31 



The Succession of Forest Trees. 

 Wheu 3'ou cut down an oak or chestnut wood, especially if it is 

 old and heavy timber, a pine wood is likely to spring up in its 

 place, particularly if there are pines near by ; while, if you cut off 

 a pine wood, it is usually succeeded by a wood composed mainly 

 of deciduous trees, mostly hard woods, or the nut, cone or acorn 

 bearing kinds. Such a succession of trees has long been con- 

 sidered by farmers to be the rule. In other words, in some way 

 there comes rotation of crops when wood lots are cut off. It is 

 believed by some to be due to the springing up of seed which has 

 been buried for many years in the ground. When an oak wood 

 springs up where a pine wood has been cut away, there is no doubt 

 that it has sprung from seed in the ground. But it has not sprung 

 from seed which has been buried for many years, but from seed 

 buried probably within the year by birds and squirrels, and which 

 has been given a new lease of life by the sun's rays let in by the 

 removal of the dense foliage from above. All through the autumn 

 mouths, when nuts and acorns are plentiful, jays, crows and squir- 

 rels are gathering and storing away the seed among the pines where 

 they resort for shelter. 



Thousands of crows will roost in a pine wood for months during 

 the winter when the leaves are off the deciduous trees. The pines 

 then offer the best hiding-places for all woodland creatures. In 

 some of the large crow roosts among the pines extensive deposits 

 of various seeds and other material are found. When a pine wood 

 is surrounded on all sides by oak and walnut trees, when squirrels, 

 jays and crows are plentiful and the trees bear well, great quan- 

 tities of acorns and nuts will be carried by these creatures into the 

 pine wood, and buried beneath the dead "needles" or hidden away 

 in crevices. Although these nuts and acorns are buried in the mould 

 during the fall, many of them are dug up in the winter months, es- 

 pecially by the red squirrel. But many are never found. 



Note an opening in the pines made by cutting away a few trees. 

 Here young oaks spring up, and we find oaks and walnuts in such 

 openings quite as often as we find pines. Examine the ground 

 under the pines in the summer, and you may find many little oak, 

 walnut and maple trees coming up from beneath the pine needles, 

 and you will also find here and there j'oung pines. All these 

 young trees soon die in the dense shade of the larger pines.* 



* If the lot is not favorably situated and if birds and squirrels are not plentiful, 

 and, above all, if the crop of mast has been light the year before, there may be no 

 young walnuts and oaks springing up. 



