FIRE. 31 
loss occurs unless the logs loosen in the bundle and slip out. This 
seldom happens. 
The mill is situated in a seaport town, so that facilities are excellent 
for export trade, and a large amount of the best grades of timber is 
exported to England, Scotland, Germany, and Holland. The bulk of 
the timber manufactured is still, however, sold in this country. The 
market for loblolly pine, the chief timber tree on the tract, is a con- 
stantly increasing one, and though the longleaf pine lumber brings 
better prices, the more rapid growth of the former species makes it 
the more profitable one to grow in the future. 
FIRE. 
Adequate protection from fire is essential to the conservative man- 
agement of the timberlands of the E. P. Burton Lumber Company. 
Fire has passed over nearly every acre of land owned by the com- 
pany, and fires will continue to be common unless drastic measures are 
taken toprevent them. Ever since the settlement of this country it has 
been customary to burn over the pine lands in early spring, to improve 
pasturage and prevent the growth of underbrush. This custom is now 
acknowledged by many of the inhabitants to be shortsighted, but 
there is still a lack of active opposition to the practice, and fires con- 
tinue to be set by negroes and people not interested in lumbering or 
agriculture. The tall growth of grass under the open stands of pine 
makes the starting of fires very easy; many are consequently acci- 
dental in origin. 
EFFECT ON THE SOIL. 
In consequence of these repeated fires, hamus and leaf litter are 
largely wanting on the uplands. Swamps and bottoms have been 
harmed little, for they are seldom dry enough to burn, but even here 
fires have occurred in the past, and only a dry season is necessary for 
them to occur again. 
EFFECT ON STANDING TREES. 
The surface or grass fires do not kill the large trees, but by burning 
up all of the leaves, needles, and twigs on the ground they rob the soil 
of its natural fertilizer. What effect this has on the development of 
trees which are not killed can only be conjectured, but it certainly 
lessens their rapidity of growth. 
Many standing trees are killed each year by fires. Owing to the 
thick bark of both loblolly and longleaf pine, these trees resist fire to 
a remarkable degree, and a tree not previously injured seldom sue- 
cumbs to a grass fire. Slash fires, however, are sometimes so intense 
that they kill trees outright, particularly small ones. Hardwoods are 
