3 60 FOREST commissioner's RErORT. 



create a layer of vegetable material which in its turn furnishes 

 nutrition and anchorage for present tree growth. Such sites 

 as this in Maine are generally wholly or largely occupied by 

 spruce. 



Growth in which spruce is predominant is known among 

 woodsmen by the very descriptive name "black growth" or 

 ^' black land." Another feature by which it can be marked is 

 the nature of the soil cover. On hard wood land the fallen 

 leaves cover the ground, often deeply and unbrokenly for long 

 distances. Where spruce rules, however, the ground is sure 

 to l)e covered with moss. 



Black growth, however, must be divided into two or three 

 classes. First among these is a very ra[)id-growing, thrifty 

 kind of hmd which I think does not occur in very large tracts 

 in this state. My impression is that it is oftenest land whose 

 l^ottom is slate. Such rock is friable and porous, and some 

 little soil is sure to make and lie upon it. It is generally 

 broken up into ridges and knolls which makes the drainage 

 good and keeps off standing water. Such land, even with 

 extremely little of mineral soil, is favorable to the growth of 

 spruce, as the taljles for growth given in the appendix will 

 show. AVhen mixed with a proportion of hard woods to 

 shield it from wind, this land is in best shape to grow spruce 

 permanently. Brassua would have l)een a tine township to 

 handle in that way, cutting out the full grown timber and 

 leaving the smaller carefully to grow. Some townships indeed 

 have as a matter of fact, though undesignedl}^ been treated 

 roughly in that way. Tomhegan is probaI)ly a case in point, 

 the township on the west shore of Moosehead which Mr. 

 Oliver Mansell of Greenville has cut on each year for nearly 

 thirty years. He has not cut the town over systematically, 

 but each autumn he has located his crew in the best country 

 he could find on the township. He has never cut pulp. Prob- 

 ably he has never cut very clean. What timber was left has 

 not to any great extent blown down. As a result the town- 

 ship, being naturally thrifty land, has produced well and still 

 maintains its producing power. Other townships on the other 



