52 COMMISSION OF CONSERVATION 



"2. Piles shotild be placed as far as possible from reserved 

 trees of all sizes and from patches of reproduction of all species. 



"3. Piles shotdd be made medium in size, i.e. they should 

 not be so large that thpy wiU make a dangerously large blaze, and 

 they should not be so small that they will be unnecessarily costly 

 to bum or cover an tmnecessarily large proportion of the ground. 



"4. The debris should be laid on the piles in an ctrderly fashion, 

 so that they will be compact; — ^the piles should be piles and not 

 heaps of brush. 



"5. Large chunks, and heavy limbs free of twigs should not 

 be placed on the piles. Such pieces will not bum up completely, 

 and if charred, will not rot quickly. 



"Burning the Piles. — The success of the selection method ' 

 of cutting, as practiced in the yellow pine region, depends upon 

 the proper burning of the brush. If it is not well done, the 

 sale will be bad silviculturally no matter how good the marking 

 or how much care is taken to avoid damage to reproduction and 

 reserved trees. If the brush burning is not done right, our methods 

 of scientific forestry are jeopardized and the selection system ®f 

 cutting rendered a failure. 



"If the burning of the brush piles scorches neighboring trees, 

 runs from pile to pUe licking up the reproduction, and now and then 

 jumps from a burning pile into the tops of a group of poles or 

 saplings, all the expense incurred by the Forest Service in doing 

 good marking and by the purchaser in doing careful logging and good 

 brush piling, is of no avail. 



"In order to bum the piles so that the least possible damage 

 to the forest will be done, the following points should be observed, 

 whether the burning is done by the purchaser under the direction 

 of the forest officer or directly by the Forest Service. 



"i. Each burning crew should consist of but four or five 

 men, who should be in charge of an intelligent, careful foreman. 

 In every case there should be a forest officer to each two crews, and 

 he should be on the ground supervising the burning most of the 

 time while it is in progress. v 



"2. The lighting of the piles should be done only by the fore- 

 man or some other responsible member of the crew, who will use 

 good judgment in applying the torch.* At times when the brush is 

 apt to bum freely, only every other or every third or fourth pile 

 should be lighted, and the balance burned later, or on another day, 

 and thus the intense heat caused by burning consecutive piles will 

 be avoided and the danger of a general conflagration lessened. , 



* A convenient brush burning torch has been devised by one supervisor. It 

 consists of a piece 1 of light 2-inch pipe, 18 inches long, with a detadiable cap or 

 headstop at one end, which is fitted tnrough a reducer to a piece of ^ or ^-inch 

 pipe 30 inches long. Through the small pipe is run a cotton wick of the same 

 size, its lower end being bent into convenient shape. The large pipe answers as a 

 tank and will hold one quart of coal oil. 



