102 Apparent Spontaneity of White Birch. 



instances alike. A wood lot, in which any sort of tree par- 

 ticularly obtains, appropriates the energy of the soil to its 

 wants. Or if there are several species, as is not unfrequently 

 the case, these particular species avail themselves of the fact 

 of preoccupancy. When removed by the axe, the vigor of 

 their roots prompts them to spring up again immediately, and 

 unless injured, to replace the loss of their parent trunks. So, 

 old neglected fields, where mulleins, thistles, asters, solidagos, 

 and a host of such useless plants may be annually found, so 

 completely shade the ground, and choke the surface soil, as 

 to prevent the chance of anything better appearing. De- 

 scending in the scale of size, a lichen-covered soil is equally 

 unproductive, from this exclusive preoccupancy before no- 

 ticed. Some species of Cladonias, e. g. CI. rangiferina, or 

 CI. Boryf?", act like fleeces of wool, or like sponges, to absorb 

 every drop of dew and much of the rain for their own use, 

 and keep the under surface quite dry. I have seen ashes 

 spread over spots thus covered by these lichens, and though 

 usually a fertilizer, yet they produced scarcely any effect than 

 the death of the lichens or the introduction of a plant scarcely 

 better in an economical point of view, I mean the White- 

 weed, Oxeye or White daisey, CLeucanthemum viilgare.) 

 The tearing apart the sod, the upturning of the surface soil, 

 and the breaking up of the outside, seem requisite in changing 

 the growth. By such and similar means, a chance is given 

 to the adhesion of such kinds of seeds as may be naturally, 

 or what is best, artificially applied. 



The respect which one insensibly gains for a tree, amounts 

 in some instances to almost a passion. Anything which 

 bears the aspect of an arborary character, is entitled to this 

 respect. There may be something grand and imposing in 

 the wide sweep of the prairies, but the eye must tire with the 

 sameness and uniformity attendant. He who is born on a 

 barren waste even, may love its unaltering features, may de- 

 light in its monotony and its savage sterility, yet the presence 

 of a single tree is suggestive of a comfort incompatible with 

 the former. How many of our seaside villages would be 

 rendered far more attractive, if the houses stood less conspic- 



