NATURE'S FORESTERS. 



BY E. II. FORBUSII, ORNITHOLOGIST TO THE BOARD. 



Who can tell us of the beginning of vegetation upon the 

 earth, of the evolution of the forest from the rank growths 

 of the swamps of early periods? Who can even write the 

 story of the forests of to-day, from the seed sowing through 

 the cycles of years to the tottering and fall of the last giant 

 trunk as it goes crashing to the forest floor to crumble in 

 dust amid the fragments of its fellows ? How is the forest 

 planted ? Somewhat of this we know. Wind, stream and 

 wave tire the bearers of the seed ; crow, jay, thrush, mouse 

 and squirrel are the forest planters. But, say you, the trees 

 bear fruit, and if the seed fall on good ground, the rains will 

 come, the sun will shine and the seed will spring up and 

 bear fruit according to its kind. True, but if acorns fell to 

 the ground only beneath the oak, there would be no wider 

 dissemination of the seed than could be thus accounted for, 

 and we know that oaks spring up as if the seed were sown 

 broadcast. Let us watch the sowers of the seed, and so 

 learn how it is scattered over the land. 



Planting the Forest. 

 If you take a white pine cone with seeds, break it open 

 and examine a seed, you will find that it is enveloped in a 

 membrane with a wing-like appendage. Now take the seed 

 and toss it into the air, and it will descend to the ground 

 with a rotary motion, like that of a pickerel spoon when 

 drawn through the water. As the seed descends, its wing 

 by this rotary motion forms a spiral plane at an angle with 

 the direction of its descent, serving as a parachute to sustain 

 it in the air. If there is the slightest breeze, the seed floats 

 off upon it and descends diagonally to the ground. The 

 phenomenon is much the same as that observed in the fall of 



