1902, 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION. 



251 



more frequently because they are most 

 common along the upper Mississippi. 



Although I have seen many trees 

 struck by lightning, I have never been 

 fortunate enough to see a fire start from 

 a stroke of lightning, except in an old 

 elm tree on the college farm during the 

 fall of 1900. I desire, therefore, to 

 put this case on record. The tree in 

 question was an old elm about 125 years 

 old, standing alone in the Squaw Creek 

 bottom. During the month of May a 

 strong gale broke off the leader and a 

 large lateral branch. During a heavy 

 rainstorm in the fall the tree was struck 

 by lightning and started to burn, as the 

 figure indicates. I was not present, 

 but a quarter of an hour later during 

 the rain the tree was still burning and 

 continued to do so during the entire 

 day and part of the next. It was some 

 60 feet up to the point where the fire 

 occurred. There was no evidence that 

 this fire was started by some one. The 

 conductor on the college motor did not 

 see a fire in the tree twent}^ minutes 

 previous, when going out to the college. 

 It seems, therefore, a pretty clear case 

 of a tree starting to burn from a stroke 

 of lightning. 



A second case may be referred to in 

 this connection. Last summer in the 

 Uintah Mountains (Utah) the writer 

 saw a small clump of Abies subalpitia 

 which had been partially burned. The 

 fire evidently did not come from the 

 ground, as there was no evidence of fire 

 in the leaf mold surrounding the trees. 

 Mr. Ivummis and Mr. Buchanan, who 

 saw the clump of trees, also concluded 

 that the fire w^as started by lightning. 



Professor Coville in his paper on sheep- 

 grazing in the Cascades refers to an 

 interesting case of fire starting from 

 lightning. While campers, sheep herd- 

 ers, and others ma}^ start forest fires, 

 some fires are undoubtedly started by 

 lightning. 



\ 



r 





AN AMERICAN ELM TREE STRUCK BY LIGHT- 

 NING. THE DARKENED AREAS SHOW 

 WHERE THE TREE WAS BURNED. 



FORESTRY AND PLANT ECOLOGY. 

 By Ernest Brunckkn, 



Secretary Wisconsin State Forestry Association. 



NOW that the systematic treatment 

 of woodlands according to silvi- 

 cultural methods has been set fairly on 

 its feet in the United States, one of the 

 principal duties of foresters will be to 

 determine the silvicultural characters 

 of the multitudes of tree species with 



which we have to deal in this country. 

 Very little is known as to the adapta- 

 bility and fitness of any given tree for 

 profitable forest culture in an}- given lo- 

 cality. Nine-tenths of the information 

 existing as to the treatment demanded 

 even by the best known species, in the 



