FOREST MANAGEMENT OF LOBLOLLY PINE. 29 
FIRE PROTECTION. 
Management of loblolly-pine land to secure successive crops of 
timber is not advisable unless there is a reasonable certainty that 
forest fires can and will be controlled or kept out entirely. Adequate 
protection from fire, therefore, must be provided before it becomes 
worth while to incur any expense connected with forest management. 
Fire kills the reproduction, thins out existing stands, and lessens the 
rate of growth of the remaining trees by impairing their vitality and 
by reducing the productive capacity of the soil. The thinning is done 
by (1) killing trees outright; (2) weakening trees so that they suc- 
cumb to attacks of insects or fungi; (3) burning the trunks so that 
the trees are broken off or thrown by the wind. 
In loblolly pine it is best to keep fire out entirely. The only excep- 
tion to this rule is in burning brush fitter and undergrowth after lum- 
bering to lessen the possibility of future damage from fire and to 
improve conditions for reproduction. Such burnings, however, 
should not be carried out unless it is certain that the fire can and will 
be limited to the area it is wished to stock. 
It is a comparatively simple and easy matter to keep fire out of 
small blocks of timber, up to 500 acres in extent, when these are 
adjacent to farms or bounded by roads, cultivated fields, streams, 
and other barriers. The owner should be careful, however, not to 
allow his woods to catch from his own brush fires. He should also 
post his land with trespass and fire notices, keep a watch for fires 
continually during dry periods, and extinguish as soon as possible 
any which may start. The larger the area the more difficult it is to 
keep fire out. 
For large areas the principal means of fire protection include: 
(1) Piling and burning of slash left after lumbering, which will also 
often assist reproduction; (2) development of roads, trails, and fire 
lines ; (3) organization of a patrol and fire-fighting force, with proper 
equipment for fighting fires; (4) use of spark arresters on locomotives 
and donkey engines used in logging; (5) posting of timber- trespass 
and fire-warning notices and vigorous application of State fire laws, 
where possible, against setting of forest fires; (6) cooperative fire- 
protective agreements or understandings with adjacent landowners. 
For detailed discussion of means and methods to employ where it 
is aimed to exclude all fire from the forest, and methods of fighting 
fire, the reader is referred to Bulletin 82 of the Forest Service, " Pro- 
tection of Forests from Fire," by Henry S. Graves, Forester. 
REFORESTATION BY NATURAL REPRODUCTION. 
To secure natural reproduction of loblolly pine it is necessary to 
cut the mature stand in such a way that seed will be disseminated 
evenly over the bed. The subject wall be discussed under the general 
headings of (1) methods of cutting and (2) work following cutting. 
