CHAPTER n 

 NORTHERN HARDWOOD TYPE 



General Conditions, — This is the type of timber which lies 

 immediately below the spruce type — the beech, birch and maple 

 belt. It is seldom abundant above 3000 feet above sea level but 

 is the important type in northern Maine, the lower slopes of the 

 White and Green Mountains, the Adirondacks and Catskills, 

 and is represented southward along the backbone of the southern 

 Appalachians by isolated islands of timber. In the Lake States 

 it is found in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. 



The climate is characterized by a longer growing season than 

 that of the spruce type, less precipitation, more rapid runoff and 

 flyoff and hence less available moisture. Only two of these cli- 

 matic factors may be expressed absolutely. The growing season 

 is at least four monjths and the total annual precipitation exceeds 

 35 inches. The other factors have not yet been accurately 

 measured so that only comparative statements may be made. 



Since the type occupies lower elevations than the spruce type 

 the slop)es arfe less precipitous, the surface less stony and the soil 

 deeper. The absolute range in elevation varies, of course, with 

 the latitude. In the northeast a range between 2000 and 3000 

 feet in elevation is the rule, while in North Carolina the northern 

 hardwoods do not occur below 3000 feet above sea level. On 

 south and west exposures the type does not extend so low but 

 reaches higher elevations on account of the longer growing season 

 as compared with northern and eastern exposures. 



The greater depth of the soil as compared with that of the 

 spruce type has already been mentioned. This would naturally 

 foUow from the fact that the hardwoods are further down the 

 slopes where the accumulation of talus is deeper. They flourish 

 particularly well on the southern slopes of the White and Green 

 Mountains, the Adirondacks and the Catskills where the glaciers 



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