Reproduction of Forests in British North America. 167 



by white birch and firs. A small clearing in woods of maple 

 and beech in New Annan, which, thirty years ago, was under 

 cultivation, is now thickly covered with poplars thirty feet in 

 height. In Prince Edward Island, fine hardwood forests have 

 been succeeded by fir and spruce. The pine woods of Miramichi, 

 destroyed by the great fire above referred to, have been followed 

 by a second growth, principally composed of white birch, poplar, 

 and wild cherry. When I visited this place, a few years since, 

 the second growth had attained to nearly half the height of the 

 dead trunks of the ancient pines, which were still standing in 

 great numbers. 



As already stated, the second growth almost always includes 

 many trees similar to those which preceded it, and when the 

 smaller trees have attained their full height, these and other trees 

 capable of attaining a greater magnitude, overtop them, and 

 finally cause their death. The forest has then attained its last 

 stage, that of perfect renovation. The cause of the last part of 

 the process evidently is, that in an old forest, trees of the largest 

 size and longest life have a tendency to prevail, to the exclusion 

 of others. For reasons which will be afterwards stated, this last 

 stage is rarely attained by the burned forests, in countries begin- 

 ning to be occupied by civilized man. 



In accounting for the presence of the seeds necessary for the 

 production of the second growth, we may refer to the same 

 causes which supply the seeds of the smaller plants appearing 

 immediately after the fire. The seeds of many forest trees, 

 especially the poplar, the birch, and the firs, and spruces, are fur- 

 nished with ample means for their conveyance through the air. 

 The cottony pappus of the poplar seems especially to adapt it 

 for this purpose. The seeds of the wild cherry, another species 

 of frequent occurrence in woods of the second growth, are dis- 

 persed by birds, which are fond of the fruit ; the same remark 

 applies to some other fruit-bearing species of less frequent occur- 

 rence. When the seeds that are dispersed in these ways fall in 

 the growing woods, they cannot vegetate, but when they are 

 deposited on the comparatively bare surface of a barren, they 

 readily grow . and if the soi i be suited to them, the young plants 



Mcrease in size with great rapidity. 



It is possible, however, that the seeds of the trees oi the se- 

 cond growth may be already in the soil. It has been already 

 fated that deeply buried tubers sometimes escape the eiiects oi 

 fire > and, in the same manner, seeds imbedded in the vegetable 

 m °uld, or buried in cradle hills, may retain their vitality, and be- 

 ln ? supplied by the ashes which cover the ground, with alkaline 

 »lutions well-fitted to promote their vegetation, may spring up 

 ^ore a supply of seed could be furnished from any extraneous 

 s^rce. It * even probable that many of the old forests may 



