FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 23 1 



fire, especially when the tops are Spruce, Pine, Cedar, Hemlock, or Balsam. 

 \Miere there are several tops lying together they will burn with a flash 

 and roar that can be seen and heard for a considerable distance, often send- 

 ing sheets of flame above the tops of small standing trees. These flames 

 flash up through the branches of the resinous trees and usually set fire to 

 them and kill them, while the added flame from the burning trees sets fire 

 to the branches of others. When down tops are in this dry con- 

 dition and are thickly spread over the ground (as is usually the case 

 when cutting to a small stump diameter limit) the fire will run from one 

 top to another, especially if a strong wind is blowing, just as it runs through 

 dry, dead grass of wild meadows in the spring or fall. Even in swamps, 

 where the Cedar had been cut and the tops were lying thickly spread about, 

 the fire, impelled by a strong wind, has been known to run across as 

 quickly as a man could, although the ground Under the tops was wet and 

 springy and would not burn. 



When the forest is dry it has been found by all woodsmen almost 

 impossible to check entirely a forest fire until it has run out of the territory 

 of old cuttings, dead and dry tops, and slashes, or until rain has fallen. 



For these reasons it is strongly advised that all tops on this tract 

 not wholly broken by the fall be thoroughly lopped, in order to bring them 

 to the ground, or near enough to it so that the first winter's snow will crush 

 them down completely. They will then soon become wet and soggy, decay 

 will set in much more quickly, and they will not burn in ordinary summers. 

 The danger of fire, the greatest danger to the forest from lumbering, will 

 thus be ver}' materially lessened. 



The cost of lopping tops varies greatly under different conditions and 

 on different jobs. It is usually from 2 to 3 cents per standard, according 

 to the diameter limit to which the cutting has been made and the thorough- 

 ness with which the work is done. It will be readily seen that if the top 

 were cut off at a diameter of 8 inches more branches would remain to be 

 lopped than if it were cut to 6 inches. Consequently it costs more to lop 

 tops for an 8-inch diameter limit than for a 6-inch. On the same principle, 

 the larger the stump diameter limit the less lopping of tops per stand- 

 ard, as it costs no more to lop the top of a tree containing two or 

 three standards than it does one containing only one standard after the 

 6-inch point is reached. Therefore the cost of lopping tops on this tract, 

 if cut to a 12-inch diameter limit breasthigh (which is practically 14 inches 

 on the stump at the cutting point), would be less per standard than if they 



