﻿FOREST MANAGEMENT OF LOBLOLLY PINE. 29 



FIRE PROTECTION. 



Management of loblolly-pine land to secure successive crops of 

 timber is not advisable unless there is a reasonable certainty that 

 forest fires can and will be controlled or kept out entirely. Adequate 

 protection from fire, therefore, must be provided before it becomes 

 worth while to incur any expense connected with forest management. 

 Fire kills the reproduction, thins out existing stands, and lessens the 

 rate of growth of the remaining trees by impairing their vitality and 

 by reducing the productive capacity of the soil. The thinning is done 

 by (1) killing trees outright; (2) weakening trees so that they suc- 

 cumb to attacks of insects or fungi; (3) burning the trunks so . that 

 the trees are broken off or thrown by the wind. 



In loblolly pine it is best to keep fire out entirely. The only excep- 

 tion to this rule is in burning brush litter and undergrowth after lum- 

 bering to lessen the possibility of future damage from fire and to 

 improve conditions for reproduction. Such burnings, however, 

 should not be carried out unless it is certain that the fire can and will 

 be limited to the area it is wished to stock. 



It is a comparatively simple and easy matter to keep fire out of 

 small blocks of timber, up to 500 acres in extent, when these are 

 adjacent to farms or bounded by roads, cultivated fields, streams, 

 and other barriers. The owner should be careful, however, not to 

 allow his woods to catch from his own brush fires. He should also 

 post his land with trespass and fire notices, keep a watch for fires 

 continually during dry periods, and extinguish as soon as possible 

 any which may start. The larger the area the more difficult it is to 

 keep fire out. 



For large areas the principal means of fire protection include: 

 (1) Piling and burning of slash left after lumbering, which will also 

 often assist reproduction; (2) development of roads, trails, and fire 

 lines ; (3) organization of a patrol and fire-fighting force, with proper 

 equipment for fighting fires ; (4) use of spark arresters on locomotives 

 and donkey engines used in logging; (5) posting of timber-trespass 

 and fire-warning notices and vigorous application of State fire laws, 

 where possible, against setting of forest fires; (6) cooperative fire- 

 protective agreements or understandings with adjacent landowners. 



For detailed discussion of means and methods to employ where it 

 is aimed to exclude all fire from the forest, and methods of fighting 

 fire, the reader is referred to Bulletin 82 of the Forest Service, " Pro- 

 tection of Forests from Fire," by Henry S. Graves, Forester. 



REFORESTATION BY NATURAL REPRODUCTION. 



To secure natural reproduction of loblolly pine it is necessary to 

 cut the mature stand in such a way that seed will be disseminated 

 evenly over the bed. The subject will be discussed under the general 

 headings of (1) methods of cutting and (2) work following cutting. 



