Freeland Tribune

African Grass Fires.

In a recent number of Science Progress Mr. Scott-Elliott tells how African grass fires change the aspect of the vegetation of the region. These annual fires prevent the accumulation of leaf mould that would improve the soil. One curious effect of the annual fires is to cause many herbaceous plants to send up bare stems, except for the flowers, often several feet in height, immediately after the first shower of the rainy season, the stems only beginning to bear leaves after the rains have well set in. The flowering time of many trees, shrubs and herbs is entirely changed. Another curious fact is the manner in which certain trees manage to protect themselves against the fires. The most remarkable of those are tree Euphorbias, which come out of the fires with apparently no injury, except, perchance, a few slightly charred branches. Mr. Scott-Elliott procured the barks of several kinds that withstand the fiery ordeal, and an examination of them by Professor Farmer shows that they all have a certain amount of gummy degeneration of the bark cells, together with no inconsiderable amount of sclerotic cells. Professor Farmer concludes that it seems not impossible that these two facts may be connected with the resistance of the plants to the fire.