666 [Assembly 



ber, or tracts of great size, are killed by fires, (except certain parts 

 of swamps,) a very different growth springs up; at first a great num- 

 ber of herbs and shrubs which did not grow on the land when cover- 

 ed with forest. The turfy coat of the land, filled with the decaying 

 fibres of the roots and plants of the forest, now all killed by the fire, 

 becomes a kind of hot bed, and seeds which have lain dormant for 

 centuries, spring up and flourish in the mellow soil. On the most 

 barren portions the Blue berry appears almost everywhere: great 

 fields ot red Raspberries, and Fire weed or French Willow, spring 

 up along the edges of the Beach or Hemlock land, and abundance of 

 red berried Elder, and wild Red Cherry, appear soon after. But in 

 a few years, the Raspberries and most of the herbage disappear, and 

 are followed by a -rowth of Firs, white and yellow Birch and Pop- 

 lar. When a succession of fires have occured, small shrubs occupy 

 the barren, the Kalmia, or sheep poison being most abundant, in the 

 course of ten or twelve years forms so much turf that a thicket of 

 small Alder begins to grow, under the shelter of which. Fir, Spruce, 

 Harmetac, (Larch,) and White Birch spring up. When the ground 

 is thoroughly shaded by a thicket 25 feet high, the species lohich ori- 

 ginally occupied the ground begins to prevail ! and to suffocate the 

 wood which sheltered it. And within sixty years, this land will ge- 

 nerally be covered with the young growth of the same kind produc- 

 ed of old ! Mr. Dawson attributes to birds, the rapid distribution of 

 the seeds of edible plants of all sorts. 



After various growths, the ancient forest is renewed; trees of the 

 longest growth prevail over all others. Animals are adapted to all 

 their changes, some species disappear before cultivation, others in- 

 crease with it. 



H. MEIGS, Secretary 



Farmers^ Club. 



Josiah Gregg. The following valuable letter from his was read. 



JYew-York, July 24, 1847. 



Dear Sir — I have taken the liberty of sending to the American 

 Institute, a package of dried botanical specimens, which I beg leave 

 to place at the disposition of this meritorious and honorable associa- 

 tion. 



As I presume this collection of plants can be of no important in- 

 terest except to professed botanists, it is for the use of such in par, 

 ticular, that I submit it. I therefore desire, and respectfully solicit- 



