FORESTRY SURVEY 223 



situations of this nature. It seemed to be a shrub that was 

 confined entirely to mesophytic habitats. Of the trees of 

 the lower stratum Ostrya virgininana was the most abun- 

 dant. 



X. T. 7 lies in the more thickly settled and older part of 

 Glencoe. Practically no undergrowth is found in the for- 

 ests of this area. This means that the yegetation on the 

 whole is in a static condition, so far as reproduction is 

 concerned. With the exception of one area, to be men- 

 tioned later, the forests here haye all developed within 

 the memory of the oldest inhabitants. 



From the number of saplings of Acer sacchariim which 

 were found in reproducing forests where the maple was 

 found, it seemed reasonable to assume that the maple 

 might soon be counted with oak, ash and hickory in the 

 number and importance of specimens represented in the 

 upland climax forest. 



2. The Lake Bluff. 



The lake bluff was represented by two topographical 

 types, the relatively stable and the unstable clay bluff. 

 There were all gradations between these types. The sta- 

 bility of the soil depended largely upon the angle of the 

 slope. Where the angle of the slope was greatest, slump- 

 ing was extreme along the face of the entire slope ; where 

 the angle of slope was more gentle, slumping was practi- 

 cally absent. Slumping seemed to be partially due to the 

 formation of water pockets in the soil which resulted 

 either from freezing and thawing of water, or from the 

 decay of vegetation (logs) buried in the soil. The severity 

 of wave action was evidenced by the fact that beaches 

 were either very narrow or totally absent, and by the rows 

 of cobblestones which were left at the base of the bluff' as 

 the result of the washing away of the soil from the roots 

 of trees and shrubs. 



It was the degree of erosion or slumping which seemed 

 to determine the type of plant associations of the lake 

 bluff. Those plant associations on the less stable part of 

 the bluff had a decidedly xerophytic aspect. These xero- 

 phytic associations were gradually replaced by increas- 

 ingly more mesophytic associations on the more stable 

 parts of the slope. The four plant associations represent- 



