6 Minnesota Plant Life. 



nature would be seen perched upon the branches, dangling their 

 roots into the damp air below; climbing and twining plants 

 would be abundant and especially would there be observed a 

 much greater variety over a particular area than could be 

 expected in temperate regions. This peculiarity of the tropical 

 forest, this exuberant development of tree-top life is a natural 

 result of age. It is because the forest has been standing for 

 countless centuries, unmodified by changes of climate, unin- 

 vaded by glacial sheets, that it includes so many different kinds 

 of individuals. For the same reason there have arisen depen- 

 dencies between different varieties of plants, and some have 

 learned to perch themselves upon the branches of others or have 

 entwined themselves around the stems of their neighbors. Just 

 so, in an old societv like that of India or wherever there is not 

 the democracy and equality which exists under a newer social 

 order, is caste developed. People are born to be dependent and 

 it is fore-ordained in the social system that they and their de- 

 scendants shall not rise above this position. 



In the forests of Minnesota all is very different. When one 

 enters the pine-woods of the north, or the elm and maple-woods 

 of the south, he is not impressed with the silence and solitude 

 of the forest-floor, nor does he discover that the tree-tops have 

 become a special soil for the development of peculiar plants. 

 Perching plants are rare ; vines and lianas do not form so large 

 a proportion of the total population. There is nearly always a 

 well-developed underbrush, and many sorts of little heaths, 

 asters, gentians and golden-rods display their flowers and ripen 

 their fruits under the shadow of the trees. They are not com- 

 pelled by the umbrageous growth of larger plants to climb the 

 trunks or hang themselves upon the topmost branches in order 

 to obtain their share of sunlight and of rain. Nor is the number 

 of kinds in an acre nearly so great as in the tropics, for there 

 has not yet ensued that long period of competition which, in the 

 tropical forest, has reduced what might once have been social 

 clumps of trees to the lone survivors of to-day. 



Forest and prairie. There are two principal vegetation- 

 regions in Minnesota, the forest and the prairie. The forest 

 occupies the northern portion of the state extending south to 



