t it is feared that it will be
impossible to do so.

Settlers have been fighting the flames day and night for over a week,
but have made little progress.

Some two thousand Canadians have been rendered homeless and ten persons
have been burned to death. In their advance the terrible flames have
destroyed the towns and villages that lay in their path, and the report
from Ontario alone states that farms, dwellings, stores, churches, and
schools have been swept away by this dreadful scourge.

The fall of the year is always the time when forest fires are to be
dreaded. In dry seasons like the present, there is always a danger that
some chance spark may light on the fallen leaves and the grass dried out
by the heat of summer, and thus set the forests on fire.

The latter part of this year has been particularly dry. In the Western
and Middle States they say that rain has not been so badly needed in
years. In many sections of the country there has been no rain for
months. Water-courses and wells are reported as dried up, and many of
the live stock are dying, for want of water.

The grass has become so parched and dry that the farmers are having to
feed their stock two months ahead of the usual time, and drive them
miles to water. It is feared that later in the year there will be a
fodder famine.

As a regular thing, the cattle graze in the fields and feed themselves
until the frost comes, when the farmers begin to feed them. Enough
fodder is raised during the season to carry the stock comfortably
through until the grass is up again; but as the corn and roots are
liable to rot or mould, little more is grown than is necessary. You can
see that it is a serious business for the farmers to have had to touch
their winter supplies two months ahead of time.

It is this drought which has caused the forest fires.

In those sections of the country that have as yet escaped the fire, the
prairies are as dry as tinder, and the owners of the fields are in
constant fear that a spark from a passing locomotive may set fire to
them. Men are kept on the watch night and day to prevent such a
calamity.

The Tonawanda Swamp is also on fire.

Tonawanda is in the northern part of New York State, in the neighborhood
of Buffalo, and is a great lumber town.

The swamp covers twenty-five thousand acres, and adjoining it are many
rich farm lands and valuable buildings.

The underbrush grows so thickly in this swamp that it has always been
n