36 OUTLINES OF FORESTRY. 



ranged the sand and other materials brought up 

 from below in a form of a garden-plot around the 

 mouth of the well. Strange plants soon appeared, 

 and among them a tree, which, when sufficiently 

 matured, proved to be an ancient form of beech- 

 plum. Now, since it is universally recognized that 

 no form of plant life appears without the presence 

 of a germ similar to that which the plant will it- 

 self produce, the germ of this ancient beech-plum 

 was presumably preserved in the deep-seated strata 

 for untold centuries, awaiting to be called into life 

 by the genial warmth and light of the sun. 



The virgin soil of the prairies, where turned up 

 by the plough of the settler, generally produces a 

 vegetation different from that of the undisturbed 

 eoil. Even the tracks of the settlers' wagons dis- 

 turb the soil sufficiently to be afterwards marked 

 by a growth of plants quite distinct from those 

 which cover the undisturbed portions. The seeds 

 must have lain a long time below the surface, 

 only springing into active life on exposure to the 

 light and heat of the sun. 



The burning of a pine forest in the North Tem- 

 perate Zone is almost invariably followed by a 

 growth of scrub oak. "What was the origin of 

 the germs of these oaks ? They presumably ex- 



