210 



DESTRUCTION AND REPRODUCTION OF FORESTS, 



purple flowers communicate their own colour 

 to the whole surface, when viewed from a 

 distance. This plant appears to prefer the 

 less fertile soils, and the name of fire-weed 

 has been given to it, in consequence of its 

 occupying these when their wood has been 

 destroyed by fire. Various species of Soli- 

 daga and Aster, and other composite plants, 

 and Ferns, Lycopodia, and Mosses, are 

 also among the first occupants of burned 

 ground, and their presence may be explain- 

 ed in the same way with that of Epilobium ; 

 their seeds and sporules being easily scat- 

 tered over the surface of the barren by 

 wind. A third group of species, found 

 abundantly on burned ground, consists of 

 plants bearing edible fruits. The seeds of 

 these are scattered over the barren by birds 

 which feed on the fruits, and finding a rich 

 and congenial soil, soon bear abundantly, 

 and attract more birds, bringing with them 

 the seeds of other species. In this way, it 

 sometimes happens that a patch of burned 

 ground, only a few acres in extent, may, in 

 a few years, contain specimens of nearly 

 all the "fruit-bearing shrubs and herbs indi- 

 genous in the country. Among the most 

 common plants, which overspread the burn- 

 ed ground in this manner, are the raspber- 

 ry, which, in good soils, is one of the first 

 to make its appearance ; two species of Vac- 

 cinium, called in Nova Scotia, blueberries ; 

 the tea-berry wintergreen {Gualthena pro- 

 cumbens) ; the pigeon berry [Cormis cana- 

 densis) ; and the wild strawberry. It is not 

 denied that some plants may be found in 

 recently burned districts, whose presence 

 may not be explicable on the above modes ; 

 but no person acquainted with the facts, 

 can deny that all the plants which appear, 

 in any considerable quantity, within a few 

 years after the occurrence of a fire, may 

 readily be included in the groups which 

 have been mentioned. By the simple 

 means which have been described, a cloth- 

 ing of vegetation is speedily furnished to 

 the burned district ; the unsightliness of its 

 appearance is thus removed, abundant sup- 

 plies of food are furnished to a great varie- 

 ty of animals, and the fertility of the soil 

 is preserved, until anew forest has time to 

 overspread it. 



With the smaller plants that first cover 



a burned district, great numbers of seedling 

 trees spring up, and these, though for a few 

 years not very conspicuous, eventually over- 

 top, and, if numerous, suffocate the hum- 

 bler vegetation. Many of these j'oung trees 

 are of the species which composed the ori- 

 ginal wood, but the majority are usually 

 difl^erent from the former occupants of the 

 soil. The original forest may have consist- 

 ed of white or red pine ; black, white or 

 hemlock spruce; maple, beech, black or 

 yellow birch, or other trees of large dimen- 

 sions, and capable of attaining to a great 

 age. The " second growth " which suc- 

 ceeds these, usually consists of poplar, 

 white or poplar birch, wild cherry, balsam 

 fir, scrub pine, alder, and other trees of 

 small stature, and usually of rapid growth, 

 which, in good soils, prepare the Avay for 

 the larger forest trees, and occupy perma- 

 nently, only the less fertile soils. A few 

 examples will show the contrast which thus 

 appears between the primeval forest, and 

 that which succeeds it after a fiie. Near 

 the town of Pictou, woods chiefly consisting 

 of beech, maple and hemlock, have been 

 succeeded by white birch and firs. A small 

 clearing in woods of maple and beech in 

 New Annan, which, thirty years ago, was 

 under cultivation, is now thickly covered 

 with poplars thirty feet in height. In 

 Prince Edward Island, fine hardwood forests 

 have been succeeded by fir and spruce. 

 The pine woods of Miramichi, destroyed 

 by the great fire above referred to, have 

 been followed by a second growth, princi- 

 pally composed of white birch, poplar, and 

 wild cherry. When I visited this place, a 

 few years since, the second growth had at- 

 tained to nearly half the height of the dead 

 trunks of the ancient pines, which were 

 still standing in great numbers. 



As already stated, the second growth al- 

 most always includes many trees similar 

 to those which preceded it, and when the 

 smaller trees have attained their full height, 

 these and other trees capable of attaining a 

 greater magnitude, overtop them and final- 

 ly cause their death. The forest has then 

 attained its last stage, that of perfect reno- 

 vation. The cause of the last part of the 

 process evidently is, that in an old forest, 

 trees of the largest size and longest life have 



