BOTANICAL SUEVEY— SUGAE GEOA'E EEGION 273 



"Coves" which abound throughout the area. A cove (frontispiece), in 

 the lumberman's vernacular, is a short, steep ravine, surrounded by high 

 hills or margined witli ciitt's, within which the timber, though brittle, 

 is unusually tall, straight, and free from knots and wind checks. The 

 reason for this character of the timber is, of course, the struggle for 

 sunlight in which the trees on the bottom are placed at a disadvantage 

 as compared with their neighbors higher up on the slope. The condi- 

 tions for vegetation in these coves are highly favorable in respect to 

 both climatic and edaphic faetoi-s. The soil is for thi^ most pai't a 

 loose, sandy loam, with considerable humus on the surface, but more 

 sandy below, in places becoming nothing but sand, which is dug by 

 the farmers and serves very well for domestic uses. 



In these coves there develops a luxuriant forest, richer in species 

 than any other association in our area. Like the hemlock foi-est, the 

 Liriodendron forest has suffered severely from the lumberman until 

 it is now difficult to find a good specimen for study. One of the best 

 is the "Crystal Springs" ravine at Sugar Grove, which has been used 

 as a summer resort for twenty years, during which time the timber has 

 not l)een disturbed, although the underbrush and herbage have been 

 more or less modified by the activities of picnickers and botanists. An- 

 other good cove is located about a half a mile north of Sugar Grove, 

 near the pumping station in section 4, Berne Twp. This one was hnn- 

 bered a number of years ago, but has since lain undisturbed, and in its 

 herbage probably represents more normal conditions than the other. 

 Unfortunately it was swept by a fire during the winter of 1900-10, 

 which damaged it so much that it is no longer interesting to an ecologist. 

 The picture of the cove forest here drawn is largely a composite of the 

 conditions in these two ravines. 



The forest of these "coves" is so diversified that often no one tree 

 can be designated as the fascies, but all in all there is little (piestion 

 but that the tulip tree (Liriodendron tiujpifera) is most characteristic. 

 Following it, loughly, in the order of fibuiidanee. ai-e: 



Castanea (Initata (especially nn the hiijlicr slopes) 



Tsiif/a canadensis (also most almiiilant on the liijiher slopes) 



Juglans cinerea Qucrcus alba 



Fagus grandifolia Qnereus velutina 



Acer rubrum Ihliiln hula (on the sleeper slopes) 



Nyssa sylvatica Monis rubra 



JTicorIa nrata 



The uiidei-hrush in places, especially on densely sluided slojies with 

 a noi-thern exi)0sure, consists of thickets of IxJuxhxh iididii iiKintinnn 



