All goes to form new soil, or to fertilize or mulch 

 the old. This supplies Kinnikinick's great needs. 

 The plant grows rich from the constant tribute 

 of the winds. The soil-bed grows deeper and 

 richer and is also constantly outbuilding and 

 enlarging, and Kinnikinick steadily increases its 

 size. 



In a few years a small oasis is formed in, or 

 rather on, the barren. This becomes a place of 

 refuge for seed wanderers, in fact, a nursery. 

 Up the slope I saw a young pine standing in a 

 kinnikinick snow-cover. In the edge of the snow- 

 tuft by me, covered with a robe of snow, I found 

 a tiny tree, a mere baby pine. Where did this 

 pine come from? There were no seed-bearing 

 pines within miles. How did a pine seed find its 

 way to this cosy nursery? Perhaps the following 

 is its story: The seed of this little pine, together 

 with a score or more of others, grew in a cone 

 out near the end of the pine-tree limb. This pine 

 was on a mountain several miles from the fire- 

 ruined slope, when one windy autumn day some 

 time after the seeds were ripe, the cone began to 

 open its fingers and the seeds came dropping out. 



'75 



