452 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number '497. 



law the operator would be held responsible if the timber was 

 damaged as the result of a fire originating- in these powdery 

 brusii-heaps. Yet, so universally is it held in logging circles 

 that forest-fires are a natural consequence that never, to my 

 knowledge, has a suit been brought for damage as a result of 

 one. If there is the slightest suspicion that sparks from a lo- 

 comotive or steam-tug set lumber in a yard on fire, litigation is 

 sure to follow ; but if a man permits his inflammable refuse to 

 accumulate, and as a result there is a sweeping conflagration 

 that does more damage than half the lumber-yards in the state 

 are worth, not even blame attaches to him. The utter disre- 

 gard of this phase of forestry — the prevention of forest-fires — 

 is as deplorable as it is unaccountable. The plea of the operator 

 is, that it would not be possible to so care for their debris that 

 the great danger of forest-fires would be materially lessened. 

 They really mean when they say this that the expense of such 

 care would be greater than they would like to bear. 



The sum of the matter is, as it was well presented by 

 Mr. Saley, that the lumberman is not in business for the 

 benefit of future generations. He is not even in business 

 for a life-time. His thick saws are eating up lumber for 

 the purpose of getting every dollar out of the woods that is 

 possible, and as soon as possible, so that he can retire in a 

 few years when the timber from his woodlands is ex- 

 hausted. Perhaps law can reduce the waste by fire, but it 

 is self-interest alone that must for the present be relied 

 upon to induce him to manage his forest-property as if it 

 had a value for his children. Scientific forestry will cer- 

 tainly come when the era of cheap lumber is over, and that 

 day will arrive all too quickly. Allowing six thousand 

 feet of timber to the acre, at the present rate of lumber 

 rnanufacture an area as large as the state of Massachusetts 

 is cleaned off every year, and this without including the 

 wood that is used for fuel, for mining and for railway- 

 tracks. With a population growing at the rate of a million 

 a year, the demand for wood will be still more importu- 

 nate, and the time when trees will be precious is hurry- 

 ing on more swiftly than the nation realizes. Meanwhile it is 

 the plain duty of every thoughtful man who has the 

 highest interests of his country at heart, to set forth these 

 facts as clearly and as frequently as possible, so that pub- 

 lic sentiment, instructed to appreciate the close connection 

 between the forests of the nation and its general health and 

 prosperity, may insist upon the enactment of conservative 

 forest-laws for the general good ; so that the owners of 

 forest-property may come to understand that the time is at 

 hand when it will be a true economy for them, as well as 

 for the best interests of the public, to conduct their busi- 

 ness with an eye to the future value of their property; and 

 so that capitalists and corporations will search for timber- 

 lands as a safe and permanent investment. 



The Botanical Aspect of Pike's Peak. 



PIKE'S PEAK, since the discovery of gold in the streams 

 draining its base in 1858, has always been one of the 

 best-known points of the Rocky Mountains, even to bot- 

 anists, as the Flora of Colorado testifies. It is one of the 

 peaks of the Colorado continental divide, with an altitude 

 of 14,147 feet; north of it, at the same divide, are two 

 higher summits. Long's Peak, 14,271 feet, a conspicuous 

 landmark from the plains, and Gray's Peak, 14,341 feet, 

 further west and invisible from the plains ; south of Pike's 

 Peak, in the Sangre de Cristo range, is Blanca Peak, 14,463 

 feet, the highest of the Rockies. It thus appears that these 

 several peaks differ but little in altitude, and that being all 

 within the state of Colorado the character of their vegeta- 

 tion must be much alike. 



The railway carries the traveler from Denver to Manitou, 

 at the very foot of Pike's Peak, in about three hours, by 

 way of Colorado Springs. I left Denver on the morning 

 of July 1 8th ; the season had been unusually dry, even for 

 this arid climate, and but few flowers were visible from the 

 cars, besides road-side weeds like Cleome integrifolia and 

 Argemone platyceras, upon which drought seems power- 

 less ; the former often grows in large clumps, forming 



pretty color masses, and might be utilized in places where 

 water is scant. L ' 



Colorado Springs is a well laid out town on the plains, 

 near the foot of the mountains, offering to invalids many 

 attractions of climate and mountain scenery. Miles of its 

 streets are lined with Cottonwood (Populus monolifera), 

 planted close, as is too common in the west, and seldom 

 showing its full, ample proportions ; the absence of all 

 other shade-trees, more ornamental and useful, evinces a 

 sad want of public taste and judgment. 



