53 
(4) It is carelessness and not malice, and it is more carelessness of 
letting fires go than of starting them which has resulted in the enor- 
mous losses. 
(5) Forest fires are diminishing in number as settlement progresses; 
every road, every clearing helps to supply barriers, increases the num- 
ber watching and fighting fires, and assists in the doing of it. 
(6) Forest fires are both prevented and fought in the wild forests of 
India and in all parts of Kurope; in localities where hundreds of acres 
of the young sapling Pine, with their fine largely dead and dried up 
branches (along the lower part of the stem), stand so thick that it is 
difficult to pass, and where, in addition, poverty and chagrin among a 
dense population living close to the confines of the woods furnishes 
willful and malicious incendiaries. 
To the opponents of police organization it may also be pointed out 
that tor this country experience is as yet almostentirely wanting. In 
New York and in Maine and in Canada the fire police have rendered 
valuable service, but it is impossible for anyone to say at present just 
how successful will be the fire police of north Wisconsin. Even the 
meager efforts which have of late been attempted to educate, remind, 
and warn people in matters of forest fires have already produced good 
results. The State sends out through its land office, practically with- 
out expense, placards, which have been extensively and judiciously 
placed and the people read them and mind them. In this connection 
it is to be regretted that the attempts which have been made, especially 
by the Menominee River lumbermen, to introduce the burning over of 
the “‘ works” or choppings throughout the woods, have not found favor 
and have been abandoned. This practice, experience shows, costs only 
3 to 5 cents per 1,€00 feet of logs and would practically put an end to 
the regular slashing fires. In the light of past experience it is clear 
to all that not only 5 cents but even 50 cents per 1,000 feet could profit- 
ably have been devoted to the suppression of fire. | 
CHANGES ON CUT-OVER LANDS. 
The condition and character of the aftergrowth on cut-over lands is 
quite variable, since, according to original condition and subsequent 
treatment, changes occur in the plant cover as well as in.soil conditions, 
These conditions and changes have a bearing on the question of the 
future of these lands, whether they be left alone or be restocked with 
timber, so that it appears desirable to give a description at least of the 
more frequent types. 
SANDY PINERY LANDS. 
(1) When a clean, dense stand of mature pine timber is cut, and the 
_ fire gets into the slashing late the following summer, after all the limbs 
j and tops on the ground have had a chance to dry, the ground Is fairly 
cleared by the fire, the bulk of the tops are burned, and a ‘stump 
