阅读下列短文，根据短文内容填空，选择合适的词汇并使用恰当形式填空。

blacken   rise up   order   surround   quantity   take root

Firemen had been fighting the forest fire for nearly three weeks before they could get it under control. A short time before, great trees had covered the countryside for miles around. Now, smoke still 【小题1】 from the warm ground over the desolate hills. Winter was coming on and the hills threatened the 【小题2】 villages with destruction, for heavy rain would not only wash away the soil but would cause serious floods as well. When the fire had at last been put out, the forest authorities 【小题3】 several tons of a special type of grass-seed which would grow quickly. The seed was sprayed over the ground in huge 【小题4】 by aeroplanes. The planes had been planting seed for nearly a month when it began to rain. By then, however, in many places the grass had already 【小题5】. In place of the great trees which had been growing there for centuries, patches of green had begun to appear in the 【小题6】 soil.