CHAPTER XV. 



THE WHITE PINE REGION. 



General Considerations. 



Two separate sections of the white pine region are recognized, 

 one of small extent, lying along the eastern shore of Lake Cham- 

 plain; the other, and larger portion, extending from Connecticut 

 and Rhode Island through Massachusetts into southern Vermont, 

 New Hampshire, and Maine. 



In comparison with the two previously discussed, the white 

 pine region occupies a lower elevation. A glance at the map on 

 page 197 will show that the white pine region in a rough way 

 borders the seacoast, with the northern hardwoods and spruce 

 regions occupying the territory behind, which is of a more ele- 

 vated character. Only where elevations are low, as in the 

 Champlain valley of Vermont and in the upper Connecticut 

 River valley does the region extend any distance inland.^ A 

 northern latitude reacts in the same way as elevation in limiting 

 the white pine region. In eastern Maine, even along the coast, 

 although the elevations are low the species of the spruce region 

 prevail rather than that of the white pine. The region is largely 

 below the 500-foot contour, there being very few peaks where it 

 exceeds 2000 feet in elevation, and it also hes below the torrential 

 portions of the main rivers. These streams have descended 

 from the mountains and high plateaus of the spruce region 

 through the hilly and broken country of the northern hardwoods 

 into a land of gentler topography, where their courses are 

 often meandering and their currents sluggish. There are numer- 

 ous lakes and ponds, especially in the Maine and Central New 

 Hampshire sections. Many extended river bottoms occur with 



1 The limits of the region are formed not so much by the proximity to the sea 

 as they are by the lower elevation and soil conditions. 



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