AGRICULTURAL MUSEUM. S2f 



circumference, and the wlilte oaks 20 feet rounfl. I was 

 struck with astonishment to mee.t a few trees of the oalf 

 kind, considering that I had not seen any for some weeks 

 After discovering; the first few. 1 kept a look out for 

 more snch ph^ces, and as well as 1 can remember, 1 

 ibund two more of the same kind, conlaininii^ trees of 

 the same enormons si^e. The places mentioned^were 

 near the heads of the Sjsqnehantia and Delaware; and 

 where the streams were small, 1 invariahly found small 

 bodies of very large hemlock (pinus Abies Americana) 

 trees (the prevailing timber) near those places ; the re- 

 piainder of the trees consisted of beech, sugar maple^ 

 with a few white walnut, white ash^ bi-ch; &c. but no 

 oaks." 



In those parts of the country where the prevailing 

 timber consisted of sugar maple, beech, and birch, 1 ob- 

 served large trees growing as it were on stilts, their roots 

 being three feet above (he ground, which trees undoubt- 

 edly grew on old logs that had either fallen with age, or 

 had been thrown down by hurricanes, and had rotted 

 away from th.e roots of the tree§. 



" The chimps of oak and hemlock arc generally in 

 the midst of, or sur!-nunded by, large bodies of beech 

 and sugar inaple, and mixed with some ash and a few- 

 wild cherry and hemlock trees. In' some parts of the, 

 country, tiie prevailing timber is still hemlock on the 

 sides of the 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 ine that most of the high country, including the head 

 watersof the Delaware, Allegany, and Genessee rivers, 

 %vas originally an oak conntry. The hemlock appears to 

 have succeeded the oak, for there is still a considerable 

 quantity of that timber over the face of the country, 

 but fro n th- number of logs of it lying on the ground, 

 and its vi^^ibl- decline, I think the beech, sugar maple, 

 Sec. succeeded the hemlock, as they are (he prevailinj: (im- 

 bcr at present. The timber that api)ears to mc will take 



