27 



BULLETIN OF 



Massachusetts Board of Agriculture 



NATURE'S FORESTERS. 



By E. H. FoKBUSH, 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 are 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 broadcast over the 

 laud. 



Planting the Forest. 

 If you will 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 b}^ 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 

 seeds of the ash and some other deciduous trees. Such seeds, like 

 the pine seed, are winged for distribution. Although they will 



