274 
RURAL HOURS. 
for tlie season ; the young plants are killed, and the earth looks 
black and gloomy. Upon the wiiole, however, it is surprising that 
no more harm is done. On the occasion of the fire referred to 
in these woods, we found the traces of the flames to disappear 
much sooner than we had supposed possible. The next season 
the smaller plants were all replaced by others ; many of the 
younger trees seemed to revive, and a stranger passing over the 
ground to-day would scarcely believe that fire had been feeding 
on those woods for a fortnight only a few seasons back. A group 
of tall, blasted hemlocks, on the verge of the wood, is the most 
striking monument of the event. The evergreens generally suffer 
more than other trees, and for some cause or other the fire con- 
tinued busy at that point for several days. We repeatedly passed 
along the highway at the time, with the flames at work on either 
side. Of course, there was no danger, but it looked oddly to be 
driving quietly along through the fire. The crackling of the 
flames was heard in the village, and the smell of smoke was oc- 
casionally quite unpleasant. 
A timely rain generally puts a stop to the mischief ; but par- 
ties of men are also sent out into the woods to ''fight the fire." 
They tread out the flames among the dry leaves by trampling 
them down, and they rake away the combustible materials, to 
confine the enemy to its old grounds, when it soon exhausts itself. 
The flames spread more frequently along the earth, than from tree 
to tree. 
Thursday, 31.9^. — The Avater-lilies are still in blossom; opening 
quite early in the season, they continue to flower until the frost 
cuts them off. We found numbers of them in Black-bird Bay 
this evening. 
