THE time of the year is at hand when

THE

forest fires are wide-spread and destructive. So common have they become in many parts of our State that their appearance causes but little surprise, and they are looked upon almost as a matter of course, little if anything being done to prevent or extinguish them, unless they threaten to involve specially valuable timber, fences or buildings. On our mountain and other lands from which the usable timber has been pretty fully gleaned fire is almost an annual occurrence. The drying winds of spring put the loose combustible matter in such condition that the slightest spark starts a fire which spreads with great rapidity, often involving several square miles of territory, and extending to a distance determined only by the character of the weather and the amount of young sappy growth encountered. The common opinion seems to be that no great harm is done, since there is so little visible which has any market value; and hence our mountain and other lands which should be in process of reforestation are periodically burned over, and even the owners appear to pay little heed to it. Every one admits that if fire could be kept out new tree-growth would gradually get a foothold, and in time complete reforesting would take place through seedlings and sprout growth. In favora

ble places which have been protected from the inroads of fire, this second growth has often become an important factor in the timber supply; and in some parts even of the older settled districts there is now a greater acreage of timber than there was forty or more years ago, just after the original growth had been removed. But since this reforesting is a slow process, and under present conditions the danger from fire so great, few pay adequate attention to the matter. It does not seem to be worth what it will cost.

While the value of this second growth is a prime reason for using all means necessary to secure it, there is another reason for so doing, namely, because of the generally beneficial climatic value which a moderate proportion of woodland gives. This climatic influence, difficult to state exactly, consists in part in the mechanical protection which a well-wooded surface affords against very rapid melting of snow, and the eroding, plowing action of mountain torrents, in protection from severe winds, and, in part, in the more uniform moisture and heat imparted to the surrounding atmosphere. Small and difficult of measurement as such influences may be over an acre of ground, they become great over square miles of territory, and no better bulwark can be secured against the periodical washing and gullying of

our mountain and other forests. Forest fires thus destroy the new growth which would in time be of direct money value, and also open the way to and permit those extremes of flood and drought, and those destructive winds, which render more precarious and uncertain all our labors. Not only this, but there is still a third reason why they are such a serious injury, namely, because they destroy those conditions of soil and surface which make forest growth possible. For, on mountain and rocky land particularly, the most serious bar to tree growth is the extreme thinness and poverty of the soil, derived from rock disintegration and the accumulation of organic matter. Anything which interferes with this natural process by which all soils have been produced, by so much prolongs the time before trees can gain a foothold, and by so much retards their rapidity of growth. Fires, by consuming the leaves and twigs, leave a mere film of ashes in place of the decomposing mass which is so potent in the production of a soil. This is swept away by the first rain or strong wind, and any district periodically burned over loses more or less fully this beneficial covering. For these reasons the destructiveness of forest fires, although not readily estimated in dollars and cents, is none the less real, and the necessity for their prevention or better control none the less imperative.

We find that the causes of forest fires vary greatly in different localities, and that from the circumstances of the case, they are often difficult to detect. There can be no doubt, however, that these fires are frequently due to criminal carelessness and indifference on the part of hunters, fishermen, berry pickers, and the like. Such persons being permitted to range at will for some minor purpose, are indifferent to, or contemptuous of, the potent value of wild lands, and, since little of direct value is in sight, think but lightly of starting a fire which may get beyond their control, or even of firing directly if it suits them to do it.

Men who are fully alive to the value of buildings and bonds, and would never think of applying the torch to them, have sometimes no hesitation in starting a mountain fire, which may burn over square miles of territory before it stops, and do inestimable damage in destroying forest conditions. It is against such ignorance, indifference, and malice that we

the forces at our command. Forestry, in this country, with all its attendant benefits, can never take a strong hold and become well rooted in our economy until this state of affairs becomes radically changed.

It is a standing menace to any effective forest legislation or practice. It renders all our efforts weak and uncertain, causes the withdrawal of what little capital is invested in lands capable of reforesting, and, if continued, will make all such lands as barren and unproductive as a Sahara, in spite of our favorable climate and the spasmodic efforts of nature to repair the injury. repair the injury. More than this, it will react more or less directly upon our use of cultivated land, and, indeed, upon all industries, since they are so intimately bound together that the prosperity of one is the prosperity of all.

