!^32 JOURNAL OF THE ARNOLD ARBORETlxM [vol. ii 



obliteration of the Mississippi embaymciit; it is tliercfore probable that 



these plants represent the rear guard of a retreating section of the south- 



ern forest, a movement entirely independent of and prior to the present 

 advance over the uplifted region; finally there is the testimony of early 

 explorers and settlers indicating that there has been a marked encroach- 

 ment of the foerst upon the prairies in the northwestern portion within 

 a period corresponding to three or four generations of men. These ac- 

 counts are interesting as indicating how rapidly the forest has been push- 

 ing forward; but most impressive of all is the fact that all of the phe- 

 nomena of advance, retreat and modification which ajiparcntly have 

 taken place in comparatively recent times in the Ozark region may still 

 be observed in operation in its various parts or elsewhere along the margins 

 of the great southern forest. 



To the trained observer standing upon a vantage point amid the bald 

 knobs of the Ozarks, noting the manner in which the advance guard of 

 the forest forges its way up the slopes, taking advantage of every ledge 

 and ineciuality of surface and often succeeding in gaining a foothold upon 

 the level tops when unable to do so on the eroded slopes, there can be no 

 doubt that he is here witnessing the actual encroachment of forest upon 

 prairie lands. Indeed, by the exercise of a little imagination he may 

 almost convince himself that the slow advance of the skirmish line can 

 be sQcn pushing its way slowly but irresistibly up the steep sides of tlie 

 prairie strongholds; and if he is of a philosophic turn of mind he may be 

 impelled, by the tragedy he is witnessing in the impending destruction of 

 these last remnants of an ancient flora, to reflect upon the mutability 

 of life and the tragic pageant through which it has passed, involving all 

 things from jjlant associations to the races of men, since its first appear- 

 ance upon this i)lanet. 



NOTES FROM AUSTRALASIA. II 



THE NEW ZEALAND FORESTS 



E. H. Wilson 



New Zealand, before its settlement by white men, was for the most 

 part densely clothed with mixed rain forest in which old types of Taxads 

 and Conifers were the dominant trees but axe and fire have in less than a 

 century played sad havoc and today much of the land is a jungle of Bracken 

 Fern {Ptcridium aqinUnum Kuhn), Manuka {Lepiospcrmum scoparium 

 Forst. and L. ericoidcs A. Rich.), and the naturalized Gorse {Ulex eiiropcus 

 L.) and Bramble {Ruhiis fruiicosus L.). Originally all the wetter parts 

 where tree-growth was possible in New Zealand were covered with pure 

 forests of Taxads and Conifers but, save on the west coast of the South 

 Island and excepting the Kauri in the north, these old types have long 

 smce been unable to cnniDctp sTicrpssfnllv jirminct i\,^ u^tr;,^^;.^^ ^f 4i,„ 



