THE FOREST 



The original forest, covering over ninety per cent of the area, 

 was a transitional belt between the Northern and Central 

 Hardwoods, in which sugar maple, beech, yellow birch, white 

 and black ashes, paper birch, black cherry, basswood, poplar, 

 elm, red maple, red spruce and red pine of the Northern 

 Forest intermingled with chestnut, red, black, scarlet, chest- 

 nut and white oaks, black birch, hickory and tupelo. Iso- 

 lated fragments of this forest still exist and seem to indicate 

 that hemlocks and white pines were everywhere scattered 

 through it, either as individuals or in small groups. 



Seventy years ago at least half of the area now wooded was 

 cleared land. The opening up of the West in conjunction 

 with the Civil War caused the abandonment of the less pro- 

 ductive farms a little over a half century ago. The present 

 forest types are to a greater or lesser extent transitional, result- 

 ing from the human occupation of the land. Three types are 

 important, better second growth hardwoods, inferior second 

 growth hardwoods, and second growth pine. Of these the 

 first most nearly approaches the climax type to which all 

 others tend to revert, differing from it somewhat in the pro- 

 portions of the various species in mixture and in being 

 even-aged and partly of sprout rather than seedling origin. 



The second growth pine type (from fifty to one hundred 

 per cent white pine) follows directly the abandonment of 

 land cleared for agriculture and may be succeeded by either 

 of the hardwood types. If cut at the age of fifty years or 

 more a stand of better second growth hardwood results from 

 the advanced hardwood growth which, at that age, has be- 

 come established under the pine stand. If cut at an age under 

 fifty years an inferior second growth hardwood stand results, 

 due to the lack of hardwood advanced growth and the sub- 

 sequent reproduction by light seeded species. If left beyond 

 maturity the hardwoods would probably gain a place in the 

 dominant stand and there would result a climax forest of 



