File:American forests (17960259029).jpg

Title: American forests
Identifier: americanforests11natiuoft (find matches)
Year: [1] (s)
Authors: National Irrigation Association (U. S. ); New Jersey Forestry Association; South Jersey Woodmen's Association; American Forestry Association
Subjects: Forests and forestry -- Periodicals
Publisher: Washington (etc. ) American Forestry Association (etc. )
Contributing Library: Robarts - University of Toronto
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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356 FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION August nothing better than fire as a method of driving game or of opening the forest that hunting may be easier. To this may be added the extreme Hkelihood of accidental fire. Small hunting par- ties, wandering through the moun- tains, gave infinite chances, in their ut- ter carelessness, to spreading confla- gration. In this manner, between de- sign and accident, it is easy to see how a forest, tinder dry for five months, could be largely burned over in the course of a short period, and thor- oughly swept of debris. workers in natural science, and must, perforce, be acceded to the forester. The forests of the Sierras and Coast Range are composed of trees which grow with great vigor and which are mostly plentiful and regular seeders, showing themselves in every way adapted to the soil and moisture conditions. From this it follows that the trees normally grew in close order and formed a continuous forest cover. When the stand of timber in any lo- cality waxed old and commenced to grow open in its decline, a young for-
Text Appearing After Image:
Fig. 2. Open forest with chaparral ground cover as result of continued fire Granting, then, the prevalence of Indian fires and the partial cleanness of the forest floor as an eflfect, let us go on to determine at what cost this result was obtained. Forestry would not be an art could it not study the present forest and from it give a fairly accurate picture of its original before it fell under the touch of man. Similar powers in in their line of work are acceded to the geologist, the biologist, and other est immediately began to take its place, and the dense cover was re-established. Where fire, fed by lightning, or where the hurricane made an opening in the timber, a young even-aged stand suc- ceeded to the old, and grew in luxu- riance. There is every reason to think that this forest was unbroken over the en- tire region where soil, temperature and moisture conditions allowed the component species to make their best

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