MAINE FORESTRY DISTRICT 45 
lightning or some unknown cause. It has occurred to me that it 
would ba, well if roads or trails are cut to these remote places and 
painted red, so that they could be followed by people travelling in 
the woods, and so we could get men and provisions to these places 
in case of fire. We would be able to get to them much more quickly. 
If these roads and trails were spotted and painted red the people 
travelling in the woods would naturally keep to these; or if a man 
was lost he would follow these trails one way or the other and not 
be going all over and setting fires where we could not get to them. 
In that way anyone coming on these trails and lines painted red 
would at once know that these belong to the Forestry Department. 
I believe that the future of the Maine forests depends largely upon 
the system of our forest fire protection. It is far more important 
to the State than to the individual that the second growth be safe- 
guarded. For the good of the State the private land owners must 
be encouraged toward producing and protecting the second growth. 
The public opinion throughout the United States has moved stead- 
ily towards a just appreciation of the value of the forests, whether 
of planted or natural growth. In what way can we keep the appre- 
ciation of the people other than through a thorough system of fire 
protection for our forests. One important part of the protective 
system is the lookout station. 
Of the enemies of our forests the greatest and certainly the most 
to be dreaded is fire, whose source may be the smallest match care- 
lessly thrown away before extinguishing. Although in my expe- 
rience in the five years that I have been Chief Warden I know that 
more small fires have been started in my territory by smoking cig- 
arettes in the woods than in any other way. I have often wished 
that a law might be passed that would prohibit the smoking of cig- 
arettes in the woods in the summer season. Such damage depends 
largely upon the condition of the forest and the available aid for 
fighting a fire. After a fire once gets well under headway in our 
forests, with high winds it would seem almost impossible to extin- 
guish it without the help of a big rain. 
Fred S. Bunker, Franklin, Chief Warden, Southern part of Hancock 
County, District No. 2. 
We got through the season this year with very few fires and 
none that did any damage. I have all of the telephone line fixed 
up in very good shape. Had to have a good many cut-ins put in 
last spring as it was very noisy at times. I have built over the line 
