IIG JOURNAL OF FORESTRY 



humus, forest composition, and even shrub and herbaceous cover, all 

 react to cause differences in forest reproduction within a type. 



Stvainp. — The true swamp type of the Adirondack region is a balsam 

 and spruce mixture on flat, poorly drained land, with some areas along 

 streams and lake margins where white cedar and hemlock are prom- 

 inent. The soil may be deep or practically lacking, as on some boulder 

 formations, but the permanent water table is generally so high as 

 to make natural swamps a poor site for tree growth. The floor of 

 the forest is spongy with common occurrence of sphagnum. This is 

 the condition of the drained swamp. 



Where the undrained swamp prevails the typical tree growth is pure 

 black spruce, and any appearance of balsam in the mixture is evidence 

 of a flow of water in that area, either by seepage or direct stream drain- 

 age. The margins of bog swamp areas may have balsam in mixture 

 and mav be as wet to all appearances as the spruce section of the bog, 

 yet there is doubtless movement of water from the higher land through 

 the balsam section of the swamp which brings about the change of 

 mixture commonly observed. 



Open heath covered bog with stunted growth of black spruce occurs 

 over considerable areas of the undrained swamp type. A slight rise 

 of the water table in such swamps is soon apparent in the loss of vigor 

 and death of the spruce, while an equivalent lowering of the water 

 table will result in a distinct recovery of the stunted trees and more 

 rapid growth. This variation of the commercial swamp type offers 

 possibilities of drainage in many places which will react favorably in 

 introduction of species from the higher ground. 



The swamp type has a normally high percentage of windfall due to 

 the poor root support, so that the existing forest is usually young as 

 compared with the upland types. The upper margin of the swamp may 

 be defined as the line at which a soil layer of depth sufficient to sustain 

 mature liardwoods exists above the water table, and where the floor of 

 the forest loses its spongy character. Yellow birch appears in com- 

 mercial size at about this line, and is surpassed by the red maple only 

 in ability to take a wet site. The area of swamp will be reduced in the 

 second growth forest on clear cut areas due to the encroachment of 

 both yellow birch and red maple from the margins. 



Spruce Flat. — This type may be crowded out in some places by the 

 abrupt approach of steep hardwood slopes to the Q(]ge of a swamp, 

 and attain the spruce flat may cover extensive areas around the swamps 

 on the flats, knolls, and lower ridge slopes. The lower margin extends 



