52 RELATIONS OF WOODLANDS TO ANIMAL LIFE. [Nov. 



enough for his own use. Yet these same squirrels are themselves 

 the most industrious and successful planters. They are constantly- 

 burying the seeds and nuts of trees, some of which they may 

 recover, but multitudes of them remain and grow. In a pine wood, 

 young oaks may often be found scattered everywhere, mere sprouts, 

 which would scarcely ever become more, if left alone ; but when 

 such a pine wood is cleared, a new growth of oak comes up over 

 the whole surface, and men wonder at this " spontaneous creation," 

 or speculate on the length of time that acorns can lie dormant in 

 the soil, without stopping to think of what the squirrels can do, or 

 to thank them for their labour. 



In some localities in our country, the hedgehogs do very con- 

 siderable damage in spruce and hemlock woods by gnawing the 

 bark, and eating the leaves and buds. The colonies of beavers — 

 once vastly more common — besides killing many trees for use in 

 their dams, destroyed hundreds of acres by Hooding flat lands. In 

 one instance within my knowledge, four hundred acres of timber 

 were thus killed since the first surveys for settlement were made. 



The relations of woodlands to animal life are therefore neither 

 new nor unimportant. The examples we have noticed might be 

 multiplied without limit, but enough has been said to show that 

 not only do small animals as well as birds assist largely in plant- 

 ing, and the latter especially in conveying seeds to great distances, 

 but that the woodlands also present conditions that render the 

 increase and maintenance of this life possible. A correlation exists, 

 which may to some extent control, and which, if duly managed, 

 will result largely to his profit, although tlie individuals that con- 

 stitute this life ask no favour further than to be let alone. A word 

 may now be said concerning the domestic animals, whose numbers 

 and range depend wholly upon the will of man their master. In 

 forest-planting, and in the early stages of tree growth, these animals, 

 if allowed free range, will quickly destroy the planter's labour, and 

 in general it may be said, that from a coppice wood, which always 

 contains young trees, they should be permanently excluded at all 

 seasons of the j'ear. In a plantation intended for growth as " high 

 forest," they may after a time be admitted and pastured to advan- 

 tage, when the trees have grown beyond the reach of the animals. 



In some countries, where damages have been done by the erosion 

 of mountain torrents, and where millions of dollars are being spent 

 in barriers and plantations for restoring them, the greatest mischief 

 has been done from excessive pasturage by sheep and goats, which 

 might have been wholly prevented, and for which man can blame 

 only himself. Fkanklin B. Hough. 



