98 Apparent Spontaneity of White Birch. 



and cattle. The most prevalent grass is the common Forked 

 beard grass, CAndropogon furcatus, Muhl.,) whose wing stems 

 and silken seeds, rising above the tufts of wide-spreading 

 foliage, are so familiar to every body, and which, when faded 

 and dry, constitute the autumnal feature of a sterile soil. 



Such hills are economically employed in the repairing of 

 highways and roads, if they are contiguous ; or else in filling 

 up swampy and boggy spots ; or gravelling peat meadows, 

 previous to sowing them with the English grasses, subse- 

 quent to their draining. 



As the coarse gravel is thus removed, quite a different sort 

 of earth frequently appears, consisting of a very fine particled 

 sand, of a somewhat tenacious consistence ; and when satu- 

 rated with water, forming a kind of quicksand. 



Nothing could seem less favorable for vegetation ; and yet 

 on such denuded spots, there will soon be perceptible the ru- 

 diments of a valuable produce. A similar spot in my neigh- 

 borhood I have frequently visited, in order that I may witness 

 the renovating process of nature. This process is both 

 marked and singular. The first attempts at vegetation, if I 

 may so term them, were on the part of the mosses, which 

 soon appeared. Blackish byssoid filaments, or else deep green 

 filaments of the same texture, began to creep over the sur- 

 face. These, it is well known, are the primitive growth of 

 several species. Accordingly, during the winter, when the 

 absence of snow allowed inspection, and towards the next 

 spring, I discovered the young stems of Polytrichum juni- 

 perinum and perfect plants of Funaria hygrometrica. This 

 was in less time than a year after the removal of the layers of 

 .gravel. On the spring after, (a year from the last mentioned 

 period,) I saw large patches of perfect plants of Trichostomum 

 tortile, with a species of Rush, (Ju'ncus,) and with the pretty 

 Fimhristylis capillaris. 



It was now that the white birch was plentifully perceptible, 

 coming up thickly, so that at the end of that summer suc- 

 ceeding, the ground was, in spots and particular places, 

 strewed Avith little seedlings of an inch or more in height. 

 From being thrown out of the soil by frost, many perished. 



