THE SUCCESSION OF FOREST TREES. 49 



frequently found that in November, almost every 

 acorn left on the ground had sprouted or decayed. 

 What with frost, drought, moisture, and worms, the 

 greater part are soon destroyed. Yet it is stated by 

 one botanical writer that &quot; acorns that have lain for 

 centuries, on being ploughed up, have soon vege 

 tated.&quot; 



Mr. George B. Emerson, in his valuable Report on 

 the Trees and Shrubs of this State, says of the pines : 

 &quot; The tenacity of life of the seeds is remarkable. 

 They will remain for many years unchanged in the 

 ground, protected by the coolness and deep shade of 

 the forest above them. But when the forest is re 

 moved, and the warmth of the sun admitted, they 

 immediately vegetate.&quot; Since he does not tell us on 

 what observation his remark is founded, I must doubt 

 its truth. Besides, the experience of nurserymen 

 makes it the more questionable. 



The stories of wheat raised from seed buried with 

 an ancient Egyptian, and of raspberries raised from 

 seed found in the stomach of a man in England, who 

 is supposed to have died sixteen or seventeen hun 

 dred years ago, are generally discredited, simply be 

 cause the evidence is not conclusive. 



Several men of science, Dr. Carpenter among them, 

 have used the statement that beach-plums sprang up 

 in sand which was dug up forty miles inland in Maine, 

 to prove that the seed had lain there a very long time, 

 and some have inferred that the coast has receded so 

 far. But it seems to me necessary to their argument 

 to show, first, that beach-plums grow only on a beach. 

 They are not uncommon here, which is about half that 

 distance from the shore ; and I remember a dense 

 patch a few miles north of us, twenty-five miles in- 



