SOME SPECIALIZING FLOWERS 115 



it may be that the Sequoia remaining will have a 

 better chance for life. 



The waste from lumbering, the dead limbs, the 

 bark, etc., is responsible for two evils to trees. By 

 covering the fertile earth, it prevents young trees 

 from growing there; and, even worse, it forms a 

 combustible mass to encourage a spreading fire. 

 Forest fires are second only to lumbering in their 

 enmity to trees. A cigarette or a campfire left smol- 

 dering is sufficient to set a mountain ablaze. In the 

 high Sierras, where the soil has been made by the 

 Pines and the Junipers toiling for ages, the fire will 

 creep along the underground needles, with not the 

 slightest evidence on the surface. Suddenly, at a 

 distance, it will burst forth with a vehemence that 

 will destroy a whole ancient forest. One can not 

 be too careful to build his campfire on a rocky 

 foundation and to be sure it is extinguished before 

 he leaves. Just pouring a few coffee-pots of water 

 on a fire built on Sierran soil will not kill it, as it 

 will a fire on Coast ground. The deceitful thing is 

 laughing at you under the surface and creeping 

 from needle to needle. The United States Govern- 

 ment has a heavy fine for campers who do not put 

 out their fires; and to make the State more safe, in 

 1921, the Federal Government located public camps 

 from the North to the South, through our chain of 

 Parks and Forest Reserves, where fireplaces are 