How to remedy or improve this lamentable condition of affairs is the practical question which confronts us to-day. We have some laws upon the subject, and although they are generally admitted to be imperfect and but partially effective, it is equally evident that they are not put in operation as they should and might be, if all persons were to insist upon their right under them. Before we can hope for thoroughly effective and satisfactory laws of any kind, we must determine by fair and full trial the operation of those already in existence. The laws of general application and force at the present time

are two.

1. An act to protect timber lands from fire, approved June 2, 1870.

Whereas, It is important to the people of the State that timber-lands should be protected from fire, which, owing to malicious conduct and carelessness of individuals, is causing vast havoc to the young growing timber, especially among our mountains; therefore,

Section 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in general assembly met, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That it shall be the duty of the commissioners of the several counties of this Commonwealth to appoint persons under oath, whose duty it shall be to ferret out and bring to punishment all persons who, either wilfully or otherwise, cause the burning of timber lands, and to take measures to have such fires extinguished where paid out of the county treasury, the unit can be done; the expenses thereof to be seated land tax to be the first applied to such expenses.

By act approved May 19, 1871, the county of Lycoming is exempted from the provisions of the act of June 2, 1870.

Few persons have taken advantage of the privileges conferred by this law, partly, perhaps, from ignorance of it, and partly because of the trouble involved. It is obvious that the application for appointments under the act must be made before a fire occurs, when it is suspected only that there is danger of fire, since evidence can be but rarely obtained afterwards. There is apparently no good reason why this may not be done. Should the law then prove ineffective or unwise, it should be amended or repealed. At present it is practically a dead letter.

2. An act to prevent the burning of woods in any of the counties of this commonwealth, approved June 11, 1879.

Section 1. Be it enacted, etc., That any person or persons who shall wantonly and wilfully kindle any fire on the lands of another, so as to set on fire any woodlands, barrens or moors, within the limits of this commonwealth, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof shall be sentenced to pay a fine not exceeding $300, and undergo an imprisonment not exceeding twelve months, or either or both at the discretion of the court; and prosecutions for such offenses may be commenced at any time within two years from the commission thereof.

Section 2. Upon the conviction of any person or persons from any of the offenses aforesaid, the commissioners of the county in which such conviction is had, shall pay to the prosecutor in every such case the sum of $50 out of the county treasury as a reward for the apprehension and conviction of the offender, and the defendant or defendants shall pay the same, with the costs, as in other cases, into the hands of the sheriff for the use of the county, and nothing herein contained shall prevent the prosecutor from being a competent witness in the prosecution aforesaid.

Cases and convictions under this act are likewise of infrequent occurrence. It is seldom that satisfactory evidence can be obtained.

A large portion of the land exposed to firing is the property of companies or nonresidents, and protection does not seem to them to be worth what it costs. A further complication arises from the ease and freedom with with such lands are overrun by a miscellaneous horde of hunters, fishermen and berry-pickers, who are, for the time being, as the owners themselves, cutting, burning, destroying without let or hindrance. Against them the ordinary

laws regarding trespass are seldom enforced.

These laws which give large control into the hands of an owner are, on the whole, but little employed, from fear of incurring ill will and malice, and too often from a greatly mistaken idea of the insignificant values threatened and impaired by such trespassing.

We need a radical change of practice in these regards. Notwithstanding the laxity of public sentiment and the imperfectness of our laws, it is possible to accomplish a good deal if there is community of action.

Let all organizations, not only of granges, farmers' clubs, and agricultural societies, but also all bodies which own or control our forest lands, combine to apply and enforce the laws regarding trespass and firing, and agree to support one another in so doing. Judicious action of this kind could hardly fail to inaugurate a new era, and to pave the way for a new law whereby some township officer, perhaps a new one, shall be a fire-warden, required to be on the alert to prevent fires, and empowered to summon help to extinguish or surround them. The time has arrived and seems favorable for this radical change. And no state is more in need of it, or will be more benefited by it, than Pennsylvania. With a large acreage of land unfitted by nature for any purpose but forestry, and admirably placed for conferring continuously all those benefits which flow from the preservation of a liberal percentage of land in forests, its greatest lack is adequate protection from fire and trespass. This is both a disgrace to our civilization and an injury to our prosperity. The remedy lies with the people themselves. They should not be slow to apply it.-Bulletin No. 23, Pennsylvania State College Agricultural Experiment Station.

