The Hillside Farmer and the Forest. 



33 



THE HILLSIDE FARMER AND THE FOREST. 



By George Hansen. 



With all our embellishment of country seats and city- 

 parks, as well as with scientific forestry, we make only 

 slow progress in the effort to cover the cruel scars with 

 which civilization has defaced the landscape of our conti- 

 nent. The plow stirs the valley soil, the log-team drags 

 deep furrows over hillsides^ and ax and powder assist 

 the weak arms of man in his struggle to cultivate. But 

 of all the agencies that combine to subserve such purpose, 

 none has shown itself of such fierceness as fire. Even 

 when employed as an ally, it is such a treacherous power 

 that no words but condemnation can be heard about its 

 employment. 



Far be it from me to look for an excuse for the set- 

 ting out of fires. It is a grewsome sight to see the fierce 

 flames lick up in hellish glee a magnificent stand of tim- 

 ber. Also are those fires to be condemned which the 

 cattleman sets out in the fallen logs as he travels valley- 

 ward in the fall months. Yet, if we again, and ever 

 again, see these columns of smoke rise heavenward so 

 near our settlements, there surely must be some reason, 

 some weighty reason, for such proceedings. It is the 

 mountain rancher who sets them out, the man who strug- 

 gles to create pastures in the timber-belt, and of his 

 reasons and ways I write in explanation. 



