CHAPTER IV 



THE ORGANIZATION OF LAND 

 COMMUNITIES 



T 



HE white man found 

 an almost unbroken forest of deciduous trees 

 occupying much of the eastern part of what is 

 now the United States. American beech and 

 hard maple were present in largest numbers and 

 were plainly the characteristic trees of this thou- 

 sand mile long forest of hard wood trees. In- 

 cluded in favorable locations were trees of various 

 sorts; oaks, tulip trees, black walnuts, sassafras 

 and others on the uplands, while in the lowlands 

 were elms, sycamores and cottonwood (poplar) 

 trees. The under-forest was scanty. In regions 

 near natural openings around ponds, or in places 

 cleared by forest fires or by the falling of trees in 

 storms, berry briars grew in abundance for a 

 time before they were choked out by the regenerat- 

 ing forest. Elsewhere the lower forest held a 

 scanty growth of spicewood and pawpaw bushes 

 and a few other shade-tolerating shrubs. In the 

 spring, the forest floor was carpeted by flowers 

 which pushed up through the thick leaf mould 



48 



