4 THE PRIMITIVE FOREST. 



serene weather, the halcyon period of autumn, has dis- 

 appeared with the primitive forest. 



The original circumstances of the country have been 

 entirely revolutionized. The American climate is now in 

 that transition state which has been caused by opening 

 the space to the winds from all quarters by operations 

 which have not yet been carried to their extreme limit. 

 These changes of the surface have probably increased the 

 mean annual temperature of the whole country by per- 

 mitting the direct rays of the sun to act upon a wider 

 area, while they have multiplied those eccentricities of 

 climate that balk our weather calculations at all seasons. 

 There are still in many parts of the country large tracts 

 of wood which have not been greatly disturbed. From 

 the observation of these, and from descriptions by differ- 

 ent writers of the last century, we may form a pretty 

 fair estimate of the character and aspect of the forest be- 

 fore it was invaded by civilized man. 



During this primitive condition of the country, the 

 forest, having been left for centuries entirely to nature, 

 would have formed a very intelligible geological chart. 

 If we could have taken an extensive view of the New 

 England forest, before any considerable inroads had been 

 made by the early settlers, from an elevated stand on the 

 coast, we should have beheld a dense and almost univer- 

 sal covering of trees. From this stand we might also 

 trace the geological character of the soil, and its differ- 

 ent degrees of fertility, dryness, and moisture, by the 

 predominance of certain species and the absence of others. 

 The undulations upon this vast ocean of foliage would 

 come from the elevations and depressions of the ground ; 

 for the varying heights of the different assemblages of 

 species upon the same level could hardly be perceived 

 by a distant view. The lowest parts of this wooded 

 region were at that period covered very generally with a 



