Forest Protection 157 



also a very good protective measure. If it is not desirable 

 to have this space idle, keep good, healthy trees growing 

 to the very edge of the right of way and keep them very 

 carefully freed from all dead limbs and dry litter on the 

 ground. Highways should be treated in much the same 

 manner as railroads on account of the danger from matches 

 and cigar butts carelessly thrown aside by the passers-by. 



Next to the railroads, the burning of fallows is the most 

 frequent cause of fire. The farmers fire their meadows and 

 marshes in the spring to burn out the dead grass and 

 to improve the pasture. In spite of the laws making a 

 closed season for fallow burning in many states, fires are 

 started at dry seasons and quickly get beyond control. In 

 fact, many farmers take no further interest in a fire after 

 they have started it, and let it run wherever it will. The 

 property of others is often destroyed in this way and the 

 fires frequently run into the forests from the meadows. 

 More care in choosing a suitable time for firing the meadow 

 would eliminate most of this danger. Such a fire should 

 never be started during a drought or when there is a heavy 

 wind. About five o'clock in the afternoon on a clear day 

 shortly after a rain is a good time to set such a fire. The 

 open field then will be sufficiently dry to burn well, while 

 the moisture in the woods and the falling of the dew in the 

 evening will prevent the fire from getting beyond control. 

 Where meadow land adjoins forest, a strip a rod wide 

 should be plowed and kept clear. 



The setting of fires in the woods itself should never be 

 permitted — ■ for the returns in grass will never repay the 

 damage done to the forest. This practice of firing the 

 woods is most prevalent in the South, where it is done 



