48 BULLETIN 1294, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
vidual trees to a distance of several feet, brush and reproduction were 
cut and thrown away from the trees, down logs and other débris were 
carefully removed from standing timber. ‘These precautions were 
taken even in the case of unscarred trees. In anticipation of a second 
burning of the area, earth was banked to a height of 6 inches around 
the largest and most valuable trees, the idea being that needles and 
twigs would be shed by this bank of earth from the immediate base 
of the tree, and that subsequent protective measures for the indi-. 
vidual tree would be unnecessary. (Pl. XI, fig. 2.) The operator 
recognized also the extra danger to trees already fire scarred. On 
such trees the additional precaution was taken of filling in the wounds 
with rock and earth, with the object of preventing fire from reaching 
the pitchy scars. 
This operation covered an area of 3,000 acres, all level or very 
gently oe land with uniform dense stand of timber distinctly above 
the average for this region. Unusual care was exercised in the burn- 
ing operation itself. The firing was done in late October after heavy 
rains had fallen, and it was only between the hours of 10 a. m. and 
3 p. m. that the fire would spread at all. Officers of the Forest Serv- 
ice who were present during the burning agreed that the greatest pos- 
sible care had been taken in protecting mature timber. These men 
reported that the use of this method was undesirable because of dam- 
age to small trees and because of the high cost of the work. 
Although exact cost figures were never eas by the operator, 
it was agreed at the time of the burning that the operation had cost 
approximately 50 cents an acre (21). This figure was used publicly 
in 1910 and 1911 without challenge, although 10 years after the burn- 
ing it was claimed that the cost was very much lower. But any fig- 
ure from 8 to 75 cents an acre would represent an enormous expendi- 
ture if the practice were applied to even a single national forest of 
1,000,000 acres. 
In October, 1915, just five years after this burning, careful stud 
was made of this area to determine the reduction, if any, in hazard, 
and the indirect costs and damages that had resulted. Much of the 
area looked, superficially, as though it had been untouched by fire 
for many years. The burn had been patchy, covering not over 50 
per cent of the ground. The only positive way of tellmg whether a 
ela! area had been burned was the presence or absence of fire- 
illed reproduction or brush. No radical change in the condition of 
the forest had resulted from the burning. 
Assuming that cover conditions on unburned spots had remained 
constant during the period since the fire, a series of 300 measurements 
of litter depth, practically equally apportioned to burned and unburned 
areas, was made. As a result of the fire, the litter depth on burned 
and unburned areas showed an increase of 50 per cent on the former, 
or as follows: 
Average Maximum Minimum 
(inches) (inches ) (inches) 
WSUTNEG BTCHRe eo ce ogee pate i tn ot ae ee 0.72 1.44 0 
Unbumed* areas. +. set ORY DE OIE Gy Ae .38 1.44 0 
This increase in the inflamable material is closely associated with 
the practice of light burning, and is explained by the fact that in con- 
suming existing litter a new and often tiierar source of the same mate- 
rial is created in the shape of needles, twigs, bark, and stems of killed 
