Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1913-01-22

$3.50 HE city fire horse has heard
the Back to the Country" cry.
The rolling eye, the distended
nostril, the galloping hoofs of
that wise old ally of the insur-
ance companies are being replaced in
the city's streets by a snorting, pound
ing, fame-belching gas engine that
sends the big fire fighting machine
screeching and scooting over the pave
ment at 80 miles an hour. But the fire
horse doesn't care His absence from
the asphalt may be blow to civic ro-
nance, but it's not an indication that
he's rusticating in paddock. AS an
institution he is going back to the
land. He's proving his still vigorous
usefulness by taking to the woods.
Nor is that slur on his courage
He's being called into active service
to help the government at Washington
prevent it's 159 national forests from
going up in smoke. He hikes to a fire
with bifurcated bag containing near
ly barrel of water, or chemical fire
extinguisher slung across his back
bone. He fords streams, travels
precipitous trails and treads his way
among the close set trees OF the for
est whose lives he is prepared to save.
When the water bag he carries has
been emptied, a forest ranger strad-
dies his spine and hustles him back
to the main supply. He can show his
heels to an automobile fire engine any
day. for 40 roads lead to the hooks
In the woods where mysterious flames
blaze up.
Ingenious Device.
Along with the use of the horse to
carry up-to-date equipment for fire
fighting in the timber lands, the for
esters of the government service have
hit upon many new and ingenious de-
vices for aiding In the same work. It's
a big job that confronts these experts
in the care and protection of trees on
large scale. The national forest pre-
serves are scattered from Maine to
California and cover millions of acres
They must, of course, be cared for
with the aim of making them produce
the greatest number possible of
healthy, welLformed trees. This in
wolves protecting the growths against
insect enemies, clearing out undesir-
able underbrush, disposing of surplus
lumber where trees have been al
lowed to grow too close together, re-
foresting areas that have been cut off
or burned over, etc.
But perhaps the most important
function of all that the national for
esters are called up to perform is the
protection of these vast wooded areas
from fire. While the seriousness of
forest fires is generally known and
conceded, it is not realized that loss
es, including those of forest products
and young timber, are far In excess
of the annual consumption of timber
for commercial purposes. This loss
becomes more apparent with the real
ization that the total fire damage in
cludes not only the material that is
consumed at the time of the confagra-
ton, but that which may follow
through years of deterioration and de-
cay of timber which was not actually
destroyed at the time the original in
jury was inflicted This subsequent
deterioration is practically true of
hardwood species that are susceptible
to fungous diseases and insect infesta-
tion.
The young seeding and coppice
growth in numbered forest is marked
ly susceptible to fire injury, and if it is
not killed outright the lumber subse-
quently manufactured from these trees
is materially reduced in grade. An
other loss, second only to the actual
damage to the timber, and in some To-
calities even greater than the timber
loss, is the destruction of the forest
floor of decaying vegetation, which
would make humus to protect the sur
face and sustain tree growth 1t has
been found repeatedly by the govern
ment rangers that even In the best
protected and most heavily wooded re-
gions the loss from fires includes not
only the burned timber and the sur
face layer Of vegetable matter, but the
rich topsoil that has resulted from the
decay of litter previously accumulated.
This is left exposed and is soon washed
away.
The timber region covered by the
Arkansas national forest In the state
ct Arkansas presents conditions al
most identical with those OF the
southern Appalachians, and it is In
teresting to learn of the difficulties