300 Changes of Timber and Plants^ ^c. 



Philadelphia March 25th, 1808. 

 Dear Sir, 



In my first publication on thq mammoth, page 36, 

 you will find an observation on a species of rotation of 

 timber, which is known to have taken place in Orange 

 and Ulster counties, in the state of New York. — Your 

 ingenious, philosophic and valuable application of this 

 fact, in the operations of nature on a great scale, to the 

 improvement of agriculture, in the rotation of crops, 

 deserves to be supported by concurring testimony; 

 especially as the facts which are here advanced so easily 

 admit of confirmation. 



In addition to this paragraph I need only remark, 

 that these morasses contain abundance of pine burrs, ^ 

 together with the trunks and branches of wood evide?itly 

 pine (specimens of both are now in the Museum, case 

 No. 4,) of which/ do riot remember to have seen a tree 

 growing in the neighbourhood, and that it is only from 

 the circumstance being so universally kno^vll by the 

 inhabitants that it is not often spoken of. 



I remain, respectfully yours, 



Rembrandt Peale. 



^ This not only proves the pre-existence of a growth of 

 pine timber, on the lands now occupied by a species entirely 

 different ; but it goes much farther, in support of the analo- 

 gy between natural and artificial products. The " abundance 

 01 pine burrs ^"^ w^hich we know contain the seed, found on 

 these lands, is an indisputable evidence of there having been 

 seed in plenty to reproduce pine timber, if the land had not 

 been pine-sick: — to use a country phrase, applied to lands 

 which will no longer admit of a repetition of the same kind 

 of crop. R. Peters. 



