File:Arboretum et fruticetum britannicum, or - The trees and shrubs of Britain, native and foreign, hardy and half-hardy, pictorially and botanically delineated, and scientifically and popularly described (19743360962).jpg

Title: Arboretum et fruticetum britannicum, or : The trees and shrubs of Britain, native and foreign, hardy and half-hardy, pictorially and botanically delineated, and scientifically and popularly described ...
Identifier: arboretumetfrut04loud (find matches)
Year: 1844 (1840s)
Authors: Loudon, J. C. (John Claudius), 1783-1843
Subjects: Trees; Shrubs; Botany; Botany
Publisher: London : J. C. Loudon
Contributing Library: California Academy of Sciences
Digitizing Sponsor: California Academy of Sciences

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138 ARBORETUM AND FUUT1CETUM. PART III. 2011
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trees, and grubbing up their roots; but he adds that the practice is highly in- judicious, as, by these indiscriminate conflagrations, the land is not properly cleared, and " a very strong and noxious plant, called the fireweed," springs up every where, and exhausts the fertility of the soil. The appearance of a burning forest is one of the most fearful and sublime objects that can be imagined, and has been powerfully described by Cooper in The Pioneers, and also by Gait in Lawrie Todd. "The flames leap from tree to tree, and winding up to their tops, throw out immense volumes of fire from thick clouds of smoke, that hang over the burning mass, while the falling trees come down with most tremendous crash." The following account of one of these fires, which was more than usually destructive, is extracted from Mr. M'Gre- L'or's book : — "In October, 1825, upwards of a hundred miles of the coun- try, on the north side of the Miramichi river, became a scene of the most dreadful conflagration that has, perhaps, ever occurred in the history of the world. In Europe ire can scarcely form a conception of the fury and rapi- dity with which the fires rage through the American forests during a dry hot i,, at which time the underwood, decayed vegetable substances, fallen beSj bark, and withered trees, are as inflammable as a total absence of moisture can make them. When these tremendous fires arc once in motion, or at least when the flames extend over a few miles of the forest, the sur- rounding air becomes highly rarefied, and the wind naturally increases it to a hurricane. It appears that the woods had been, on both sides of the north- branch, partially on fire for some time, but not to an alarming extent until the I ltb of October, when it came to blow furiously from the north- •nd the inhabitants on the banks of the river were suddenly alarmed by

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