102 Report of the Forest Commission. 



them with a roaring noise. Should [the atmosphere be calm, the ascending 

 heat soon causes the air to flow in, and after a time the wind acquires great 

 velocity. 



" 'An irresistible front of flame is soon developed, and it sweeps forward, 

 devouring the forest before it like the dry grass in a running prairie fire, which 

 it resembles, but on a gigantic scale. The irregular line of fire has a height of 

 100 feet or more above the trees, or 200 feet from the ground. Great shoots of 

 flame appear to disconnect themselves from the torrent and leap upward and 

 explode, or dart forward, bridging over open spaces, such as lakes and rivers, 

 and starting the fire afresh in advance of the main column, as if impatient of 

 its slower progress. 



" ' These immense shooting flames are probably due to the large quantities of 

 inflammable gas evolved from the heated tree tops just in advance of the 

 actual combustion, and they help to account for the speed of some of the 

 larger forest fires, which have been known to travel at the rate of more than 10 

 miles an hour. 



"' The wild animals appear to understand the significance of the roaring 

 noise and the clouds of smoke in the sky in advance of these conflagrations. 

 Terrified deer, bears, wolves and lynxes, followed by multitudes of hares and 

 other small mammals, seek safety in flight ; but all of the latter are soon over- 

 taken and destroyed. Should some of the larger creatures be so fortunate as 

 to reach a lake or river in time, they may escape along with the beavers and 

 otters. The birds flutter up in confusion in advance of the wall of fire and 

 appear to drop back into the flames.' 



" Prof. Sargent calls attention to the fact that the forests of the northern 

 Pacific coast offers an exception to the law, otherwise general, that change of 

 forest crop follows a forest fire. The fir forests Of West Washington and 

 Oregon, when destroyed by fire, are quickly replaced by a vigorous growth of 

 the same species, and the fires which have consumed great bodies of the Cali- 

 fornia redwood have not- prevented the reproduction of those trees by seeds 

 and shoots." 



{Forest and Stream, September 8, 1894.) 



A proper system of forest guardianship could not be had for nothing. If it 

 were efficient it would cost something. But if it is worth while for a city to 

 support a paid fire department to prevent loss within its limits, why should it 

 not be worth the while of a State to support a system of forest guards to pro- 

 tect its citizens, their dwellings and its own standing timber ? The taxes for 

 the support of such a force should naturally be borne in large degree by that 

 portion of the community whose interests are especially to be served by the 

 prevention of fires . 



French Law to Prevent Forest Fires. 



(Boston Herald, February 15, 1894.) 



The disaster to American forests every year is so great that the new French 

 law for the prevention of forest fires, enacted August 19, 1893, will be eagerly 

 examined to see how far its provisions can be applied to the extinction and 



