The Mena weekly star., 1910-07-28
1OPROTECTFORESTS
 FROM RUIN BY FIRE
officers Desire to Perfect au '''' Organization for Ina. Fur pose in Arkaosa' The
 By Laws.

sameul J. Kecoru ao 'e ': a.a-.;na aa ,,Iansas National Forest IS starting A. a.'ain administration with an effort to lii' narate a with the people in those oOor 's,0rs that tend to prevent great harm 'D.s .ss nroperty that belongs to all the ',ho " @ are American citizens.
 "r ,,s Adams evinces a strong desire
 .hv;ote and abate any and all sb.ses S that have existed and to give aOs a1erv honest man every consider ',. nossible, especially to those sII struggling workers who strive to secure s1NIo shamselyes homes in the public domain. ~ :. Among other things MT. Adams, in .onnunication, treats on the fire
 ', and of cooperative movement .o check it. In part. he says;
 @Fvery thinking person is willing to .amit that forest fires work an ire aarable injury on the older growth of .;nher by fire scars on almost all the '.-.hor and the entire destruction of 'ha seedlines and saplines that go to mate up the future stand of the for a.t after the older merchantable trees .,e removed by cutting. Lumbermen teenly appreciate the injury to the alder trees, since they realize a loss hotb in erade and contents of what should be the most valuable log in the roe This is caused by fire. result iOo in pitch-pockets, fungus, and worm galleries. which lower the grade of the l,mber. or have to be cut of in trim ming. Repeated fires eventually esuse the tree affected to burn down. This is insiduous, of course, and does mt occur in large blocks; therefore IS treouently overlooked. However, the almost total absence of standing dead timber in this country IS very con soicuous since very few of the older trees have reached maturity or die by natural decay. They are almost in variably burned down by the continu- ed fires which reach the pitch-pockets caused by previous fires at their base.
 Tt has now become we'll recognized fact among lumbermen who look for ward to turning their cut-over lands into cash, that it is necessary for them to protect the reproduction. Since yellow pine grows very rapidly in this latitude. if a strong reproduc- tion is maintained, it is only a few years until the tract has an apprecia- bic value.
 It is probable that the custom of burning the woods was inaugurated in in this country under the false im- pression that the range would be im- proved It is true that repeatedly burned woodland offers a very good background for grasses and plants; that it makes them show up well, and appears to be for a few weeks more productive than an unburned area. However, a close examination dis closes the fact that the unburned area sStocked with sweet. nutritious, tame grasses, particularly annual seeding leeames, and other surface roofing tame grasses: while an area that has been repeatedly burned is stocked only with coarse, deep rooted. harba- ceous plants and grasses which are all most totally united for forage, Another result of frequent burning is shown by the thick underbrush that occupies such areas. This is caused by fire killing the seedlings, usually astralght, small seeding which has 6 lull root system. When the top is hre-klled, the stub throws out mum efous sprouts, therefore, instead O havlng one straight, thrifty stem that would become tree, we have numer 0us sprouts or suckers which make tho maergrowth extremely dense, crowt Ou' the forage grasses, and destro, ue range; whereas, if this area wa, protected from fire, these straight young saplings would soon becom, poles, and in the future trees.
 They would so space themselves " he system of the survival of tn, H''eS' and shade pruning. the weak aoheS perishing. leaving the wood
 nnu open with long clear trunke,
 aees' as 1t was before the custom
 "ournins was commenced.
 Almost any old citizen will confirm
 "e statement that during his boy
 a'u 'lie country was so open. tha
 a ,Vu could run a horse anywher
 luousn the woods and see a dee
 bali a mile.
 .. another great loss directly charge
 s's ' 70 lorest fires, which is frequentl
 hosrangc 0' -
 in Arkansas ,vbara ;t ;s .ha o,,s