104 North American Forests and Forestry 



slowly converted into charcoal. The smouldering 

 may go on for days or weeks ; if rain comes, the 

 fire is quickly extinguished. Otherwise it burns 

 on till the whole is consumed. 



This is the ordinary progress of a neglected fire 

 of this kind. But far otherwise is its history when, 

 during a long drought, a wind fans the smouldering 

 fires into active, leaping flames. During those long, 

 oppressive summer days, when day after day the re- 

 lentless sun beats down, even the dense shade of the 

 broad-leaved trees no longer suffices to keep the 

 forest floor damp and cool. In the pine woods, 

 the heat becomes stifling. The litter of needles on 

 the ground becomes as dry as sand. The cushions 

 of moss lose their softness and turn brittle, so that 

 you can rub them to powder between your fingers. 

 On the open slashings the soil dries up and the litter 

 of dry branches, tree tops, and other debris left by 

 the lumbermen during the preceding winter becomes 

 so dry that the first spark must set the whole 

 ablaze. Small fires multiply everywhere, for every 

 day new ones start, and there is no rain to put out 

 the old ones. The smoke begins to fill the at- 

 mosphere, and there is a dark grayish haze over all 

 distant prospects, quite indescribable and entirely 

 different from the silvery haze caused by light 

 mists, or the ordinary blue produced by the mere 

 distance. The pungent smoky odor penetrates 

 everywhere. In the villages and towns it enters 

 houses, causing the women to look with dismay at 

 the lace curtains before the windows. 



