36 BULLETIN 1294, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
cited, but they would merely confirm the conclusion that repeated 
surface fires deplete second-growth stands in the same manner as they 
do the virginforest. Further, the gradual thinning of the forest allows 
the invasion of brush and other inflammable cover so that succeeding 
surface fires more readily develop into disastrous crown fires. 
OTHER FORMS OF FIRE DAMAGE 
In general, the secondary and indirect forms of damage resulting 
from surface fires are similar to these forms of damage in the virgin 
forest. Destructive insect attacks in timber of this character are 
almost invariably associated with fire, since second-growth stands are 
normally immune to ravages of forest insects. 
The reduction in the rate of growth as the result of crown injuries 
by fire has been little studied, but there is no reason to doubt that 
it is a weighty factor in reducing the yield. 
The study of fire damage in second-growth forests thus reveals two 
major conclusions: (1) that the danger from extensive crown fires is 
very much more serious than in the virgin forest; and (2) that the 
other forms of loss found in the virgin forest occur on and are equally 
inimical to second-growth stands. 
OCCASIONAL BENEFITS 
Occasionally a single surface fire in second-growth stands may be 
beneficial rather than harmful. This is true when a very light 
eround fire occurs in a stand so heavily stocked that growth is seri- 
ously retarded by the very denseness of the cover. If a fire of 
exactly the right intensity runs through such a stand it will result 
in killing many of the intermediate and suppressed trees, without 
seriously injurmg the principal individuals of the stand, consisting 
of the dominant and codominant trees. This possible use of fire is 
treated in greater detail later in examining the proper field for employ- 
ing fire in forest management. At this point it is only necessary to 
note that benefits from a single fire occur under an exceedingly narrow 
range of conditions, and that serious dangers are inherent in the 
employment of fire in the promiscuous thinning of forest stands. 
FIRE DAMAGE ON CUT-OVER AREAS 
In most forest regions, fires in cut-over areas are More intense and 
destructive than in virgin timber. An accumulation of inflammable 
slash is present, the openness of the remaining stand offers no barrier 
to the sweep of the wind, and standing snags scatter sparks broad- 
cast in advance of the main fire. Detailed studies in recent years of 
many such areas in practically all parts of the pine region disclose 
the fact that the action of fires on cut-over land is generally about 
the same as that of fires in brush fields. That is, wherever the fire 
burns, except in rare cases among spring or fall fires, the new growth 
which survived logging is wiped out and the number of remaining 
seed trees is seriously reduced. 
Next only to fires in restocking brush fields, fires m cut-over lands 
present the most serious problem both in the completeness of de- 
struction and in difficulty of control. This problem will become in- 
