458 



Garden and Forest. 



[September 17, 1890. 



In spite of the outrageous management of the forest every- 

 where in the United States, I am inclined to believe that, 

 partly ol itself, partly with some little help, it will return to its 

 beneficent condition", if in tin' future it should be possible to 

 preserve it from (ire. Danger of fire in the forests in the civ- 

 ilized part of Europe has become a rare thing ; at the least fire 

 every one hastens to put it out, and the Government has 

 power to compel all to help. 



In India the number of forest-fires is lessened yearly, thanks 

 to the energetic measures of the Government and the watch- 

 fulness of an efficient body of foresters, while young growth 

 springs up on the protected plains. 



In Japan, a smaller country, fire and the axe have already 

 nearly completed the work of destruction. The brave nation is 

 laboring with the utmost zeal and with great outlay of money 

 for the restoration of the forest on the shrub-covered moun- 

 tain slopes, and for the preservation of what still remains. 



In North America the practice of burning forests has be- 

 come customary, even in cases in which it is entirely without 

 reason. How can anything else be expected from the de- 

 scendants of a nation that has no forest, and therefore knows . 

 nothing of the blessings of a forest? Closer study of the 

 causes of the burning of the forests forms an instructive, if 

 not an edifying chapter. We see what man can bring to pass 

 in a country of such highly vaunted elbow-room, in a country 

 where the most complete individual liberty seems to be the 

 chief principle, in a country whose laws for forest-protection 

 are empty threats, because the ignorant and unprincipled can- 

 not be compelled to obey them. 



According to the report of Professor Sargent, one million 

 acres of forest were burned in a single year (1879-80), and with 

 it twenty million dollars' worth of property was destroyed. 

 The causes of these fires have been ascertained, as follows : 

 197 fires resulted from burning over pasture lands ; in 1,152 

 cases fire started in making forest-clearings ; 508 started from 

 locomotive sparks ; 628 from hunters' fires ; 72 from camp- 

 fires ; 35 from pipes and cigars ; 12 from prairie fires ; 9 from 

 charcoal-burning; 32 from lightning; 56 were kindled by 

 Indians; 10 by lumbermen; 2 by tourists ; 262 were kindled 

 maliciously ; in 2 cases fire is said to have been started by 

 spontaneous combustion ; 3 times wood-cutters and 3 times 

 unknown carelessness set the fire. This makes a total of 

 2,983 cases. 



Let us examine further the fires started maliciously and 

 those caused by locomotives, hunters and campers-out, 1,470 

 in all. The injury that the railway does to the forest-interests 

 is very serious. One who travels to-day in North America 

 must grow accustomed to the charcoal heaps on both sides of 

 the railway, if he would have any pleasure from the beauty of 

 the landscape. From the railway the fire has encroached for 

 countless miles upon the forest. Upon the oldest railways the 

 danger of fire is reduced yearly by constant burning of the 

 trees from the clearing on both sides of the road-bed. Upon 

 such clearings it would be an easy thing to cutoff the fire from 

 the forest with a safety-ditch. It appears to me that there is no 

 other expedient than to make a cleared belt along the tracks 

 as soon as possible. At all events, this does more good than 

 the spark-arresters which the law prescribes, since, in spite of 

 all laws, the locomotives run without them. 



A characteristic result of the boundless freedom of the indi- 

 vidual at the cost of the people is presented in those cases 

 in which hunters and tourists camping or traveling in the forest 

 cause the fires. In the year 1880 they kindled 700. As far as 

 my experience in western America extends, the sportsmen are 

 careful to burn the under-brush, which in the primeval forest 

 contains generations of future forest-trees, in order that they 

 may be less hindered in their aim. In other regions the 

 woods are fired in order that the game throughout particular 

 districts may be driven together. Comment on this is quite 

 unnecessary. Forest-thieves, too, start fires, especially in the 

 Government forests, in order to obliterate the traces of their 

 theft. 



With reference to the Yellowstone Park, the possession and 

 the pride of the whole nation, H. Winser says in his "Guide 

 for Tourists" : 



" It is to be deeply deplored that because of the carelessness 

 of campers-out, many of them cultivated people, vast stretches 

 of forest have been destroyed by fire. The fires have resulted 

 from neglect of the simplest precautions as to camp-fires. 

 In consequence of this it is not at all unusual to be obliged to 

 ride in the park for miles and miles between black tree-stumps 

 instead of in the refreshing shade of the green forest. This 

 thoughtless destruction of the forest should be checked by 

 severe punishment of the offenders." 



