Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 1886-1927, 1910-09-02
SUPERVISOR FROMME DOES NOT
AGREE WITH THE COURIER
HIGH AUTHORITIES AGREE
This Interesting and Important
# Subject Fully Covered by
Numerous Correspondents.
August "a, 1910.

Editor Grants Pass Courier
VA Dear Sir: If you can allow me a
little space, l should like very much
4 TO criticize a short editorial which
appeared in your paper last week
under the heading Forest Fires
Needed 0ftener."
NJ While it is undoubtedly a FORUM
ate disposition that is able to look
Ion the bright side in time of adver-
sity and to always evolve a golden
4 reason for each disaster, still l can
not help but feel that with the cri-
4tical conditions now confronting us,
1t is very dangerous thing to pub
licly make light of the true signifi-
cance of the numerous forest fires
now burning throughout the west.
OF course, ! do not mean to infer
that the above editorial was written
for the express purpose of melting in
%the minds of the general public an
inane desire to Immediately get out
with flaming brands and set fire to
what timber in southern Oregon this
seasons fires have not yet reached,
with the idea OF killing orchard
.pests--but, nevertheless, by trying
Ito squeeze out some presumably
good result from the forest conflag-
rations now under way, you tend to
Encourage a feeling of carelessness
or possibly even opposition to proper
forest protection which | can not
but consider extremely serious
Wand dangerous.
am sure, however, that 1t was
not your intention to call for gen.
eral public rejoicing over the fact
that valuable timber, representing
hundreds OF years of steady growth
and a value OF millions OF dollars
Nthas been and is being destroyed; nor
4 that YOU wished to entirely offset
this inestimable loss by trying to
encourage belief that most OF the
orchard pests come TO us through
the forest and the annual fires
would clean these out" | firmly
believe that YOU are in favor OF the
practice OF forestry on mountain
lands. at least the protecting of tim
ber on natural timber land, but thai
YOU merely differ with the present
methods Of the forest service in th'
matter Of fire protection.
1t is my intention in this space t'
saw n few words in favor Of fores
fire protection through posting o
notices, careful patrol, establishment
OF lookout stations construction o
trails and telephone lines, the pun
ishment of offenders, etc" as op
posed to the annual or periodic burn
ing proposition you suggest; ou
first I should like to take up you
statement that many of the orchard
nests come to us through the Tor
est. I can not believe that you hav
any real grounds for making sucI
an assertion, for, II you will caretul
\ " look into the subject Of forest AM
orchard entomology, you Will nn
that any insect which attacks Tor
eat trees or down timber has nothin
whatever TO do with orchard trees
vice versa: that for each tree, and
few cases closely related species
y subject to insect attack, there Is
distinctly different species OF insec
and no Injurious insect has ever y'
Y been described which works on Do'
forest and orchard trees. The Fla
headed western cedar heartWoo
borer (Trachykele blondelil Tor II
stance. which attacks the Wester
red cedar, the Douglas FIR beet
(Dendrocto similis), the red~oo
bark beetle (Phloesinus seauoiae
and the many other destructive t'r
ber insects which have been studi'
have never been found TO molest o
chard trees; nor have the really ]
furious fruit tree pests such as u
codling moth. or apple worm al
the various scale insects, ever be'
known TO attack forest trees nor
any one Of these insects make u