oses, but to a whole
series of troubles which the removal of the forests has brought upon
them.

The burning of the humus, when a fire sweeps the forest, is the next
greatest loss to that of the timber itself. Where there has been no
fire, the ground under the trees is covered with decaying leaves and
stems which are slowly mixing with the soil and becoming a part of it.
The more there is of this humus in the soil, the more thriftily plants
will grow.

Many people purposely burn over their pasture lands in the fall,
believing that this will make the grass better the following year. They
should know that every time this is done the soil is made poorer, and
that it kills the seeds lying on the ground ready to sprout when the
warm spring days come. Instead of a better pasture there is more likely
to be a crop of almost worthless weeds. The ground is full of worthless
seeds which are always ready to take the place of the grasses when they
have a chance.

Before the fire came, the roots of trees, bushes, and grasses kept the
earth from washing; and the humus helped to hold the rainwater from
running away rapidly, so that more of it had time to soak into the
ground. How well this is shown on yonder hills which were once covered
with brush. A fire swept over these hills and burned every living thing.
What a barren appearance they presented after the heavy winter storms!
The slopes were completely covered with little furrows and gullies where
the rainwater had done its work. It will be a long time before
vegetation will again gain a foothold there and stop the washing of the
earth.

When a fire occurs in the dense forests of the Cascade Range, all the
trees are killed and the thick layer of decaying vegetation underneath
is burned. The spruce, which is one of the most important lumber trees
of this region, does not at once spring up again. Its seeds may be
scattered there, but the soil is not now in a condition to nourish them.
In its place springs up the tamarack pine, which, because it can grow in
poor soil, has the whole burned area to itself.

If we should return to the same place perhaps one hundred years after
the fire, we should find that the tamarack pines had formed a thick
forest. The lumbermen have little use for the tamarack and so have
passed it by. In looking carefully through the tamarack forest, we find
that other trees are now springing up. They are already struggling for
the food, the moisture, and the