144 Rhodora [AUGUST 
mountain laurel. 'The latter reaches its height of perfection here, 
while on the other hand, this elevation not infrequently gives rise to 
stunted growths in certain species. Geologically this region is com- 
posed largely of gneiss, with limited areas of mica schist, over which is 
spread sand and clay, deposited in various combinations. The sand 
is more common in the eastern than in the western portion, a fact which 
holds good throughout the whole state, as does also the per cent of 
chlorine which the soil contains, and this, just as might be expected, 
exerts a modifying influence on the flora. Passing northerly and 
southerly along the central ridge are numerous lenticular clay. hills, 
known as drumlins, which once supported a marked characteristic 
growth. The hills, for many reasons, were among the first lands to be 
utilized, and they constitute the best agricultural soil to-day. They 
were early cleared of their forests, so that it is at present difficult to 
find any of them completely covered with tree growth. The English 
settlers, in choosing these hills, simply followed to a certain extent in 
the footsteps of the Indians, inasmuch as they had cleared quite a num- 
ber before the advent of the white man. The characteristic growth 
upon these hills is and always has been, of hard wood of such species 
as the chestnut and oak. When, however, there is a superficial deposit 
of sand, as is sometimes the case, they give rise to pine and other 
species. No less characteristic are the species found on the gravelly 
ridges known as kames or eskars. They support to-day, as of old, a 
growth of pitch pine, scrub oak, chinquapin oak and white birch. 
These trees are peculiar also to the sandy plains, while the cold, damp, 
rocky hillsides are adapted to the hemlock, canoe birch and beech, 
though other trees monopolize this soil to-day. The borders of the 
meadow give rise to the alder, witch hazel, ironwood and red maple. 
The variety of loamy soil furnishes an environment for the pine, chest- 
nut and oak, and the swamps contain the black spruce, hackmatack, 
white cedar, and occasionally, the arbor vitae. 
The principal forest trees at present are the pine, chestnut, oak, birch, 
maple, alder, poplar, willow, ironwood, hickory, hemlock, ash, cedar, 
spruce, beech. Their predominance follows quite closely after the 
order named. This order is not, however, the same as that which oc- 
curred in the primitive forests. The hemlock, beech and canoe birch 
have decreased and other species have taken their places. The pine 
was always, and is to-day, a valuable and prominent tree in this region, 
and undoubtedly is holding its own. The amount of young pines now 
