The Washington times., 1905-07-16
GUARDING WOODS
AGAINST FIRES
Telephone Fire-Alarm Used
in Heart of Wilderness.
WORKS WELL AT PLYMOUTH
General Movement Under Way in Coun-
try to Save Forests Frc1n
Destruction.

Into the woods, and lucky for the EoodS
If he leaves them standing. Not that
he chops them down with his little camp
hatchet: a. few evergreen boughs hacked
on for bed are no great loss to the
forest. The trouble is that the amateur
woodsman too often butts in with a
plentiful supply of tobacco, and the
cigarettes stubs do the rest. AS a wise
poet has written,
The campers neither toll nor spin
But pretty blazes they beg'n
Nor Solomon, in all his ease.
Burned money UP like one of these"
Along the Atlantic seaboard, thronged
from June to October with excursion
lists and cottagers from every section of
the country, the problem Of keeping the
forests intact has become here per-
haos, even more difficult than elsewhere
and nowhere. certainly. is its gravity
more thoroughly appreciated. The
thrifty Fastener hates to see his wealth
go up in smoke. Standing timber in
regions close to the great markets of
New York. Philadelphia. and Boston is
at once more exposed to danger of fire,
and is more valuable. than IN more re-
mote districts Besides. the inca1cula BILE
loss OF attractiveness every time piece
OF forest land is burned down amounts
really to the most serious item OF all.
Woods Are Worth Millions.
The woods are worth millions to New
England. Long Island. and New Jer-
sey-those, particularly, that are close
to the sea-because they help to draw
eastward each summer thousands of
well-to-do Westerners and Southerners
Take away the sylvan background and
you spoil the seaside picture. 1t is the
combination of forest. beach. and rocky
headlands that has given national popu-
larity to the Maine coast and the North
Shore and the South Shore of Massa-
chusetts.
So it isn't strange that unusual at
tempts are being made Just now in Mas
sachusetts and other Eastern States to
prevent in the future the forest fires
which have been SO destructive in the
past. Take the case of Plymouth
woods, one of the biggest tracts of
forest land In the eastern part of the
United States, and specially famous be-
cause situated. curiously enough all
about the oldest settled town north of
the Chesapeake Here, where the Pill
grim Fathers first landed, is a tract of
eighty or ninety square miles. covered
with a varied growth of timber, which,
since very early days. has frequently
been devastated by fires. On account
OF its summer popularity. no place,
probably. in the United States can less
well afford to have fires in its forests
than Plymouth. and its efforts to pre-
vent the recurring disasters are strenu-
oUs, indeed
Incessant Watchfulness Needed
The provisions that have been adopted
he nf ha /,
woods are typical of those that arc
coming to be used everywhere in forests
adjacent to populous territory. The
prime necessity is a system of inces-
SAINT watchfulness, whereby certain men
living at certain points are all the time
Oh the lookout for trouble. Particularly
along the railroads somebody must al
ways be ready to detect the first ap-
pearance OF a curling wisp of smoke
that may be the beginning OF great
CCnfiagration.
Secondly there is going on here year
by year an extension of the lanes which
are in universal use for preventing the
spread of the fires These consist
merely of long trenches connecting al
strategic points the wood roads which
form natural fire lanes. All that is need
ed is TO dig up and clear away the leaves
end vegetable mould. 1t is unnecessary
with most stands of trees to separate
the branches. for the strip of bar'
ground suffices as a barrier TO checl
further progress of the blaze, unless j
IS an unusually hot one. These iane
have been spread in the last few year
throughout the ancient Pilgrim woods
although the deep SHOWS of the last tw'
or three winters have somewhat hin
dered their progress.
Telephone Service Helps.
Above all, Plymouth Woods are wit
Messing an extension of the telephon
service which has already been provet
TO be very effective in helping tc con
fine blazes to small areas. Nothing l
better understood among the forestr
experts than the Importance of the tele
phone in their work. Every fire war
den knows well that If every farm
house and railway station In hts terri
tory mad tclephonic connection his tasl
would be fifty per cent easier. The abili
~ to call up all Inhabited points in
given district as n means Of deiinitel
locating trouble and securing help is on
of the most essetial features of moder
forest fre-fighting.
This is, of course. one OF the mos
useful services rendered by the instTu
.nent which Mr.. Bell invented in ever
sparseIy settled district of the Unite
States 1t is not Only indispensable
the transaction of ordinary business
it has protective value In the dee
woods of Maine and the Adirondack!
where the telephone has penetrated
the most distant lumber camps CON
nunication can be had at the very hrs
alarm of fire with distant cites and fiji
fighters can be brought out to the neal
est railway station. On account of II
presence OF the telephone II is unlikel
that such widespread confiagrations {
have devastated the north woods in II
past will take place again. unless undt
very exceptional circumstances.
Is Rapidly Extending.
Similarly. in the Plymouth woods, II
branch of the Bell telephone syste
which operates in southeastern Mass:
chusetts is rapidly extending its Sc
vice into eveey part of the tract whe
there is a. house summer cottage.
all the inhabitants, including the Po
tuauese cranberry pickers, were on I!
Telephone the conditions for effecti
fire-fghting would be well nigh ide;
he GpurQa