1909] Collins,— On the Flora of lower Cape Cod 133 
of this kind are noted. Speaking of a part of the town he says, “This 
barren tract, containing about 1700 acres, which now has hardly a 
particle of vegetable mould, formerly produced wheat and other 
grain." But of the part of the town under cultivation he says “The 
raising of grain is the principal business to which farmers attend. 
More corn is produced than the inhabitants consume. More than a 
thousand bushels are sent to market, and in years past more than three 
times that quantity has been exported. ‘This is the only town in the 
county that raises sufficient for its own consumption." No grain 
whatever is now raised. ‘‘ Except a tract of oaks and pines adjoining 
the south line of Welfleet, and which is about a mile and a half wide, 
no wood is left in the township. ‘The forests were imprudently cut 
down many years ago, and no obstacle being opposed to the fury of 
the wind, it has already covered with barrenness the large tract above 
The pitch pines 
5 
described, and is still encroaching on other parts.’ 
are now covering not only the deforested area to which he refers, but 
also much of the ground which produced the grain for export. ‘The 
sand no longer blows over this area, and in time, probably a long time 
from a human point of view, vegetation might find more favorable 
conditions, but a new element has entered the problem, of which the 
Rev. Mr. Pratt never dreamed. Every year wood fires are started 
by sparks from the locomotives, often killing the trees over hundreds 
of acres, and what is worse destroying all the leaf mold and other 
vegetable matter that has accumulated, so that it is doubtful if another 
growth, even of pitch pine, is possible. On the whole, it seems 
probable that less favorable rather than more favorable conditions 
are to be looked for as to the plants of general distribution. ‘The 
little local floras of the ponds, however, will probably long continue. 
MALDEN, MASSACHUSETTS. 
