Nezvs and Notes. 175 



to sustain a bet. In this case the insurance is said to cover only 

 the first $50,000 damage, beyond this the risk ceases. 



The following description applying to much of the Eastern 

 slope of the Rocky Mountains in Canada comes to us in a letter. 



"East of the Rocky Mountains west of the railway from Cal- 

 gary to Edmonton, or more accurately between the 115th meridian 

 and the mountains, north of the old main line of the C. P. Ry, 

 and south of the G. T. P. Ry., lies a vast stretch of rough land, 

 well watered, wtll drained, sloping northeastward between alti- 

 tudes of 6,000 and 3,500 feet. The soil, varied by glaciation, is, 

 in general, unfit for agriculture. 



"From any of the bare rocky summits of the foothills and out- 

 lying ridges, colors of the landscape appear gray and brown with 

 small patches of green. Through a strong glass the gray is barred 

 by vertical lines, the same that is seen near by — old fire-killed 

 spruce and lodgepole pine still standing. The brown is mingled 

 with black. The brown part is dead leaves still on the trees, the 

 black is charred trunks. 



"The few green patches are V shaped in hillside coves or 

 parallelograms scattered along valley sides. 



"About I to 70 seems the proportion of green. Shame, shame, 

 shame! Instead of 15 billion feet of saw logs not over 200 

 million, and that scattered so it is hardly worth picking up. 



"Far too large a portion of this area has been recently burned. 



"A period of increased burning, beginning with the settlement 

 of the plains, is marked and recorded in the charred remains, the 

 scars of the survivors and the succeeding volunteers. 



"The fading out of the forest toward the plains is generally free 

 from sharp lines of fire. 



"The burning there has been customary for a long time and the 

 growth is aspen and willow in clumps. 



"But in toward the mountains where the mineral prospectors 

 have been going and where greenhorn hunters have been swarm- 

 ing since the settlement of the plains there are vast amounts of 

 dead timber still standing — monuments of ignorance and careless- 

 ness. 



"White, Black and Engelmann Spruce and Lodgepole Pine 

 grow together along the foothills. Before burning, the spruces 

 are largely predominant, but the pine follows the fire and in time 



