ROLE OF FIRE IN CALIFORNIA PINE FORESTS 69 
to areas where heavy accumulations of litter in the dense virgin for- 
est have prevented reproduction. Further, burning must be done 
only where the mature crop is about to be harvested. This will at 
the same time secure the establishment of reproduction in advance 
of logging, and insure the possibility of salvaging such timber as is 
damaged by the fire. The necessity for permitting time for the new 
erowth to become established before logging is evident in the fact 
that cutting can not be depended upon to be undertaken at the 
Seiya time to insure an ample supply of seed, nor can any reliance 
e placed upon seed in the forest floor where litter is so deep and 
compact. Also care must be exercised to confine the burn to the 
specific areas on which the reduction of litter is desired and nothing 
approaching broadcast burning will be possible. 
here logging is under way, the breaking up of the litter is ordi- 
narily accomplished sufficiently by the logging operation itself. The 
most serious impediment to reproduction is then competing vegeta- 
tion, which can not be removed by fire. 
CONTROLLING COMPOSITION 
The data previously given regarding the relative susceptibility of 
species to heat killing point to the possible use of fire in Toone 
we composition of established stands of reproduction. Light fires in 
mixed stands tend to favor the fire-resistant pines by eliminating the 
relatively susceptible firs. ‘This differential action of fire thus suggests 
the possibility of future usefulness, but at present the most important 
point in regenerating our forests is rather to utilize completely the 
roductive power of the land than to attempt refinements in control- 
ing composition. Furthermore, we can accept established reproduc- 
tion whether there is as much pine as might be desired or not, and 
depend on thinning and on silvicultural methods of marking to leave 
sufficient seed trees to increase the pines in the future stands. 
PREPARING GROUND FOR PLANTING 
Another special use of fire that has been developed in this region 
is in burning over dense, nonrestocking brush fields as a preliminary 
to planting. This has been done with two main purposes, to reduce 
the physicial difficulties encountered in planting in dense brush, and 
to give the young trees a fairly even start with the brush during the 
first few years of the growth, rather than to force competition with a 
dense overstory already established. 
The plan has involved constructing a cleared line surrounding the 
area to be burned, followed by spring burning, in which fires set along 
the fire lines are permitted to spread toward the center of the area. 
Burning in the spring results in complete destruction of the foliage 
and smaller twigs of the brush. Only the top layers of the litter are 
consumed, leaving the lower layers and the soil itself unaflected. 
The cost on a burn of about 2,000 acres on the Shasta National 
Forest was 30 cents an acre, including the preparation of lines. Com- 
parative costs of planting in unburned and burned brush fields were 
$11.50 an acre for the former and $7.08 an acre for the latter. This 
difference in cost is explained by the much greater ease with which 
areas on which the brush cover has been removed can be planted. 
Also, on burned areas, a much closer and more effective supervision 
of labor is possible. ‘The results obtained, as has been intimated, are 
correspondingly in favor of preparing dense brush fields for planting 
