68 BULLETIN 1294, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
safe. It has the additional virtue of being possible to carry on when 
many other forms of forest work can not be done. (PI. XIV, fig. 2.) 
This method would be highly desirable on timber-sale areas, instead 
of the more costly falling by the saw method; on areas of high risk, 
such as along roads, railroad right of ways, and around camps; along 
natural or artificial fire barriers, as ridges; and along probable lines © 
of defense in fire suppression, such as roads and streams. = 
USE IN SILVICULTURAL PRACTICE 
Quite distinct from the use of fire in fire protection is its use in © 
silvicultural practice. Here as elsewhere the questions as to the © 
value of the operation, the certainty of results, the direct and indirect — 
costs, and the net advantage gained must be pertinently put and © 
answered, before such use can be regarded as legitimate. Three uses 
in silvicultural practice are presented below, somewhat tentatively, 
but with evidence to show that the results to be obtained by their 
careful and intelligent application may more than outweigh the 
dangers or losses involved. 
RELEASING REPRODUCTION 
Pee ee Te 
The reproduction of the California pine forest is difficult if a com- 
pacted layer of litter covers the ground, for the roots of the germinat- 
ing seedlings may be unable to penetrate this. The white fir and in- 
cense cedar are much less affected than the pines. Consequently under 
a fire-exclusion policy the tendency is for the reproduction which 
starts in the mixed virgin forests to be predominantly fir and cedar. © 
Sample counts of the Snake Lake area on the Plumas National 
Forest, both on the light-burned and unburned portions, showed in 
brief that not only is the amount of reproduction greater when the 
litter is removed than when it is in place, but also that the pines are 
favored over the firs and cedars. (Table 23.) 
TABLE 23.—I nfluence of heavy litier on germination 
[Snake Lake burning area, Plumas National Forest] 
| Number of seedlings to each 
| 100 square feet 
Species : 
Litter Litter Percentage 
eee removed | increase 
Western yellow; pines-A2 = seso 3 207s OS eee es Ee ee ee ae 6 29 383 
NUGAr DING. cS. oS 52. eee a ee se ae eae eee ee 2 7 250 
Mouplas firs 2S 1205 Be ei Be ee eee ee Se See 8 15 88 
WY Hhitel fir Sohn. ee ee ee ee eee 19 34 79 
‘Incense cedar... eS a ee ee ee ee 25 37 48 
otal: pe Sake er ae eee ae 60 122 103 
Another striking illustration of the influence of heavy litter in 
preventing successful reproduction was found in the Butler Meadow 
fire on the Eldorado National Forest. A part of this burn was a 
very light surface fire which crept through a dense stand of mature 
white fir. One year after the burn it was found that seedlings had 
come in at the enormous rate of 20,000 per acre where the litter had ~ 
been removed by the fire, while in undisturbed litter no seedlings — 
were found, even of white fir. 
These illustrations merely prove that fire has a possible use in 
obtaining regeneration, Obviously, its usefulness must be limited 
