ROTATION AND DISTRIBUTION. 33 



anew. These, along with several compound plants with 

 downy seeds, and a few ferns and equisetums, are the 

 first occupants of burnt lands. 



But the plants mentioned above have no tendency to 

 foster the growth of young trees. They are, however, 

 succeeded by the thistles and thorny plants, which are 

 nature's preparation of any tract, once entirely stripped 

 of vegetation, as a nursery for the seedlings. All the 

 phenomena of nature's rotation are but the necessary 

 giving place of rapid-growing and short-lived plants to 

 others which are perennial and more capable of maintain- 

 ing their ground after being once planted. Thorns and 

 thistles soon appear on burnt lands, and protect the young 

 trees as they spring up, both from the winds and the 

 browsing of animals. Thus many an oak has been nursed 

 in a cradle of thorns and brambles, and many a lime- 

 tree growing in a bower of eglantine has been protected 

 by its thorns from the browsing of the goat. 



We very early discover a variety of those woody plants 

 that bear an edible fruit, which is eaten by birds and scat- 

 tered by them over the land, including many species of 

 bramble. The fruit-bearing shrubs always precede the 

 fruit-bearing trees ; but the burnt land is first occupied 

 by those kinds that bear a stone-fruit. Hence great num- 

 bers of cherry-trees and wild-plum-trees are found there, as 

 the natural successors of the wild gooseberry and bramble- 

 bushes. These are soon mixed with poplars, limes, and 

 other trees with volatile seeds. But oaks, hickories, and 

 the nut-bearing trees must wait to be planted by squir- 

 rels and field-mice and some species of birds. The nut- 

 bearers, therefore, will be the last to appear in a burnt 

 region, for the little quadrupeds that feed upon their 

 fruit will not frequent this spot until it is well covered 

 with shrubbery and other vegetation. If the soil be- 

 adapted to the growth of heavy timber, the superior 

 2* c 



