sugar pine type of California the cost of piling averages
from 25 to 35 cents, while the cost in the Douglas fir type, in
Montana and Idaho, averages about 40 cents, and in Engelmann spruce
type the cost is only about 25 cents a thousand. It is certain,
however, that the cost of piling will everywhere be materially
reduced when the operators begin to look on piling as part of the
swampers' regular work and not as an entirely separate job.

"Dry brush should never be burned during the dry season, unless
absolutely necessary for the suppression of an insect invasion.
Green brush in some places may be burned at any time, but as a
rule it is unsafe to burn it in dry weather. The best time to burn
brush is in the fall, just after the first snowfall. Then the piles
are dry, and there is no danger that the fire will get beyond control.
Brush may also be burned at the beginning of or during the rainy
season, when the ground is damp enough to prevent the fire from
spreading, and the brush dry enough to burn readily.

"The cost of brush burning varies like the cost of piling. It varies
even more in the same localities, with weather conditions and methods
of piling. Brush that can be burned for 10 or 15 cents a thousand
at a favorable time, as just after the first snow, will cost five
or ten times as much to burn in dry weather, or when the piles are
very wet. Brush can be burned more easily the first fall after
cutting than it can the second year, when many of the leaves have
fallen off. Brush burning has been done for 13 cents a thousand
in lodgepole, in the Medicine Bow National Forest, while it has
cost 22 cents in similar timber in the Yellowstone, and estimates
of 40 cents a thousand have been made for it in the Rockies. It
is generally admitted that brush can be most economically burned
by the same people who pile it. Recently several contracts have
been made in which the purchaser of the timber is required to pile
and burn the brush under the direction of forest officers, as has
been the practice in the Minnesota forest for some time. This will
lighten the total cost, and when the weather allows the brush to
be burned, as logging proceeds, the cost of burning will be offset
by the subsequent reduction in the cost of skidding.

"_Piling Without Burning_

"Brush piled properly, even though it is not burned, is a great
protection to the forest. Inflammable material is removed from
among the living trees, and should a fir