THE SPROUT HARDWOODS REGION 351 



confined to them. In the drier situations, a mixed growth 

 usually prevails with such trees as pin and swamp white oaks, 

 white elm, white and black ash, gray and yellow birch, and 

 whitewood in mixture with the maple. 



Very little lumber is produced in the hardwood swamps, 

 most of the material being only fit for cordwood. It is usually 

 a rapid-growing type, except in situations where water stands 

 for a good part of the year, and checks fast growth. On the 

 average a growth of over a cord per acre per year can be ex- 

 pected from the hardwood swamps. Reproduction is almost 

 wholly by sprouts. 



4. Cedar Swamp. — In the section within twenty miles or so 

 of the coast are found occasional swamps of southern white 

 cedar. This same type was described in the white pine region, 

 to which reference should be had for details. It covers an ex- 

 tremely limited portion of the forest area, probably a small 

 fraction of one per cent, and deserves mention chiefly from its 

 strong contrast in character of growth to the hardwoods swamp 

 type. 



5. White Pine. — The white pine type represents an exten- 

 sion southward of the chief type of the white pine region. Only 

 a small per cent of the forest area is covered by this type, which 

 is in area of less importance than the hemlock type. Its high 

 yield per acre and the value of white pine lumber makes it a 

 type of commercial interest. 



Throughout Rhode Island and eastern Connecticut more of 

 the type occurs than elsewhere. As a result of planting open 

 lands with white pine the type will steadily increase in im- 

 portance. For further description of the type the reader is re- 

 ferred to the type of the same name under the white pine region. 



6. Old Field. — This is a widely distributed type, occupy- 

 ing lands at one time cleared, and covering about the same 

 area as the hardwood swamp type, hence ranking second or 

 third in importance. The soils are usually medium in quaHty, 

 since the best have been reserved for farming and the poorest 

 were never cleared. Red cedar and gray birch are the two 



