54 WESTERN YELLOW PINE IN ARIZONA AND NEW MEXICO. 
existing or expected reproduction, the brush may be merely left as it 
falls. Ordinarily, the brush should be lopped so as to le not higher 
than 2 feet above the ground. Brush disposal should always keep 
pace with logging. 
Where the fire risk is great all lops and débris, including» lar 
chips, should be piled at a safe distance from sangre trees. The 
piles should be large and compact enough to kindle easily and burn 
cleanly. Brush should not be piled on stumps, large tops, or unmer- 
chantable logs, nor in groups of seedlings or young growth, or against 
dead snags. “Whenever possible, the brush should be piled in openings 
with all branches lopped from the tops placed together with those 
cut from the logs. The trimmed tops and large branches should be 
left where they le, and should not be covered by brush piles. Where 
there are no large openings and the brush must be piled near living 
timber, the piles should be small. 
Brush burning is necessary wherever there is danger of fire. Ordi- 
narily, however, it is not advisable over an entire sale area. It is 
frequently possible to burn the brush so as to form fire lines, espe- 
cially along railroads and wagon roads. Fire hnes through brush 
should ordinarily follow ridges rather than canyons, and should be 
laid out according to the topography rather than by section lines. 
Where to burn brush completely would result in damage to existing 
reproduction, or would be destructive to sound seed, unburned piles 
should be left, unless the fire danger is excessive. The effect of burn- 
ing on grazing and future reproduction should be carefully con- 
sidered. The best time to burn brush is after a shght fall of snow, 
or early in the spring before the snow has melted, or during or im- 
mediately after summer rains. In insect infected areas brush should 
be burned, if the pupa can thus be destroyed. The débris from 
fungus-infected trees should be burned, but not necessarily that from 
trees infected with parasites such as mistletoe. 
COST OF HANDLING GOVERNMENT TIMBER SALES. 
An objection often raised against conservative methods of forest 
management is that their cost is excessive. It has been claimed by 
some lumbermen that to log western yellow pine conservatively entails 
an extra cost of from 75 cents to $1 per 1,000 board feet. In consider- 
ing the question of cost it should be borne in mind that from 40 to 50 
per cent of the added expense is chargeable directly to the cost of 
brush disposal, which is often an essential operation if the future 
stand is to be safeguarded against fire and reproduction secured. 
The cost of supervision on Government timber sales in the Southwest 
varies, of course, with the size of the salé and the local difficulties of 

