The North American Forest 9 



miserable inhabitants talk of a forest when they 

 see a few willow shrubs and poplars in a ravine by 

 the river. But farther to the south, there was a 

 large region where forest and prairie struggled for 

 mastery, with the result that, generally speaking, 

 the prairies covered the undulating uplands, sedge 

 marshes the wet, broad depressions, and forests the 

 river valleys, as well as the few hilly places. There 

 were also light groves, called openings, in many 

 places in the uplands. 



The species -constituting this great area of prime- 

 val forest were far from being the same in all parts 

 of the territory. Far to the north, on the bleak 

 shores of Hudson Bay, hardly anything was found 

 except spruce (Picea mariana and P. canadensis), 

 together with the balsam poplar (Populus balsami- 

 fera). As you go south, the first additional trees 

 you meet with will be the little jack pine (Pinus 

 divaricatd) and the aspen (Populus tremuloides). 

 Soon you enter the domain of the king of lumber 

 trees, the stately white pine (Pinus strobus), with 

 her cousin, the misnamed Norway (P. resinosd), 

 and the dignified, slow-growing hemlock (Tsuga 

 canadensis). By this time you are fairly within 

 the realm of the broad-leaved trees, the oaks, 

 maples, beeches, chestnuts, the walnuts and hicko- 

 ries, the tulip tree and sassafras, the gigantic syca- 

 more, or buttonwood as they call it in the Eastern 

 States. The farther south you go, the greater 

 becomes the number of species, until when you 

 reach about the latitude of Kentucky or Southern 



