300 Changes of Timber and PlantSy i^-c. 



Philadelphia March 25 th, 1808. 

 Dear Sir, 



In my first publication on the mammoth, page 36, 



you will find an observation on a species of rotation of 



timber, which is known to have taken place in Orange 



and Ulster counties, in the state of New York. — Your 



ingenious, philosophic and valuable applicatioh of this 



fact, in the operations of nature on a great scale, to the 



improvement of agriculture, in the rotation of crops, 



deserves to be supported by concurring testimony; 



especially as the facts which are here advanced so easily 



admit of confirmation. 



In addition to this paragi'aph I need only remark, 



that these morasses contain abundance o^ pine burrs,* 



together with the trunks and branches of wood evidently 



pine (specimens of both are now in the Museum, case 



No. 4, ) of which / do ?iot remember to Iiave seen a tree 



growing in the neighbourhood, and that it is only from 



the circumstance being so universally known by the 



inhabitants that it is not often spoken of. 



I remain, respectfully yours, 



Rembrandt Peale. 



* This not only proves the pre-existence of a growth of 

 pine timber, on the lands now occupied by a species entirely 

 different ; but it goes much farther, in support of the analo- 

 gy between natural and artificial products. The " abundance 

 of pine burrs^^ which we know contain the seed, found on 

 these lands, is an indisputable evidence of there having been 

 seed in plenty to reproduce pine timber^ if the land had not 

 been pine-sick: — to use a country phrase, applied to lands 

 •which will no longer admit of a repetition of the same kind 

 of crop. R. Peters. 



