(',■2 Till', WHITE PINE. 



NATURAL REPRODUCTION 



Tlie Wliite Tine repnxluccs itself leailily in the virgin forest on all sandy and loamy sand 

 soils wlu'ie the hard\voo<ls do not interfere. On these areas thickets of youn;; {growth, sapling 

 tinilier, and dense gi'oves of mature trees are s<;attered without regularity, and there is no indica- 

 tion tiiat this pine forest has undergone material change fur centuries. In the hardwood disli icts 

 of the heavier .soils of the Lake region, where the pino is met with chiefly as old, overripe timber, 

 the reproduction of the pine seem.s, temporarily at least, to be interfered with by the associated 

 growth. Large, old trees occui, thinly scatt(!red or in clusters, but s:i|>ling timber and young 

 growth is often entirely wanting over considerable areas. Similar conditions ))rcvail, or have pre- 

 vailed, in the mountains of Pennsylvania, and also lu New England and in the Adirondacks. 

 Where the jtine is cut and some seed trees ar(! left the ground soon covers itself with young growth. 

 This, contrary to the common notion, is true even where lire has run over the slashings and the 

 ground for a time is stocked with Poplar and other brush. Such gntves or thickets of young pine 

 occur in all parts of the pinery of the Lake region, and in the aggregate cover several hundred 

 thousand acres. Generally, however, the tire returns from time t<j time, the young seedlings, as 

 well as the mother trees, are finally all ilestroyed, and thus the reproduction is c()mi)leti ly i)re- 

 vented. On such lands, impoverished by tire and exposure to sun and wind, not even the Poplar 

 returns. In the hardwood, Spruce, and llemlock regions the cutting of the i)ine in the usual 

 nnmncr simply assists its competitors, and its rejjrodnction is seriously hampered and freijuently 

 prevented altogether. Where these clay and loam lands are completely cleared and then aban- 

 doned, as has been the case with thousands of acres of New lingland forests, the White Pine is 

 one of the first to return if any seed trees e.xist in the vicinity. Hundreds of groves have sprung 

 uj) in New ICngland in this way. 



NOTES ON NATUUAL UlCrUoDUCTION. 



A case of the kind above referred to was observed in lS8(i in York County, Me., and the 

 Ibllowing notes on the subject will, no doubt, prove of interest: 



III I'oiiipjiuy with Mr. Juliu K. Hobbs, who is thoroughly I'ariiiliar with the history of the various ]>ieci!H of 

 fore8tie.\iiiiiiiie(l, a vi.sit was made to a uuuilier of places on which White I'iue was growing, others on which young 

 pine seedlings were coming in, and still others in the immediate vicinity where none were to be seen, although the 

 general conditions of soil and situation were practically identical. Tlic soil, much of it, was light and sandy, with 

 a growth of Complonia, I'teitK, CaiiUhvria, and other jilants comnuni on iiine land. 



A large nnnibcr of trees had a crop of cones, the last ycrar before this visit in which therc^ was a, good crop 

 having been 1S7!I, .according to Mr. Hobbs. (ioiiig lirst to an open licld lliat was formerly <overe<l with ])iue trees, 

 it was found to be very thickly covered with young seedlings, from a few inches to 2 feet or more in height, 

 that had sprung up in such abundance thai a bare spot was hardly to be seen over the whole tract. Thispieci' was 

 cnt over in the winter of 1879-SO, thi' ground was not burned over, and there being a good crop of seeds, these 

 had grown promptly and a young forest was rapidly coming on to take the place of the one removed. 



• •n going to other pieces in the vicinity, from which the pine had been cut at diflcK'nt times since IS"'.), a most 

 striking coutra.st w.as obscTved. On those i)ieces that seemed otherwise just like the lirst, and with the condilicms 

 just as favorable for a sci-ond growth, only a very few pino seedlings were to be seen. These few may have come 

 from seeils carried by wind from the neighboring forests, but evidently the gnmnd had not been seeded as the lirst 

 piece bad, and it was impossible not to draw the conclusion that the dilVerence was due sini]ily to the fact that the 

 first piece was fully seeded, while the others were not. IJepeated observations of similar pieces of land led further 

 to the conclusion that no dependence can be placed upon the springing up of seeds that have lain dornutnt in the 

 ground for a term of years; or, in otlier words, although the seeds of the White I'ine retain their vitality for a long 

 time if kept in .'i dry ]>lace, there is a lack of evidence to show that this is the case in the natural fonst, where they 

 are alternately dry and wet. 



Otlier interesting conditions of growth were noticed in the same region. In the vicinity of standing pino 

 forests, partii'iilarly on Iheir l<;eward side, seedlings of ililfiient ages wore coming up, often viiy thickly, but u]ion 

 entering the forest, after the lirst 2 or 3 rods, no more of these wore to be seen, their growth having evidently been 

 prcveiit<d liy the dense shade of the standing Irees. In hardwooils. on the other hand, where the surroundings were 

 a little more favorable, some young iiinos were growing here and there. 



All observations reeiiforci'd the truth that there is no mysterious succession of forest growth, involving neces.sary 

 alternations, and thjit the White fine does actnally grow and llourish f<u' an indolinlte nunib(rr of generations on 

 the same land, if only the necessary seeding has been insured. 



In such regions as have just been descrilied reforesting with the White I'ine is a coniparativoly simple matter. 

 Where nothing more is done than to tike adv,antage of natural conditions by felling the trees in seed years, or by 

 leaving seed trees here and there, an abundant crop uf young pirns m.iy often be secured. As a matter of fact, large 



