286 



George E. Nichols, 



Seldom, if ever, is a tract of climax forest encountered from 

 which the balsam fir is wholly absent. Frequently, however, it 

 is represented only in the younger growth. This latter condition 

 is well brought out by Table V, which shows the relative 



TABLE V 



Relative Abundance oi' Various Treks in Two Quadrats in a Hard- 

 wood Forest along the Barrasois River' 



' Quadrat 32.8 feet (ten meters) square. Figures for the two quadrats are added. No trees 

 less than one foot high counted. 



abundance of various trees on two quadrats in a hardwood forest 

 along the Barrasois River (Fig. 12). The most interesting- 

 facts to be deduced from this table are: (i) that, of the trees 

 less than five inches in diameter and more than one foot high, 

 balsam fir includes 18.5 per cent, (as compared with beech, 50 

 per cent. ; sugar maple, 26.6 per cent. ; yellow birch, 2.4 per 

 cent.; red maple, 2.4 per cent.); while (2), of the trees more 

 than five inches in diameter, none at all are balsam (as com- 

 pared with beech, 55.5 per cent. ; sugar maple, 22.2 per cent. ; 

 yellow birch, 16.6 per cent.; red maple, 5.5 per cent.). In the 

 mature stand, taken as a whole, it was estimated that beech 

 includes fully 65 per cent, of the trees, sugar maple and yellow 

 birch each about 15 per cent., red maple and paper birch together 

 about 5 per cent. So far as observations extended, no mature 

 balsam fir whatever is present, the largest living specimen noted 

 being about fifteen feet high; but several dead, standing or 

 fallen, trunks having a diameter of about eight inches were 

 found. The larger living specimens average six or eight feet 

 in height, and are greatly suppressed, many of them showing 

 twenty-five or more annual rings. 



The conditions noted in this tract of forest are essentially 

 similar to those which prevail in many other areas : balsam fir 



