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burn ; it will riot for weeks, until starved for want of food, or drowned under torrents of 

 long expected rain. 



" In France and Germany, where the science of forestry is brought to high state of 

 perfection, where the forests are much smaller than ours, divided and isolated one from 

 another, kept as much as possible free from rubbish and dead timber and all the light 

 stuff that carries on the flames so rapidly, protected by stringent laws, strictly enforced 

 for generations ; watched over by large staffs of foresters ; even there disastrous fires are 

 of frequent occurrence, and they call for such an effort to suppress them, as is totally 

 beyond our power, as the following example will show : — 



" ' Considerable pine forests have been created within the last two or three genera- 

 tions in the south-west of France, and now cover large regions that were once barren 

 heaps of sand rolled up far inland by the action of the sea. Those forests, created by 

 man, now yielding a large and ever-increasing revenue, are highly valued and must be 

 protected, one would think, as well as any forest can ever hope to be protected. Never- 

 theless, fires are frequent among them.' " • 



Speaking of the safety-strips used as a means of prevention in other countries, Mr, 

 Joly says :— 



" Even there, wherever the wind is very strong, it has been found to carry fire, such 

 as pine cones, one or two miles, and start fresh fires." 



I may remark, in reply to this, that there should be foresters in advance to watch 

 . and extinguish these. I have myself been employed at such work, almost^night and day 

 for months at a time. Mr. Joly goes on to say further that, 



"Though not always sufficient, those safety -strips are, nevertheless, of great service, 

 but their opening is scarcely practicable with us. It would entail incredible cost and ex- 

 penditure on account of the great length we would have to prolong them, and the dis- 

 tance, and because, furthermore, the brush and timber felled down to make them would 

 have to be removed, otherwise it would soon dry up and increase the danger instead of 

 decreasing it. Then, to maintain their efficiency, they would have to be kept clear of a 

 new growth. We cannot think of undertaking such a gigantic work, at least incur large 

 and remote forests. Neither can we undertake, as they do in Europe, to clear the un- 

 derbrush and to remove the dead wood and rubbish ; but if we cannot profit by these 

 good examples, we can, nevertheless, do a great deal to prevent our forests being set on 

 fire." 



Concerning this, I may say that, in another part of this work, I have pointed out 

 how these safety-strips might be profitably made and kept clean here. I may here re 

 mark that parties making them must not be allowed to fell timber, right and left, into 

 the woods as if they were making a road, nor to carry brush, nor leave rail chips in 

 there. 



Concerning fires by settlers, Mr. Joly says : — 



" A frequent cause of disastrous fires in the woods is the mode of clearing land now 

 generally followed by settlers. Of course, they must have recourse to fires in order to 

 clear wood lands, hut fire ought to he our servant, kept under continued control, not our 

 master. 



" Wood land can be cleared with comparatively little danger from fire, and be made 

 ready to sow earlier than by the mode now generally in use (as I know from practical 

 experience), if the settlers will only burn the shrubs, branches, leaves and tops at once, 

 as they cut them down. Light a good bright fire to start with, after having made a safe 

 place for it, and then begin cutting away, and as you cut throw upon the fire at once ; 

 children will help immensely with the light stuff, and willingly too. The fire once well 



