30 North American Forests and Forestry 



case of the large areas in the Great Lake region 

 which have been deprived of their former pine 

 growth by the lumberman's axe and the fire. On 

 these " slashings " the first trees which appear to 

 provide a new forest growth are almost invariably 

 poplars, especially the kind known as trembling 

 aspen, and the white birches. These have es- 

 pecially effective apparatuses which enable their 

 seeds to travel long distances. The pines, of which 

 there are usually quite a number left on these 

 " slashings," being trees that were too small for the 

 lumberman, or of defective timber, have seeds 

 which can be carried by the wind but a few rods at 

 best. Consequently they cannot at once cover the 

 whole area, the way the aspens do. But this instance 

 also points the moral that the race is not always to 

 the swift. Though the pines do not travel far, their 

 little seedlings come up in numbers within a few 

 rods about each seed tree. The growth of aspen, 

 as well as bracken, grass, brambles, and other vege- 

 tation invading these areas, unless it gets to be too 

 dense a tangle, is of advantage rather than other- 

 wise to them, for it keeps off some of the scorching 

 sunshine against which pine seedlings are rather 

 sensitive. The aspen grows rapidly into saplings 

 six and more feet high. The pines, for the first 

 few years, grow but a few inches. Then they be- 

 gin to shoot upwards, and by the time they are 

 about fifteen years old, their tops begin to show 

 above those of the aspen, that are now ten to fif- 

 teen feet high. Five years more, and the pines are 



