OUR FORESTS 



21 



lessness or indifference, through such agencies as campers, smokers, 

 debris burners, and railroads. Many of these fires have been of in- 

 cendiary origin. Only too common in this country are great 

 " crown" " fires which sweep over the forest consuming the largest 

 trees, killing game and other wild life, destroying fences, burning 

 barns and houses. By destroying everything in its path, a fire of this 

 type can do incalculable damage (fig. 13). 



Not all fires are of 

 the crown type, how- 

 ever. Frequently 

 fires burn over the 

 surface of the ground 

 but do not reach the 

 tree tops. Such fires 

 may leave the big 

 trees living, and for 

 this reason some per- 

 sons have thought 

 them not worth 

 worrying about. But 

 these surface fires, as 

 they are called, are 

 very harmful to the 

 forest. By scorch- 

 ing the bases of the 

 big trees, they open 

 wounds through 

 which wood rot 

 enters, which depre- 

 ciates the value of 

 the lumber and in- 

 creases the likelihood 

 of the trees being 

 thrown by the wind. 

 Surface fires, too, kill 

 the young trees that 

 would grow up to 

 perpetuate the forest ; 

 they burn the leaves 

 and other litter on 

 the forest floor and 

 destroy the fertility of the soil. They burn the coverts and nests of 

 game animals and birds and sometimes make the streams unin- 

 habitable for fish. If repeated often enough, such fires gradually 

 turn the green forests into a waste without life — ugly, desolate, and 

 unprofitable for any purpose (fig. 14). 



In general, forest fires, whether large or small, mean loss not only 

 to the owner of the land but in some measure to everyone. They mean 

 that so much more of our forest land will not be working for us ; 

 that there will be fewer trees to supply the wood necessary to build 

 our houses, run our railroads, and make our furniture, and number- 

 less other things that give us comfort ; that watershed protection has 



Figure 13.— The Red Enemy at its Worst. 



A crown fire destroys everything in its path. 



