RESULTS OF FOREST FIRES. 53 



" barrens," producing abundance of berbs and wild fruits suitable for 

 the sustenance of animals -vvhicb could not subsist in the old woods ; 

 and these gradually becoming wooded, would keep up a succession of 

 young and vigorous forests. 



Zdhj^ The process of restoration may be interrupted by succes- 

 sive fires. These are most likely to occur soon after the first burning, 

 but may happen at any subsequent stage. The resources of nature 

 are not, however, easily exhausted. When fires pass through young 

 woods, some trees always escape ; and so long as any vegetable soil 

 remains, young plants continue to spring up, though not so plentifully 

 as at first. Repeated fires, however, greatly impoverish the soil, 

 since the most valuable part of the ashes is readily removed by rains, 

 and the vegetable mould is entirely consumed. In this case, if the 

 ground be not of great natural fertility, it becomes incapable of 

 supporting a vigorous crop of young trees. It is then permanently 

 occupied by shrubs and herbaceous plants; at least these remain 

 in exclusive possession of the soil for a long period. In this state 

 the burned ground is usually considered a permanent barren, — a name 

 which does not, however, well express its character; for though it 

 may appear bleak and desolate when viewed from a distance, it is 

 a perfect garden of flowering and fruit-bearing plants, and of beautiful 

 mosses and lichens. There are few persons born in the American 

 colonies who cannot recall the memory of happy youthful days spent in 

 gathering flowers and berries in the burnt barrens. Most of the plants 

 already referred to as appearing soon after fires continue to grow in 

 these more permanent bai-rens. In addition to these, however, a great 

 variety of other plants gradually appear, especially the Kalmia 

 angustifolia, or sheep laurel, wdiich often becomes the predominant 

 plant over large tracts. Cattle straying into the barrens deposit 

 the seeds of cultivated plants, as the grasses and clovers, as well 

 as of many exotic Aveeds, which often grow as luxuriantly as any of 

 the native plants. 



Lastly, When the ground is permanently occupied for agricultural 

 purposes, the reproduction of the forest is of course entirely prevented. 

 In this case, the greater number of the smaller plants found in the 

 barrens disappear. Some species, as the Solidagos and Asters, 

 and the Canada thistle, as well as a few smaller plants, remain in 

 the fields, and sometimes become troublesome weeds. The most 

 injurious weeds found in tlic cultivated ground are not, however, 

 native plants, but foreign species, which have been introduced with 

 the cultivated grains and grasses ; the ox-eyed daisy or white weed 

 and the crowsfoot or buttercup, are two of the most abundant of these. 



