Forest Fires 65 



from a distance. This makes it expensive and 

 checks the construction of new buildings. 



In mountain country the injury to the land is 

 often worse than the loss of the timber. If the 

 fire has been very fierce, all the nourishment is 

 baked out of the soil so that plants cannot grow 

 in the places left by the poor destroyed trees. 

 There is nothing remaining on the steep slopes but 

 sand, stones, and gravel, and the rain or melting 

 snow rushes headlong into the valleys. There it 

 fills the river beds and streams too full, washing 

 away bridges, undermining banks, and doing mis- 

 chief to irrigation ditches and water power plants. 



" An ounce of prevention," says the old prov- 

 erb, " is worth a pound of cure," and so now- 

 adays science, time, and effort are spent in looking 

 out for the first beginnings of fire. 



In Maine and New York, which are well- 

 wooded states, stations have been built on hilltops 

 and on mountain peaks, and there, all summer, 

 fire rangers are posted to watch for smoke and to 

 put out fires before they have done much damage. 

 The man living in the station has a telescope, so 

 that he can see even a small or distant smoke, and 

 a telephone, so that he can at once call the superin- 

 tendent of the district. 



In the national forests, a number of men are em- 

 ployed by the United States Government to patrol 

 the woods, constantly on the lookout for fire. In- 

 deed, fire patrol, as it Is called, is one of the most 



