FOREST PROBLEMS OF THE STATE. 27 



In 1910 a fire protective association was formed among the timber- 

 land owners of northern New Hampshire. The rate of assessment 

 is fixed for each ensuing year by a vote of the members, the maximum 

 being 1 cent per acre, though no member may pay less than $25 a 

 year. The forester for the association receives an annual salary, 

 employs patrolmen, and, under the supervision of the board of 

 directors, has charge of all other protective work. This consists in 

 building telephone lines, establishing patrol routes, and preparing 

 maps showing the topography, trails, logging roads, and other fea- 

 tures of the country. Future work will consist in building trails and 

 fire lines, and establishing supply stations equipped with fire-fighting 

 tools. The association cooperates with the State of New Hampshire, 

 and its patrolmen are appointed fire wardens. 



In Louisiana similar protective measures, modified to suit condi- 

 tions on the longleaf pine lands, could be made most effective. The 

 absence of natural lookout points will, it is true, make the cost a little 

 more than that of similar protection elsewhere, but the value of pro- 

 tection to large owners of timberland will fully justify the expense. 



GRAZING. 



In Louisiana the direct injury to the forest from stock, though it 

 is considerable, is insignificant as compared with the indirect effects 

 resulting from burning the woods to improve pasturage. Through- 

 out the State cattle and hogs are at liberty to run at large in the 

 woods. Sheep are grazed extensively, especially in certain portions 

 of the longleaf pine region. In the swamps grazing is confined 

 chiefly to the dry lands, although many cattle are lost in muddy 

 sloughs. As a rule, cattle prefer cane and other green forage in the 

 hardwood bottoms, especially in winter, when the grass in the pine 

 woods is dead. Hogs are less fastidious, and run in the pine woods 

 during all seasons of the year. In the bottoms they keep to the oak 

 ridges, where acorns are abundant. < 



The direct damage by cattle consists in browsing the hardwood 

 seedlings and trampling down the young growth. Most of the dam- 

 age, therefore, is done in the bottoms. Hogs, on the other hand, 

 devour the pine seed almost as soon as it falls, and during the winter 

 tear up pine seedlings for their tender roots. 



Probably more than half the fires in the pine woods are due to the 

 practice of burning over the ground in early spring in order that the 

 stock may obtain the new grass as soon as it appears above the 

 ground. As a result there is a total absence of pine reproduction 

 wherever these annual fires occur. Not only is reproduction de- 

 stroyed, but the humus covering of the soil is burned, thus exposing 

 and desiccating the sandy clay surface and causing it to become hard 

 and impervious. The roots of the better forage grass are injured 