Manitou lies nestling in the bottom of a picturesque 

 basin formed by towering mountains and dominated on 

 the south by the round and bold summit of Pike's Peak. 

 Mineral-waters spring from the ground in several places 

 and enjoy a well-deserved reputation. Hardly any attempt 

 has been made to introduce exotic trees, and the entire veg- 

 etation is practically of native growth. The Cottonwood 

 and Willow-leaved Poplar (Populus angustifolia) are com- 

 mon, the latter, when allowed plenty of room, becoming a 

 very neat shade-tree, much superior to the former. High 

 on the slopes are light green patches of Aspen, seldom ex- 

 ceeding the size of a small tree. Near the streams are Box 

 Elder, often of large size ; Dwarf Maple (Acer glabrum), 

 Black Birch (Betula occidentalis), and the western Choke- 

 cherry (Prunus demissa), the latter with large, pretty foliage. 

 Clematis ligusticifolia twines over walls and fences. Only 

 one Oak (Quercus undulata, var. Gambelii) was observed, 

 a very Small, crooked tree, forming pretty clumps in, the 

 little town park, the dark, glossy green of the upper side of 

 the leaves contrasting with the silvery white of the under 

 side. This Oak extends a short distance up the slopes, 

 meeting groves of the western Juniper (Juniperus occiden- 

 talis, var. monosperma). In the near cafions I noticed 

 Rubus deliciosus R. strigosus, Jamesia Americana and 

 Physocarpus opulifolia. 



A cog-wheel railway runs up to the summit of the peak, 

 and the ascent is accomplished in a comfortable car quickly 

 and safely, indeed much too quickly for the botanical col- 

 lector, the round trip from Manitou being made in four an4 

 a half hours. The altitude of Manitou is 6,629 feet, that of 

 the summit 14,147, a difference of 7, 518 feet, which is over- 

 come byalittle less than nine miles of railway, or at the rate 

 of about 845 feet to the mile. The train stops but three times 

 on its way up or down, and only the few moments neces- 

 sary to take in water, while the stay on the summit is about 

 forty minutes. 



Of the Conifers seen at the base of the peak and during 

 the ascent, the most conspicuous for its silvery-blue foliage 

 and drooping purplish cones is the Blue Spruce (Picea pun- 

 gens), which is common on the lower slopes ; likewise fre- 

 quent here, as everywhere else, are the Yellow Pine (Pinus 

 ponderosa, var. scopulorum) and the Douglas Fir (Pseu- 

 dotsuga taxifolia) ; the White Fir (Abies concolor) was also 

 noticed. The order of distribution of these trees up the 

 sides of the mountain might prove of interest, but I had no 

 opportunity to ascertain it. The undergrowth comprises 

 Aspen, several Willows, one Salix flavescens, reaching up 

 the ravines of the high slopes, common Juniper, Juniperus 

 communis, Cercocarpus parvifolius, Potentilla fruticosa and 

 Spiraea discolor. 



Many flowers grew alongside the track, in the damp, 

 grassy clearings, as well as on the jagged boulders, 

 and during the slow ascent could be recognized from 

 the car-windows. The most common and conspicuous 

 were Epilolium angustifolium. Geranium Fremonti .? Pent- 

 stemon glaber, Mertensia Sibirica, Aquilegia coerulea, 

 Aconitum Columbianum, Geum rivale. Campanula rotun- 

 difolia, Zygadenus elegans, Castilleia miniata. Bouquets 

 collected in the near vicinity, and offered for sale by boys 

 at the stopping-places, contained specimens of Calochortus 

 Gunnisoni, Lilium Philadelphicum and Dodecatheon Mea- J 

 dia ; others, higher up, were made entirely of the very * 

 pretty but too heavily scented Mertensia alpina. Common 

 was Cnicus eriocephalus, a large, woolly Thistle, strikingly 

 decorative. 



