The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-09-26
FOREST FIRE DESTRUCTION.
Last Year Memorable for the Amour
 of Damage and Loss.

of Damage and Loss.
 Forest fires are causing considerable 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 year. s losses, it will be naturdl0 to make com parison 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 seemed to be even more than the usual indifference toward small fires which might easily have been extinguished at the start" says MT. Cleveland. caused destructive confagrations in practical ly every State, with losses aggregating S1OO, 100000. In comparison with the havoc wrought elsewhere, the damage done to national forests was exceeding ly slight. Had fires ragged within the forests as they did outside. they would have destroyed timber worth S30, 900. 900 enough to run the forest service for six years. Moreover. 1t is practically certain that most if not all of the dam age 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 growth. Commonly, estimates of loss from forest fires are based upon the damage done to standing timber and to property; they do not reckon the usual ly far greater loss in Injury or destrue- ton of young growing stock"
 The methods by which the govern ment keeps down the fire losses on the national forests includa:
 First-Constant and systematic pat rol by picked forces uf rangers and guards;
 Second-The construction of roads. trails and telephone lines. which faeil- tate the massIng of large hre-hghting forces:
 Third-The construction of fire lines which. in some instances. check the spread of fire with out human help;
 Fourth-The equipment of the for- ests with fre-hghting tools and other supplies necessary in fighting hres. The supplies of tools are kept at convenient points at all times. in order to nave them easily accessible to forest oficers. in case fires break out;
 Fifth-Co-operation with railroads. timber land owners. and settlers in fire protection. Tn this way making 1t pos sihle tn protect both the lands of the companies and the forest service at a much smaller cost to the governmen than would be the case were the na- tional forest lands alone protected by the local officers.
 Just as the practice of forestry Is i'm portant In the movement for the con servation of all natural resources. 80 Is the protection of the forests from nres important in the furtheranee of na- tional forest work. In fact. forestry | In many instances means nothing more ! than conservative numbering and the prevention of forest fires Uncle Sam realizes that only through the wise use and care nf the forests will it he possi $ ble to make natural tinIberland perma- nently productive. The practice oi l forestry does not mean abbreViaune 1 the use of the land. Instead conserva- tive numbering and protection of the young growth from fire will bring | about a steadily increasing use. fo, with cultivation and cure the yield oi | the forest increases and the proauc' improves in the same way tnat the value of the farm increases under proper system of management.