338 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



THE CONIFEROUS FORESTS OF EASTERN NORTH 



AMERICA . 



By Dr. ROLAND M. HARPER 



COLLEGE POINT, N. I. 



TN eastern North America about thirty species of coniferous trees 

 make up at least two thirds of the existing forest, while the re- 

 mainder comprises something like 250 hardwood or broad-leaved species. 

 About 70 per cent, of the lumber sawed in the eastern United States at 

 the present time is of conifers or softwoods, and if the statistics for 

 eastern Canada and for fuel, pulp-wood, cross-ties, poles, etc., were 

 included the preponderance of softwood in the area under consideration 

 would be still more evident. Most of the houses in the United States 

 and Canada are built of coniferous wood, most of our paper comes from 

 the same source, and, in all but the most densely populated regions, 

 most of the domestic fuel. 1 



From the relative abundance and number of species it is evident that 

 the average conifer species is represented by a much larger number of 

 trees than the average hardwood. It happens that most of our conifers 

 form pure stands of greater or less extent in some parts of their ranges 

 at least, so that there are about as many types of coniferous forest as 

 there are species of conifers. All but a few of the rarer or less impor- 

 tant types will be described below, beginning with the northernmost, 

 which are mainly confined to the glaciated region, and ending with 

 those confined to the coastal plain, and one whose range extends south- 

 ward into the tropics. The treatment of each type will include geo- 

 graphical distribution, correlations with soil, water, climate, fire, 2 etc., 

 and notes on the economic aspects of the trees themselves and the 

 regions in which they grow. 



i A map between pages 488 and 489 of the 9th volume of the Tenth Census 

 shows the distribution of eoal and wood fuel in the United States three de- 

 cades ago. 



2 Forest fires have generally been looked upon as regrettable accidents, aud 

 much more thought has been given to devising means to prevent them than 

 to studying their geographical distribution and historical frequency. But those 

 that start from natural causes seem to be just as much a part of Nature 's pro- 

 gram as rain, snow and wind (which like fire may do both good and harm at the 

 same time), and to be subject to more or less definite laws. Their frequency, 

 extent and effects vary greatly in different parts of the country and in different 

 types of forests, as will be shown below, and nearly every species of conifer 

 seems to have become accustomed or adjusted to a certain amount of fire, as to 

 other environmental factors. 



