39 2 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 345. 



Forest Fires. 



SINCE the sweeping fires in our north-western forests 

 startled the country by the devastation and death 

 which they wrought, we have received numerous letters 

 containing plans for preventing such conflagrations, or for 

 arresting them when they are under way, but in none of 

 them do we find any new suggestions. The clearing away 

 of the top and lop now left by the lumbermen to dry into 

 tinder; spark arresters for the smokestacks of the locomo- 

 tives ; broad lanes kept clear of combustible material, and 

 separating the forest into blocks ; watch-towers with offi- 

 cers constantly on the lookout; legislation to make the 

 firing of brush a criminal offence, unless it is done under 

 official supervision — all these subjects and many more 

 have been discussed in these columns and elsewhere times 

 without number. Almost every one insists on the enact- 

 ment of some law, but few recognize the truth that no 

 printed statute has any efficiency until there is a public 

 opinion behind it to compel its enforcement. This public 

 sentiment is a prime necessity, and the only possible good 

 that can come out of such a terrible calamity as these 

 recent fires is that the death and suffering and loss will 

 arouse the people of Minnesota and neighboring states to 

 think seriously, for not till then can they be trusted to act 

 intelligently and firmly. 



A short paper by Mr. H. B. Ayres, which will be found 

 in our issue for May 2d of this year, touches the core of the 

 question. The mass of people are not really vicious and 

 evil-disposed, and do not desire wantonly to inflict injury 

 upon their fellows ; and if they are instructed by pre- 

 cept and example as to the terrible results of a forest con- 

 flagration, and if they are shown how easily it can be 

 kindled, they will not carelessly play with fire in the woods ; 

 and the same public opinion which restrains the ordinary 

 citizen from carelessness will prompt him to see that the law 

 against the deliberate and criminal kindling of forest fires 

 is enforced as surely as those against arson or murder. 

 We do not propose to estimate here the fearful sum total of 

 lives lost and property destroyed, or to speak of those pro- 

 founder losses which will be felt in the future, when soil 

 burned to barrenness will fail to support its normal forest- 

 growth. No arithmetic can estimate the damage which 

 has been done in the last fifty years, and yet we are far 

 from realizing the whole truth. Before another fifty years 

 passes the country will feel the pinch when timber is scarce 

 and the soil is gullied away from the mountain-sides, and 

 our descendants will find that they must repair, by the ex- 

 penditure of much thought and labor and money during 

 many weary years, what we could have prevented by rea- 

 sonable precaution. 



We have said that law without public opinion is worth 

 little. Indeed, such laws as we already have are rarely 

 enforced. There is a law in Pennsylvania which makes it 

 the duty of the commissioners of each county to appoint 

 persons to ferret out forest-incendiaries, and yet Professor 

 Rothrock asserts that he does not know of an instance in 

 which this statute has been complied with. The newspa- 

 pers in cities may talk vigorously about enforcing fire laws, 

 but the public opinion which is efficient in this matter 

 must prevail in the neighborhood of the woods themselves 

 and among the men who are directly interested in them. 

 People who live among our forests have seen them burn so 

 often, while no effort was made to ascertain the cause or 

 punish the carelessness or criminality of the incendiary, 

 that they have naturally come to consider forest-property 

 in a class by itself, with no right to protection against fire, 

 like a dwelling-house or other property. Not until these 

 views are radically changed and it is appreciated that a 

 forest-fire, from its possible magnitude, is the worst possi- 

 ble fire, will legislation be of substantial value. What such 

 legislation should be in its essence is well set forth in a cir- 

 cular to lumbermen prepared by Mr. B. E. Fernow, and 

 sent out by the Department of Agriculture. An efficient 

 law will assume that organized machinery must be pro- 



vided to make it effective, and since the damage done by 

 forest-fires extends beyond mere private and personalToss, 

 the state must be represented by some one empowered to 

 organize a fire service. Responsibility for the execution of 

 the law must rest upon this executive head, and facilities 

 for prosecuting offenders must be at his command. Noth- 

 ing like any voluntary service can be trusted. Officials 

 must be paid, and must be held responsible for care in per- 

 forming their duties and obedience to regulations. This 

 point cannot be insisted upon too strongly. Protec- 

 tion against fires will cost money, and this fact must be 

 recognized at the outset. Again, the common interest in 

 the protection of property must be recognized by creating 

 financial liability for its enforcement on the part of the 

 community and its members — that is, each county, for 

 example, must be obliged to pay into the state treasury a 

 certain sum for every acre burned over each year, as a fire 

 indemnity fund, to be applied to the maintenance of the 

 system and for the payment of damages to those whose 

 property has been burned without neglect on their own part. 

 A law based on such principles is now in force in Maine, 

 and the people of that state are proving that it can be made 

 effective. 



Native Trees and Shrubs about Montreal, 

 Canada. — IT. 



SPIR.EA SALICIFOLIA, the common Meadow-sweet, is 

 abundant. It often seems to differ somewhat in foli- 

 age and habit of growth when compared with plants grow- 

 ing wild in southern New England, but it is a very variable 

 plant, and there are numerous known hybrids. S. tomen- 

 tosa, Hardhack or Steeple Bush, common. Physocarpos 

 (Spiraea) opulifolius, or Nine-bark, grows in stony soils, 

 and especially along streams and borders of islands in the 

 St. Lawrence. 



Rubus odoratus, the purple-flowering Raspberry, is often 

 locally called Thimbleberry, while in parts of Vermont 

 and New Hampshire it is known as Mulberry. The fruit is 

 rarely collected and eaten, except incidentally by pedestrians 

 along the roads. R. strigosus, the wild Red Raspberry, is 

 abundant, especially where woods have been cut or burned 

 off. Immense quantities of the fruit are annually brought 

 into the Montreal market from the surrounding country 

 and farther north. It is usually brought in pails holding 

 two or three gallons, but sometimes in rough boxes, and 

 often sells at a very low price. It is used largely in mak- 

 ing preserves or jams, vinegar, or "raspberry shrub." 

 R. occidentalis, the Black Raspberry or Thimbleberry, also 

 locally known as Scotch-cap or Black-cap, is plentiful, and 

 the agreeable fruit is much sought for. It grows particu- 

 larly well on decayed wood, stumps or logs. R. neglectus, 

 a probable hybrid between the last two species, is 

 not very rare. While the stems and foliage partake of the 

 character of R. occidentalis, the fruits are more like those 

 of the Red Raspberry, though not always so large, and they 

 are of very pleasant flavor. Very often a large proportion 

 of the flowers seem infertile. R. villosus, the common 

 Blackberry, is common in some localities, but rarely seems 

 prolific in fruit. R. Canadensis, the Low Blackberry or 

 Dewberry, grows here also, and while the fruit is not often 

 abundant it is sometimes large and sweet. R. hispidus, 

 the Bristly or Swamp Blackberry, is to be found trailing 

 among grass and herbage on low ground. 



Rosa blanda is the most common wild Rose in this re- 

 gion. It is a dwarf, comparatively unarmed species, and 

 is the largest-flowered of our eastern American native 

 Roses. R. Carolina blossoms much later and is a much 

 taller plant, found growing about the edges of swamps, 

 ditches and other damp places. R. rubiginosa, the Sweet- 

 brier Rose, or its apparent form, known as R. micrantha, 

 has escaped from cultivation and appears naturalized. It 

 is frequently met with in the Indian Reservation pastures 

 and woods on the south side of the St. Lawrence, opposite 

 the Lachine Rapids, as well as on Montreal Island. 



