THE WILDWOUDS 



11 



Let us dig up a little soil and see what it is like. 

 Beneath the cover of dry leaves we find leaves iu all 

 stages of decay ; below this, a dark soil, a leaf mold ; and 

 below this, earth. If 

 we rul3 a little of this 

 earth in our hand, we 

 see at once that it is 

 not a clear sand, but 

 that it is a loam which, 

 if moistened, would be- 

 come sticky. Would 

 these fin e h a r d av o o d 

 trees have grown here 

 if it were a clean sandy 

 soil ? 



We have now learned 

 several thin^ii-s on onr 



o 



stroll ; but there is still 



something which seems 



to have escaped our 



notice, though we have 



climbed and stuml)led 



over fallen timber at 



almost every step. It is the great waste of material 



in our uncared-for wildwoods. Here are some fine, large 



trunks of beecli and maple half decayed ; there is an old 



elm log completel}' changed to a l)rown, powdery mass 



Outer. 



/J 20 25 



Fk;. 7. The " Blaze " partly healed over, 

 as it appeared seven years ago 



