l88 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 



A damage even greater than the loss of the crop 

 is experienced in the loss of the soil cover, the 

 litter and duff, which is the forester's manure. 

 This loss may become irreparable in localities 

 where only a thin layer of mineral soil overlies the 

 rock, and the opportunity for starting a new crop 

 may be entirely destroyed. The fire danger in 

 the United States is so great that in many local- 

 ities it almost prohibits the practice of forestry; 

 for who would want to invest money and energy 

 in a property which is exposed to extra risks from 

 fire by the absence of proper legislation, or by the 

 lack of police and moral support on the part of the 

 community in enforcing it, by the unpunished 

 negligence or malice of incendiaries, and by the 

 populational conditions of the country, which pre- 

 vent the economical disposal of the debris from 

 logging operations. 



The last-mentioned difficulty is perhaps the 

 most important, because practically almost impos- 

 sible to avoid. There must, especially in our vir- 

 gin woods, always result from the harvest of the 

 useful material a large amount of debris, tops, 

 branches, brush, and other waste, which cannot 

 be marketed ; and this not only impedes the devel- 

 opment of a young crop, but adds to the danger 

 from fire until decay has reduced the debris, which 

 often requires many years, even decades. 



The proposition has been made to burn the 

 debris after the logger. This is not as simple and 



