22 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [ 2 : i— January, 1906 



easy reach of everyone . problems requiring no special apparatus or 

 guide and capable of affording genuine pleasure to the learner. 



The following elementary study is submitted in the hope that it 

 may be suggestive of others and also emphasize the fundamental 

 principle that at the beginning the main difficulty lies in selecting a 

 suitable problem and making a definite and sequential study of the 

 subject chosen. 



FOREST DEVELOPMENT 



The island of Hunto in Portage Lake twenty miles southeast of 

 Parry Sound, Ontario, has an area of about seven acres and, like 

 other islands of the Muskoka region, is simply the summit of an 

 upheaved mountain of Laurentian granite, the highest point being 

 about 80 feet above the level of the surrounding lake. About two- 

 thirds of the surface is covered with soil varying from one inch to 

 thirty inches in depth. 



In the year 1886 the island, which was then beautifully wooded, 

 was swept by a fire which completely destroyed all vegetation except 

 a few straggling pines at the water's edge. Those who saw the is- 

 land during and after the fire say that the desolation wrought was so 

 complete that it is scarcely possible that any young plants or even 

 seeds could have survived the intense heat. Since that time no new 

 timber has been cut, no domestic animals have been on the island, 

 and with the exception of a few hares, deer-mice, and squirrels, there 

 apparently has been nothing to interfere with the development of the 

 smallest herb. 



This situation seemed to present a problem which if worked out 

 might cast some light upon the kind of vegetation which under similar 

 conditions (of climate, soil, non-interference, etc.) might reasonably 

 be expected to develop in a period of eighteen years. In this article 

 I shall confine myself to a statement of the results of investigations 

 made during two consecutive summers regarding the trees and shrubs 

 on the island. 



The following is a list of trees and shrubs found August 1904 : 



Clematis Virginiana — virgin's bower or wild clematis; Rhus typhina — staghom 

 sumac; Acer saccharinum — sugar maple or hard maple; Acer dasycarpum — silver 

 maple or soft white maple; Acer rubrum— soft red maple or swamp maple; Acer 

 spicatum — mountain maple or shrub maple; Acer Pennsylvanicum — striped maple; 

 Rosa Carolina — swamp rose; Spiraea salicifolia — common meadow sweet; Ribes 

 prostratum — fetid currant or skunk berry; Rubusstrigosus — red raspberry; 



