Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 89.djvu/77

 Popular Science MnnthJij

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��Fighting Timber Fires

BATTJ.ES ;ii;ainst timber fires in tlic. great national forests of the West are conducted with a degree of precision and strategy rivaling that of the warring armies of Europe, as the result of systematic operations of the United States Forest Service. A forest super- visor who ma>' be many miles from the scene of a fire marshals li i s forces and f i r e - f i R h ting facilities and directs the attacks and flank move- ments of his men.

Lookouts stationed f>n m o u n t a i n peaks and other pro- montories that com- mand a wide range of vision are each sup- plied with a plane table to which is attached a map of the surrounding country, its position being determined by means of a compass. The map is enclosed in a segmented circle and the location of the station is indicated by a pin. A

���A timber fire in our western chance as a spy who

��simple alidade (an alidade is the upper part of a surveyor's theodolite) consisting; of a ruler with uprights for sighting: purposes at either end, or some similar tlevicc, is included in the cc|uipment.

When a lookout sees smoke issuing from a portion of the forest over which his station commands a view, he immediately sights it with his alidade

and notes that it is coming from a point so many de- grees east or west of a north and south line extend irig through his station. Ke notifies hia supervisor by t e 1 e - phone, tell- ing him of the apparent size of the fire and its location. Lookouts in other .sections of tlic forest also detect the fire and make similar reports to the supervisor's headquarters. Reports from two or inore stations enable the super- visor to locate the fire on a map by means of intersecting lines.

��forests lias about as much is being watched

��Conelike Flower-Holder in a Brick Wall

NOWHERE is novelty more desirable than in the flower-holder line. This is what a resident of Los Angeles, California, thought when he constructed the novel fence flower-holder shown in the accompanying illustration. In this fence there are three sections, these being connected by si.\-foot "steps." In the center of each of these sections one of the flowiT-holders is located.

���Flower-holder in a brick wall

��I-^acli of these containers is about three and a half feet in height and about a yard in diameter at the top. Each holder is in the form of a cone, being large at the top and becoming gradually smaller as it continues dow n- ward. While the fence with- in which it is located is made of pressed brick, the holder is made of brick of a clinker \ariety, being a trifle darker than the fence brick and harmonizing efTecti\ely with it in both color ami design.

��Maybe you have special needs. Write to the editor about anything within the scope of the magazine. He will be glad to help you.

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