139 



points. Airplanes would use wireless in reporting fires, as they 

 have done in communicating with the artillery, and would locate 

 fires by coordinates in the same way that gunfire in war is di- 

 rected to a particular spot or object. 



From the Army standpoint, the use of aircraft in protecting 

 the national forests afifords a valuable opportunity for training 

 fliers and developing further the possibilities of aircraft and the 

 art of flying. 



GRASS. 



"Grass is the forgiveness of nature — her constant benedic- 

 tion. Fields trampled with battle, saturated with blood, torn 

 with the ruts of cannon, grow green again with grass, and car- 

 nage is forgotten. Streets abandoned by traffic become grass- 

 grown like rural lanes, and are obliterated ; forests decay, har- 

 vests perish, flowers vanish, but grass is immortal. Beleaguered 

 by the sullen hosts of winter, it withdraws into the impregnable 

 fortress of its subterranean vitality and emerges upon the solici- 

 tation of spring. Sown by the winds, by w^andering birds, 

 propagated by the subtle horticulture of the elements, which are 

 its ministers and servants, it softens the rude outline of the 

 world. Its tenacious fibers hold the earth in its place and pre- 

 vent its soluble components from washing into the sea. It in- 

 vades the solitude of deserts, climbs the inaccessible slopes and 

 forbidding pinnacles of mountains, modifies climates, and deter- 

 mines the history, character, and destiny of nations. Unobtru- 

 sive and patie'nt, it has immortal vigor and aggression. Ban- 

 ished from the thoroughfares or the field, it bides its time to re- 

 turn, and when vigilance is relaxed or the dynasty has perished 

 it silently resumes its throne, from which it has been expelled, 

 but which it never abdicates. It bears no blazonry of bloom to 

 charm the senses with fragrance or splendor, but its homely hue 

 is more enchanting than the lily or the rose. It yields no fruit 

 in earth or air, and yet should its harvest fail for a single year 

 famine would depopulate the world." — John J. Ingalls, late Sena- 

 tor of Kansas. 



