FLORA. 179 



ment of Olonetz. They have been found in the districts o 

 Pondoj and Kargopol, lying to the east, and under a lower 

 latitude than the forest of Vuig. 



' On becoming acquainted with the distribution of differ- 

 ent kinds of trees in these forests, we come unconsciously 

 to the conclusion that the true primitive and aboriginal 

 trees must have been the pines and firs. Broad-leaved 

 trees appear as if by chance accident in places which have 

 been burned, or which have been otherwise cleared, and 

 having once gained a footing, they have in a time more or 

 less protracted at length gained the mastery over the coni- 

 fers. The distribution of the conifers, I have had the 

 opportunity of observing on so many estates, under so 

 many varying conditions, that I cannot but make this bold 

 deduction.* 



' Wherever the birch comes into collision with the pine, 

 the latter, having a less rapid growth and comparatively 

 limited means of reproduction, gives place to its more 

 favourably conditioned competitor for possession of the 

 ground. I once had an opportunity, while in charge of a 

 forest estate in another Government further to the south, 

 of noting the progress of this death-struggle between 

 different kinds of trees. Over an area of 1000 deciatins, 

 birch trees, along with a smaller proportion of aspens, have 

 in forty years entirely superseded the pine, though within 

 the memory of the older inhabitants their place was occu- 

 pied by large pine trees, and I must add that the soil was 

 not particularly good for the growth of birch ; but in this 

 case nature was aided by the unwise way in which the 

 pine trees were cut down. 



' On the Vuig estate the process is not perceptible, but 

 nevertheless it is going on, though very slowly. In the 

 neighbouring villages one sees more of the birch and 

 aspen than in those parts of the forest which are less 



* My difficulty is to account, in accordance with this supposition, for the presence of 

 seeds of hroad-leaved trees in the ground. In Finland I found the opinion existing that 

 the seeds had not been lying dormant there, but had been blown thither after the coni- 

 fers had been burned. But I am not satisfied that it is so. J. C. B. 



