FOUEST commissioner's hepout. 161 



hand of a little ditlerent character inis2;ht by this kind of treat- 

 ment have been robbed of almost all value. 



Black <rro\vth land is at certain seasons of the ^^.^^""1-" *" 

 year liable to tire, and tire on such land works ^^'"'^" 

 especial damage, l)ecause it destroys not merely the timber 

 but the soil. Aside from that, the chief prol)lcm in its man- 

 agement with a view to growth seems to be i)rotection from 

 winds. Such country grows fast and if reasonably cut the 

 growth is of an amount that is well worth waiting for. Yet 

 leaving the land too open may leave it subject to winds which 

 may in the course of five years after a cut, without the assist- 

 ance of anv unusual gale, knock down more lumber and des- 

 troy UKU'e value than the land can grow in the next twent3^ 

 Every piece of ground is in this connection a pro])lem by 

 itself. Most men face to face with it will give it up and take 

 what thev can get from the land now. 



A second well-defined type of spruce land is much Hf,.i}c^e*fuici 

 slower growing, and the problems relating to its ^^'^ "'a'ks- 

 growth and cut are again quite different. I mean now that 

 deep-mossed slow-growing land with which all travelers in 

 the Maine woods are familiar. Here again the soil cover 

 comes in as a reliable distinguishing mark. The mosses in 

 this case are deep and wet, of the genus Spliognum botani- 

 cally speaking. German foresters know that it is a hard bed 

 for tree seeds to start in, while its deep blanket im[)ervious 

 to air keeps the soil wet and otherwise damages its capacity. 

 The moss cover of thrifty land on the other hand is not deep 

 nor wet. The bulk of it is made up of species belonging to 

 the genus Ilypnum. 



The characters of this variety of black growth seem to me 

 oftenest and in greater part due to the drainage of the land. 

 The nature of the rocks has something to do with it. Granite 

 and other hard materials weather more slowly than slate, and 

 so furnish less of both rooting and nourishment to trees. But 

 generally the difference seems due to drainage. Water 



stands on the ground and aids the growth of the wet-land 



]i 



