The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-09-25
FOREST FIRE DESTRUCTION
 IN UNITED STATES, 1908

Forest fires are causing conSidera ble damage in many parts of the country at present. It will be several months
 before the total destruction is known.
 for the fire season has considerable time to run. In figuring out this years losses. it will be natural to make comparison with losses for last year which. according to Treadwell Cleveland, Jr., in the Year Book of
 the Department of Agriculture. will
 cause 1908 to be long remembered.
 "A dry season, combined with what
 usual indifference toward small fires
 which might easily have been ex-
 tinguished at the start" says MT.
 Cleveland, "caused destructive con-
 fagrations in practically every State,
 comparison with the havoc wrought
 elsewhere. the damage done to Ma tional Forests was exceedingly slight.
 Had fires ragged within the Forests as
 they did outside. they would have aoo 1 de enough to run the Forest Service for
 six years. Moreover. it is practically certain that most if not all of the
 damage which was done might have been prevented had the Forests been fully manned.''
 Finally, the estimates of loss made | by the Service on National Forests are particularly searching. and take full account of the injury done to young | from forest fires are based upon the | damage done to standing timber and to property; they do not reckon the | usually far greater loss in injury or
 destruction of young growing stock The methods by which the govern
 ment keeps down the fire losses on the l National Forests include:
 ]. Constant and systematic control by picked forces of rangers and guards. 2. The construction of roads. trails, and telephone lines. which facilitate
 the massing of large fire-fighting 1 forces.
 3. The construction of fire lines
 which. in some instances, check the spread of fire without human help. | 4. The equipment of the forests with
 fire-fghting tools and other supplies | necessary in, fighting fires. The sup plies of tools are kept at convenient l points at all times. in order. to have | them easily accessible to Forest of l fcers. in case fires break out.
 5. Cooperation with railroads. tim | berland owners, and settlers in fire protection, in this way making it pos
 sible to protect both the lands of the companies and the Forest Service at a much smaller cost to the government | than would be the case were the Ma tional Forest lands alone protected by | the local officers.
 | Just as the practice of forestry Is 1 important in the movement for the
 conservation of all natural resources so is the protection of the forests from | fires important ill the .furtherance o1 | rational forest work. In fact, forestry | in many instances means nothing more than conservative numbering and l the prevention of forest fires. Uncle l Sam realizes that only through the | wise use and care of the forests will l it be possible to make natural timber | land permanently productive. The
 practice of forestry does not mean ab- \ breviaiing the use of the land. In | stead. conservative numbering and pro- 1 lection of the young growth from fire | will bring about a steadily increasing l use, for with cultivation and care the | yield of the forest increases and the product improves in the same way
 that the value of the farm, increases
 under a proper system of manage | ment.