A CRITERION OF SITE 255 



soils. However, the author further states that in virgin forests 

 any difference in the physical factors affecting growth will be- 

 come evident, not only in the character of the tree growth, but 

 also in varying the composition of the stand or the native 

 vegetation. 



Cajander, 5 while advancing rather radical arguments in favor 

 of the living ground cover as a criterion and indicator of the 

 physical conditions of the site in forests which have responded 

 to the artificial cultural operations of silvicultural management, 

 admits that the condition of the virgin forest itself should be 

 used as the best criterion of the physical factors which affect 

 growth. 



Mell 6 has stated that there is a certain definite relation be- 

 tween the physical factors of the site and the growth and ana- 

 tomical structure of the wood fibers and that site quality may be 

 determined by a microscopical examination of the wood. 



The writer 7 has previously advocated that foresters should 

 avail themselves of the latent possibilities in the correlation of 

 the native shrubby and herbaceous forest vegetation with the 

 increment of the arborescent species, and in its use as an addi- 

 tional criterion in the determination of the relative productivity 

 of forest sites. The use of native indicator plants is also advo- 

 cated where increment data are meager or lacking. There are 

 unusual possibilities for the forester in following up a line of 

 investigation in a field equally as fertile as that opened by the 

 physiological plant ecologist in correlating the native vegetation 

 with the crop-producing potentialities of the land, the results 

 of which have had a very practical application in modern 

 agriculture. 



While it is true that plant growth is dependent upon certain 

 specific climatic and edaphic factors of the habitat, yet these 

 combine to form a physiological complex which influences growth 



5 Cajander, A. K. Uber Waldtypen, Helsingfors, 1909, Fennia, 28, No. 2, 

 175 pp. 



6 Mell, C. D. Determination of quality of locality by fibre length of wood, 

 Forestry Quarterly, 8: 419-122, 1910. 



7 Korstian, Clarence F. The indicator significance of native vegetation in 

 the determination of forest sites. The Plant World, 20: 267-287, 1917. 



