is a poor risk because it is more inflammable 

 than a deciduous one. 



Another advantage possessed by broad-leaf 

 trees lies in the rapid growth of their seedlings. 

 Surface fires annihilate most tiny trees. Two- 

 year-old chestnuts, maples, and, in fact, many 

 of the broad-leaf youngsters, are three or more 

 feet high, and are able to survive a severe fire; 

 but two-year-old white pine, Engelmann spruce, 

 or long-leaf pine are barely two inches high, — 

 just fuzzy-topped matches stuck in the earth 

 that perish in a flash from a single breath of 

 flame. 



The ability to send up sprouts, which most 

 deciduous trees possess, is also a very great ad- 

 vantage in the fight against fire. A fire may 

 destroy a deciduous forest and all its seeds 

 without injuring the potent roots beneath the 

 surface. The year following the fire, most of 

 these roots send up sprouts that swiftly grow 

 to replace the fallen forest. Among the so- 

 called Pine Family, the ability to send up 

 sprouts or shoots is limited to a few kinds, most 

 prominent of which is the redwood. 



130 



