120 THE TREE BOOK 



cigar, or loses a pipe ; or, perchance, a fire set to 

 clear a field of rubbish breaks from control. 

 Occasionally lightning fires a forest. Many 

 fires are set for malice or revenge. Not infre- 

 quently huckleberry pickers have been known 

 to bum off a forest in order to increase next 

 season's crop of berries! The same method is 

 also followed by the sheep-men who want better 

 pasture for their herds. 



Man and Animals. Man has done much to 

 stamp himself as one of the worst foes of the 

 forest, by his reckless, wasteful lumbering. 

 Animals work destruction by browsing upon the 

 seedlings and young saplings. Birds and squir- 

 rels often prevent young growth by devouring 

 quantities of nuts and other seeds ; while porcu- 

 pines and mice frequently kill young trees by 

 gnawing their bark. 