"Come here!" I sharply said,

And the baby cowered and wept; "Come here!" I cooed, and he looked and smiled,

And straight to my lap he crept. The words may be mild and fair,

And the tones may pierce like a dart; The words may be soft as the summer air, And the tones may break the heart. For words come forth from the mind, And grow by study and art; But the tones leap forth from the inner self, And tell what is felt in the heart.

6000 SQUARE MILES.

N a recent lecture in Philadelphia upon "The Relation of the Forests to the Commonwealth," Prof. J. T. Rothrock, our Commissioner of Forestry, and the foremost authority in Pennsylvania upon trees and plant life in general, considered the relation of trees to the soil, and pointed out how the forests serve to keep the soil in place. He referred to the discovery, settlement and cultivation of this continent in the space of four centuries as one of the most remarkable events in the history of the world, and then went on to show how the destruction of the trees was begun by the settlers, and carried on to such a vast extent that very serious consequences are to be feared, if measures are

not taken to restore the devastated forests, He told how he had traversed vast tracts

of pine lands in the South, and had observed how they had been barked for the resinous substances which they contain, and were thus doomed to premature decay and death.

A number of views illustrated how the forests of Pennsylvania have been destroyed, so that there are now, in consequence, 6,000 square miles of unproductive land in the State, more than oneeighth of its entire area.

Other views illustrated how in the valley of the Juniata, which the speaker called a nursery of floods, great loss of property has been sustained through freshets. He next explained how the trees produce soil and serve to keep it in its place, and said we are now face to face with the problem whether we would allow this protective power to be swept away. Every 24 hours, he declared, 25,000 square miles of timber are swept off the face of our country.

He denounced the burning of forests, and hoped that the sentiment would become general that the man who fires a forest is as bad as the man who steals a horse. He argued that, as the forests make the State valuable, the State should pay for them by diminished taxes, so that it might be more profitable for the owners of timber lands to retain the trees than to clear them off. He explained the relation of the trees to the atmosphere, and described, in illustration of the beneficent effects of the forest, the climate on the Pacific slope.

In concluding, he made a plea for the culture of trees in cities, and showed,

among other illustrations, a view of the famous Dundas-Lippincott Elm, growing in the grounds of the old Dundas mansion, Broad and Walnut streets. This splendid specimen tree Professor Rothrock pronounced one of the noblest products of nature that God has allowed to remain in this city, and he hoped for the honor of Philadelphia, that not a man or woman would remain silent or fail to protest against its destruction, should that at any time be contemplated.

TYNDALL'S INFLUENCE.

UPON THE TEACHING of the NATURAL

SCIENCES.

mighty part, which John Tyndall has FTLY to appreciate the part, the played in the education of this century, one must compare things as he left them with things as they were before that 11th of February, 1853, when he made his début as a lecturer on scientific themes. Until the days of the Quaker George Edmondson, the Principal of Queenwood when Tyndall first knew it, there had been in English schools no such thing as the teaching of practical science, and very little science of any other sort. Chemistry and physics and their sister sciences had been generally looked upon as the costly and unprofitably hobbies of riper years, and of ample means and leisure. To the "masses "the world of science was still, despite the labors of Faraday, a thing forbidden; and none dreamed that it could ever be accessible to them; few even desired it. That Wonder which is the mother of knowledge was not yet born, for the man who was to bring it to the birth was not yet. And now? The change is hard to state and harder still to realize; and if the beginning of the change was with Edmondson, the fostering and quickening of it was with Tyndall and his fellow-workers. In one of his writings he tells how his ancestor, Wm. Tyndall, boasted "that he would place an open Bible within reach of every plough-boy in England." In the same spirit the descendant, John Tyndall, made it his purpose to put the secrets of science within the ken of all; and he did it not so much by going out into the highways and hedges and dinning the a b c of physics into the ears of the uninitiated as by showing to them the marvels that might