362 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



dentally, with a critique in the Edinburgh Review, 

 vol, i. 1802 3, on Mackenzie's Voyages. It calls 

 lo my recollection a coutirraaiory laci, nientioneil 

 by him. He alleges it io be " a verj' curious and 

 extraordinary cirnimstance, that land covered 

 wiih spruce pine find lohite birch, when laid vvaete 

 by fire, should subsequently produce rrvlhing but 

 poplars, where, noDi' of that efiecies ot tree was 

 previoui^ly to be (bund." The. reviewers speak in- 

 credulously of this i'dct, which is neveriheless 

 undoubtedly true ; and corroborative ol" similar 

 relations. Many of the phenomena of nature pass 

 60 often vviihout notice, that they appear incredi- 

 ble, when our attention to them is awaken- 

 ed."— p. 37-8. 



Dr. James Mease adds the following : 



" The cause of ihe rapid and alarming decay of 

 the pine limber in South Carolina, is an insect or 

 bug which was first observed in the norihern and 

 eastern parte of the slate about six years since. 

 It is a small black winged bug resembling the 

 weevil, but somewhat larger. A great number of 

 these bugs have been observed in the spring of 

 the year, and early in the summer, flying near 

 the roots of the trees ; they pierce the bark a little 

 distance above ihe ground, and lay their egga be- 

 tween Ihe bark and wood ; in a lew weeks after, 

 these eggs hatch, and a worm appears, which, at 

 its full growth, is about an inch long ; they imme- 

 diately begin to feed on the sappy part of the tree, 

 and do not cease eating until ihe whole of it is 

 destroyed. 



" Very considerable injury has been done by 

 these insects to the pines of South Caro'ina. In 

 one place, viz., on the Sampii creek, nearGeorire- 

 town, in a tract of two thousand acres of pine 

 land, it has been calculated that ninety trees in 

 every hundred have been destroyed by this per- 

 nicious insect ; the adjoining lands, and many 

 tracts on the Saniee and Blark rivers have equally 

 Buffered. The fact of an oak springing up in the 

 place ol' a fallen pine tree, and of the latter ap- 

 pearing when the former is cut, in the southern 

 Slates, is known to every one there." — 41. 

 # # # # # 



" Mr. Hearne says, that 'strawberries of a 

 considerable size, and excellent flavor, are found 

 as far north as Churchill river, and that it is re- 

 markable, they are frequently known to be more 

 plentilial in such places as have formerly been 

 set on fire. This is not peculiar to the strawber- 

 ry, for it is well known, in the interior parts of the 

 country, aa well as at Albany, and Moose forls, 

 that after the underwood and moss have been 

 set on fire, raspberry bushes and hips have shot 

 up in great numbers on spots where nothing of 

 the kind had ever been seen before.' — Journey 

 to Northern Ocean, page 452. Land. 1795, 



" Mr, Cartwright also ol)serves, ' that if through 

 carelessness of those who make fires in the 

 woods, or by lightning, Ihe old spruce woods are 

 burnt, Indian tea is generally the first thing ivhich 

 comes up : currants lollow next, and after ihem, 

 birch.' — Journal of Transactions at Labrador. 

 Vol. 3. p. 225. 



" The Ibllowing extract of a letter to the wri- 

 ter, (i-om John Adium, Esq., of Havre-de-Grace, 

 Maryland, dated September 16lh, 1807, is a fur- 

 ther confirmation of the point here in discussion. 

 Every one who knows the high authority of Mr. 



AdIum, as an accurate observer, will duly eetimate 

 the farts he details. 



'' ' A-- 10 your query respecting a rotation or 

 succession of lljresi trees, I am as well saii.-fied of 

 it, in my own mind, as il I had lived lo see the 

 whole chani^e for ceniuries back ; and although it 

 may be difficult to give the kind of inlbrmaiion, 

 thai may be siUisl'aciory, I have no doubt that I 

 could convince any person as to the fact, were he 

 to travel over the country with me. 



•' ' I first look the idea in the summer of 1788, 

 when I was surveying lands south of Ihe great 

 bend of Susquehanna, between that river and the 

 Delaware, in wliat is called ihe beech and sugar 

 maple country. In the course of my surveying, I 

 traversed some places, consisting of a lew acres 

 each, growing red and white oak trees of an enor- 

 mous size, none being less than sixteen (eet in 

 circumlerence, five feel above the ground, and 

 generally from 40 to 50 feet to the first branches ; 

 some few red oaks were 22 leet in circumference, 

 and the white oaks 20 (eet round. I was struck 

 with astonishment to meet a few trees of the oak 

 kind, considering that I had not seen any /or some 

 weeks. After discovering the first few, I kept a 

 look out for more such places, and as well as I can 

 remember, I Ibund two more of the same kind, 

 containing trees of the sa.Tie enormous size, but 

 no small oaks nearer than the large waters empty- 

 ing inio the Susquehanna and Delaware. The 

 places mentioned, were near the heads of those 

 rivers, and where the streams were small, I in- 

 variably Ibund small bodies of very large hemlock 

 (Pinus abies jlmericana) trees, (the prevail- 

 ing timber,) near those places ; the remainder of 

 the trees consisted ol' beech, sugar maple, with a 

 few white walnut, (^Juglans alba,) while ash, 

 birch, &c., but no oaks. 



" ' In those parts of the country, where the 

 prevailing limber consisted of sugar maple, beech, 

 and birch, I observed large trees growing as it 

 were on stilts, their roots beini; three feet above 

 the ground, which treps undoubtedly grew on old 

 logs that had either fallen with age, or had been 

 thrown down by hurricanes, and had rotted away 

 from the roots of the trees." 



" 'The clumps of oak and hemlock are gene- 

 rally in the midst of, or surrounded by large bodies 

 of beech and sugar maple lands, mixed with some 

 ash, and a few wild cherry and hemlock trees. 

 In some parts of the country, the prevailing tim- 

 ber is still hemlock, on the sides of hills, and 

 along streams. 



" * From the circumstance of the great size of 

 all the oak trees growing in the spots noted above, 

 it appears to me that most of ihe high country, 

 including the head waters of the Delaware, Alle- 

 ghany and Chenesee rivers, was originally an oak 

 coumrs'. The hemlock appears to have succeeded 

 the oak, for there is still a considerable quantity 

 of that limber over the face of the country, but 

 from the number of logs of it lying on the ground, 

 and its visible decline, I think the beech, sugar 

 maple, &c. succeeded the hemlock, as they are 

 the prevailing limber at present. The limber that 

 appears to me will take place of all others in the 

 country before mentioned, is the while ash and 

 wild cherry, fbr I observed that all places where 

 the woods have been blown down by hurricanes 

 for a number of years back, the young growth 

 consists principally of those two kinds of trees. 



