34 FOREST commissioner's REPORT. 



„ . , In the first place then as to the land and its 



Species ana i 



elevation. original covci'. I have already mentioned the high 

 proportion of evergreen trees in the natural stand. In this 

 connection, note in the first place the elevation of the territory. 

 Parlin Pond by surveys for the Somerset Railway is known 

 to be 1,610 feet above the sea. Above that. Bald mountain, 

 on the East line of III and two miles south of the corner, rises, 

 according to independent observations by Judge Bus well and 

 myself, to a height of rather more than 2,200 feet. South of 

 this is the body of elevated land known as Johnson mountain. 

 The whole north half of township III is high, running on the 

 west into the mountain area which centers on the east line of 

 Hobbstown. The country then, for one thing, is elevated, 

 and elevation and exposure in this region tell against hard 

 woods, and in favor of spruce. 



Soil too has much to do with it. The better 



Species and 



''°'^- soils in all this region tend to hard wood or mixed 



growth. Now in this locality there is little soil of any kind. 

 Ledge rock and boulders are everywhere apparent, and these 

 are covered, not generally by mineral soil, but b}^ moss and 

 mold, one the product of vegetable decay, the other the living 

 plant which grows upon it. This condition of soil, as lumber- 

 men know , is one in which spruce thrives and which it helps 

 to create. This is the l)lack land, or black growth, of our 

 woodsmen, a term derived doubtless from the color of the 

 „, , foliage as seen from the outside. It is contrasted 



Black c 



growth. especially with the mixed or hard wood land which 

 through the country as a whole constitutes perhaps a larger 

 area. Not generally characterized by rapid growth, nor pos- 

 sessing trees of the largest size, it is yet the land on which 

 the largest stands of spruce occur per acre. Variations in it 

 seem to be mainly due to drainage. Land that is well broken 

 in surface may be very thrifty. It produces timber of good 

 size and quality, frequently, as in this case, mixed with con- 

 siderable pine. Land that is flat and therefore poorly drained, 

 is a|)t on the other hand to produce the thick growths of 