It should be provided by law that any one who causes a fire 



shall be held for the injury done, and the amount of damages 

 should be equal to the value of the woodland destroyed. But 

 the injury done to the forests by overthrowing confidence in 

 the security of forest-property, by discouraging the investment 

 of money in forest, by the destruction of the young growth, 

 and by the effect upon the fertility of the soil would still re- 

 main without mitigation. — From "The Forests of North Amer- 

 ica," by Dr. Heinrich Mayr. 



Correspondence. 



Wayside Beauty. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest: 



Sir. — The several articles upon "Country Roads" which have 

 appeared in Garden and Forest we have chosen to receive as 

 words of personal approval, so well has their sentiment chimed 

 with the spirit which has been moving us to better and to beautify 

 a short bit of road which leads us daily to the station on the one 

 hand, and to the village, less than a mile away, on the other. 



A very few years ago this road was at times so deep with 

 mud that it would become nearly impassable, and farm 

 wagons especially were compelled to make quite a long detour 

 to reach the station from the turnpike or from the village. 

 The neighborhood becoming more popular and more popu- 

 lous, and the demands for better roads increasing, the county 

 officials were induced to take this particular piece of muddi- 

 ness in hand. The grade was first improved by cutting, filling 

 and ditching. There was then laid down a good bed of the rock 

 most convenient to the locality and known even to thcgeologists 

 as " nigger head." This is an extremely havdgabro, occurring 

 mostly in nodular masses and very difficult to crush, but when 

 once in place and tightened by the pressure of wheels it 

 makes, by reason of its toughness, perhaps the best of road- 

 metal. The neighbors now came to the front, and of their own 

 means and motion they covered this rough stony bed with a 

 layer of oyster shells of from four to six inches in thickness. 

 These were rapidly ground up on and near the surface, the 

 finer bits trickling through and forming a compact mass 

 below. Last winter's observations showed us that to attain 

 perfection, and to make a model of our hobby, we should 

 have still further to raise the middle of our road-bed a few 

 inches — this time instead of oyster-shells we determined to try 

 crushed blue lime-stone, which we brought by rail from near 

 Waynesborough, Pennsylvania, the railroad giving us special 

 rates. Of this stone, broken to pieces the size of chestnuts, we 

 made a last covering of about four inches in thickness. The 

 road is now perfectly smooth and hard, and is nearly as white 

 as when covered with the shells. This whiteness, to which 

 some might object, is by no means glaring or disagreeable, as 

 the road is mostly shaded. On the contrary, it is found to be 

 very convenient by night in enabling one to keep the track. 



In spite of repeated insinuations of untidiness, and, indeed, 

 of outspoken demands for the use of the scythe and the axe, 

 we have succeeded thus far in preserving vegetation quite 

 undisturbed, with the exception of pruning some overhanging 

 and interfering tree-limbs. On the ugly red slopes of a long- 

 cut, through which the road passes, and also on the face of a 

 rather steep bluff, we planted a good lot of Chinese Honey- 

 suckle. This has outdone expectation, and has given us the 

 densest walls of green in place of the ugly scored banks which 

 were continually washing down or sliding into the road-side 

 gutter. The fragrance, too, of its flowers fills the air, as well 

 as our senses, with its sweetness, and bees and humming- 

 birds abound. The other trees and shrubs which border our 

 lane are essentially our own — that is, are American — and 

 occur in sufficient variety to give a caste to the seasons. The 

 Spice-wood comes out with its small yellow flowers to insist 

 that spring has really come, and warns us later by its red ber- 

 ries of the summer that's waning. Why is it, by the way, that 

 this Benzoin, with its fine foliage and generally attractive habit, 

 has not become more commonly domesticated ? I have been 

 pleased to see it named in Garden and Forest among other 

 commonly neglected native shrubs as worthy of a place upon 

 our lawns. 



The Blackberry-bushes along our road-bank were this year 

 simply charming. Owing to the mild winter their long reeds 

 of last year were not killed back, but becoming covered with 

 flower-shoots and bending gracefully away from the high 

 banks, the effect was most unusually beautiful. Wild Grape- 

 vines are smothering the life out of some decrepit Locust- 

 trees, and are competing hard with Honeysuckle and Poison 

 Ivy for every bit of space and light. Wild Cherry, Viburnum 

 and Dogwood contribute their part in flowers and shade, each 

 in its time, and a number of Sassafras-trees save themselves 



