Native Forest Resources of the United States. 85 



France, would not be found suited to similar conditions upon our 

 western coast, and prove a profitable tree for forest-culture, 



301. In determining the kinds of trees best adapted to a given 

 region, it is well to observe what kinds have grown up, or that still 

 remain of the native growth, along the borders of streams, or in 

 places where they have been sheltered and protected. 



302. It may generally be presumed that these kinds would suc- 

 ceed with much certainty, if planted again, although from ex- 

 haustion of the soil by cultivation, or its injury from fires, it may 

 have been impoverished to an extent that would make it difficult to 

 plant. Before much expense was risked, experimental planting 

 might be tried upon a small scale, and in this it should be the duty 

 of the government to assist, where the conditions are quite new and 

 the probabilities are unknown. 



General Glance at the Native Forest Resources of the United States and 



Canada. 



303. It is estimated by Professor Brewer, of Yale College, that 

 there may be eight hundred species of woody plants growing na- 

 tive in the United States, of which about three hundred attain a 

 height of thirty feet, and about two hundred and fifty are tolerably 

 abundant somewhere. Excluding semi-tropical species on the extreme 

 southern border, and some others that arc rare, there would still re- 

 main about one hundred and twenty species, of which about twenty 

 grow to one hundred feet, twelve to two hundred, and five or six 

 to three hundred feet or over. Of these one hundred and twenty, 

 about fifty are conifers. 



304. East of the treeless plains, which extend from north to 

 south across the country, in a belt some hundreds of miles wide, 

 east of the Rocky Mountains, the native forests were largely of de- 

 ciduous kinds, and in great variety of species. West of this belt 

 they are almost entirely conifers. One species, the aspen (Populus 

 tremidoides) , extends entirely across the continent. There may be a 

 few others that are found in rare cases. 



The New England States. 



305. In generalizing by regions, Professor Brewer remarks, that 

 in the New England States, once entirely wooded, there are eighty 

 to eighty-five native species, of which about sixty grow more than 



