FORESTRY FOR SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND. 21 



cost of the tirst improvement cutting not more than 82 per acre. The 

 best way to prune is to cut off the lim])s smoothly and as close to the 

 tree as possible, taking care not to tear off' the bark. With young 

 trees still growing vigorously, this will insure the healing over of the 

 cut before the wood rots. In forest pruning only dead branches are 

 cut as a rule. They are ordinarih' taken off* only as high as the woods- 

 man can reach with his ax. 



PROTECTION OF THE AVOODS. 



FIRE. 



Every year many hundreds of acres of woodland in Connecticut, 

 Massachusetts, and Rhode Island are burned over. The sources of 

 these fires are chiefly locomotives, careless hunters and picnickers, and 

 neo-lected brush fires. Small wood lots surrounded bv cleared land or 

 near houses are easily protected. If by any chance fire starts in them, 

 it is promptly seen and put out. The watchfulness of an owner or 

 caretaker and of the men working about a place is the surest safeguard 

 against fire. There are, however, many tracts distant from any house 

 where such protection can only be obtained by hiring a special ranger 

 during the dry season. If it is not practicable to hire a special ranger, 

 such tracts can be best protected by means of fire lines. Fire lines 

 are strips cleared of leaves and other refuse which check the progress 

 of surface fires. Light fires are usually either stopped b}' fire lines or 

 so checked that it is easy to put them out. Fire lines serve also as 

 good starting points for back firing when that becomes necessary. 

 Dirt roads make the best fire lines; for ver}' light surface fires narrow 

 trails answer the purpose. In the majority of wood lots an adequate 

 network of fire lines can be made by clearing the leaves and other 

 inflammable material from all the regular roads and wood roads. 

 Frequently, however, a tract has no roads of any sort that can be 

 cleared and utilized as fire lines, or it borders a dangerous stretch of 

 brush or a grassy meadow where fires are apt to start. For such a 

 tract special fire lines must be constructed along the border of the 

 woods and in convenient jDlaces across them. A good rule is to have 

 the fire lines, preferably dirt roads or trails, divide the land into lots 

 of not over 25 to 30 acres each. The way to construct a fire line 

 through the woods is to rake away the leaves and other rubbish from 

 a narrow strip 3 or tt feet wide, and then to burn a broad fire line 10 

 to 20 feet wide on one side of the strip. The purpose of first clearing 

 off the narrow strip is to provide a side check in burning off the broad 

 fire line. The fire is always started awa}' from the narrow strip and 

 allowed to burn toward it. There is then no danger of losing control 

 of the fire. A plowed furrow is also a good side check when the land 

 can be plowed. The same purpose is served when sand is at hand, 



