274 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



least valuable trees, rarely spring up again. Let us take the 

 case of a White Pine forest, because the White Pine is prob- 

 ably the most valuable forest tree to-day in New England 

 and because Ave are all familiar with its habits of growth. If 

 a forest of White Pine is destroyed by fire this tree does not 

 sprino- up again. The land which, if only a part of the trees 

 had been cut, would have continued to produce pines indefi- 

 nitely, is not covered again with anyj growth of trees for a 

 considerable period. The fire-weed first makes its appear- 

 ance. The light seed of this plant is often blown for a long 

 distance, andfalling upon the bare ground germinates quickly, 

 and finally covers the burned surface with vegetation. Birds 

 drop the seeds of raspberries and blackberries, which find 

 sufficient nourishment and light for germination. These, as 

 they o-row, cover the ground, and afi'ord protection to the 

 stones of the little mountain cherry, dropped by birds also, 

 or the light seeds of the Gray Birch, or some of the Willows 

 or Poplars, which are constantly blowing about, and which 

 will germinate anywhere upon unshaded ground, however 



barren. 



These are generally the first trees which succeed a White- 

 Pine forest destroyed by fire ; but years often elapse before the 

 o-round is covered even with such trees. Nature works slowly, 

 and the wounds made by fire on the earth's covering of trees 

 are only healed under the most favorable conditions through 

 the gradual growth and decay of many generations of plants. 

 The^Chenies and the Birch and Poplars are short lived, and 

 unless burned up, when the same process of recovering the 

 soil commences again, are succeeded by more valuable broad- 

 leaved trees. Squirrels and other animals deposit acorns 

 and nuts in the ground, and the wind brings the seeds of 

 Maples, Ashes, and the valuable Birches. Such seeds find 

 protection among the Poplars and Willows which had sprung 

 up on the burned laud, and as these die, the more valuable 

 trees get a chance to grow and gradually occupy the ground. 

 This new forest of hard-wood trees, if protected from fire, 

 will long occupy the ground, and the original Pine forest 

 will not appear again until the land, long enriched by an 

 annual deposit of leaves, has been again stripped of its 

 tree-covering, and mellowed by years of cultivation. Such 



