(33i) 



years ago, it has never been disturbed except for the removal of 

 dead trees and the trampling of the ground by numerous visitors. 

 This apparently unavoidable trampling, and the absence of 

 mossy logs which form such a favorable seed-bed for hemlock, 

 are probably in large part responsible for the lack of reproduction. 



The oak forest seems to be very old, and has the appearance of 

 being a remnant of the virgin forest which clothed the region 

 when the first white men arrived. The trees are, of course, 

 not the same ones, but their direct successors, and are probably 

 well over lOO years old. 



For the vicinity of New Haven it was originally planned to 

 have a station in a pure hemlock forest and another under hard- 

 woods. It was finally decided, however, on the recommendation 

 of Prof. Hawley and Dr. Nichols, to have two hemlock stations on 

 markedly different sites, one on a moist north slope, and another 

 on a dry ridge top, in order to determine the actual differences 

 between the extremes for the type. Prof. Hawley and Dr. 

 Nichols are of the opinion that in all probability the climax in 

 general would be a mixed forest of hemlocks and hardwoods, 

 with hemlock commonly predominant and frequently forming 

 pure stands. Certainly the hemlock formerly was much more 

 widely distributed than now; probably it predominated over 

 large areas where today it is absent. An examination of the 

 forest on Saltonstall Ridge, which has been protected from fire by 

 the New Haven Water Company for the past 15 years or so, 

 revealed hemlock reproduction coming up everywhere under the 

 hardwoods. It would seem, therefore, that records under a 

 hardwood forest would merely show conditions in a stage in the 

 successional series leading up to the hemlock climax. Extremes 

 for the hemlock were considered of more interest. Both stations 

 were established on Saltonstall Ridge under forests of pure 

 hemlock. The one on the north slope was young and thrifty, 

 with practically no undergrowth near the instruments, and the 

 usual cover of needles. The soil here was a fairly deep reddish 

 brown glacial till. The ridge top stand was mature, but the 

 trees were short and rather small. The canopy was less dense 

 than on the north slope, and there was a little shrubby and 

 herbaceous undergrowth. The soil was very shallow, and the 

 trap rock which forms the back-bone of the ridge cropped out 

 here and there. Hemlock reproduction was abundant in the 

 openings near both stations. 



