SOWING. 13 



tain forest be suddenly laid low, we have not only 

 to fear the sudden appearance of an undergrowth 

 prejudicial to tree reproduction, but we have to 

 fear the total loss of the soil, which, exposed to 

 the violence of the falling rain, and no longer held 

 together by the tree-roots, gets washed down into 

 the valley below, until the bared subsoil or rock is 

 unfitted for the support of any but the scantiest 

 herbage. 



Turning now to the compact forests in search 

 of Nature's method of reproduction, and going from 

 blocks of poles of twenty feet high, through every 

 succeeding stage, to blocks of mature trees, we 

 find the number of trees on a given area dimin- 

 ished at every stage to make room for the gradual 

 perfect development of the survivors ; and as long 

 as the forest is full, although we may find delicate 

 seedlings of the year, we shall find none of two 

 or more years old : the trees, closing at top, do not 

 admit sufficient light to foster such seedlings as 

 annually germinate. But passing on to a block in 

 the next stage, in which mature trees are going to 

 decay, we find an occasional fallen tree, the site 

 occupied by which is covered with a dense carpet 

 of seedlings. Year after year fresh trees crumble 

 to decay, admitting sufficient light to foster the 

 seedlings which spring up annually, at first in 

 spots, and finally throughout the whole area, but 



