BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 145 



Forest Fires. — Prof. C. S. Sargent this month presented a pa- 

 per to the Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture on the sub- 

 ject of Forest Fires. Prof. Sargent's facts and opinions are especi- 

 ally valuable as no one has had more extensive means of observa- 

 tion upon all that pertains to forests. In this paper it is stated 

 that the extent of the loss to the country every year from forest 

 tires is something which would astonish the best informed. Not 

 only is the timber destroyed but the fertility of the soil itself, so 

 that it is incapacitated from producing valuable trees again. The 

 following very interesting extract from a report in the N. Y. Tri- 

 bune gives a good idea of the results of a forest fire: 



If a forest is destroyed by a fire, which kills the trees and un- 

 dergrowth of shrubs and herbs, the same species, except in the 

 case of some our least valuable trees, rarely spring up again. Let 

 us take the case of a white pine forest, because the white pine is 

 probably the most valuable forest tree in New England. If a forest 

 of white pine is destroyed by fire this tree does not spring up again, 

 as it would under proper care, and the land is not covered again 

 with any growth of trees for a considerable period. The fire-weed 

 first makes its appearance. The light seed of this plant is often 

 blown for a long distance, and falling upon the bare ground ger- 

 minates quickly and finially covers the burned surface with veg- 

 etation. Birds drop the seeds of raspberries and blackberries, which 

 find sufficient nourishment and light for germination. These, as 

 they grow, cover the ground and afford protection to the stones of 

 the little Moreton cherry, dropped by birds also, or to the light seeds 

 of the gray birch, or some of the willows or poplars, which are 

 constantly blowing about and will germinate anywhere upon any 

 unshaded ground. These are generally the first trees which suc- 

 ceed a fire-swept pine wood. But years elapse before the ground 

 is recovered, even with such trees. The cherries, and the birch and 

 poplars are short-lived and are succeeded by more valuable broad-leav- 

 ed trees. Squirrels and other animals deposit acorns in the ground, 

 and the wind brings the seeds of maples, ashes and the valuable 

 birches. Such seeds find protection among the poplars and willows 

 which had sprung up, and as these die, the more valuable trees get a 

 chance to grow and gradually occupy the ground. This new for- 

 est of hardwood trees, if protected from the fire, will long occupy 

 the ground; and the orignal pine will not appear again until the 

 land, long enriched by an annual deposit of leaves, has been once 

 more stripped of its tree covering and mellowed by years of culti- 

 vation. 



Such land nearly all over New-England is freed from the 

 plough or the scythe, and, guarded Irom the fire and pasturage, 

 grows up again with pine. The different processes, however, by 

 which white pine land has been again brought into the condition to 

 produce spontaneously another crop of pine, have occupied a long- 

 period of time — so long, indeed, that it must extend through gen- 



