cork oak, after peeling, is easily scorched, and 

 the dense undergrowth makes successful protection doubly 

 difficult and uncertain. There is a considerable difference of 

 opinion, as in Algeria, regarding the details of protection, but 

 the following statement gives a resume of the director's con- 

 clusions in 191 2 : ^'^ 



"... Experience has shown that the fire lines 20 to 

 30 metres (22 to 33 yards) wide and only brushed out 

 are almost always ineffective in case of fire, unless all the 

 trees or stems on the fire lines are removed. The only system 

 of protection recognized as (absolutely) certain consists in 

 the complete brushing around trees and stump extraction. 

 Its appHcation was made for the first time in 1895 i^ various 

 stands of the district of Taborca. 



This means of protection has the double advantage of re- 

 moving the brush, food for fires, of replacing fire lines, and 

 besides, of faciHtating the entry of stock into the forests, of 

 creating pasturage and consequently suppressing the agita- 

 tors who urge the native inhabitants to fire the forests. 



^° L'Indicateur Tunisien, 1912, p. 296. 



