Trees of New York State 391 



come of optimum growth conditions which led to better nourished 

 individuals of greater stature is open to argument. In any case 

 I would have you think of the tree as the king of plants, towering 

 far above its smaller kinsmen and haughtily permitting them the 

 crumbs of existence after its own wants are satisfied. But the 

 race is not always to the swift nor to the mighty. History tells 

 us that massive stature may oft predict extinction. Who knows 

 but that the mighty lords of the forest may, as evolution goes on, 

 succumb in the battle for existence? The trend of evolution for 

 the future is problematical. 



THE CLIMAX FOREST 



But the kingdom of the tree is limited. He rules supreme in 

 woodlands by the grace of a better interpretation of and adapta- 

 tion to environmental factors such as precipitation (rain, atmos- 

 pheric moisture, etc.), and temperature which permit of his 

 dominance, nay, his very existence. And in those areas where he 

 is conspicuous by his absence the humbler plants which demand 

 less moisture hold undisputed sway and form the so-called grass- 

 lands. These herbaceous forms in turn may grow weary of the 

 struggle in arid or semi-arid regions and a desert type, inhabited 

 by only the most hardy or wholly destitute of vegetation, results. 



I trust that before this the reader has grasped the idea of life 

 and death competition between plants. Evolution has resulted in 

 a bewildering array of plant forms, trees, shrubs, lianas, and 

 herbaceous types with a concomitant crowding as a result. Force 

 of circumstances has compelled these organisms to resort to mutual 

 adjustments, to become plastic or adaptable as we say, and where 

 a given set of environmental factors has been in force over a long 

 period a plant "status quo" as it were, has resulted. In regions 

 where circumstances such as drought and the like precluded tree 

 growth, grasslands of various sorts occupy the terrain. On other 

 areas, a climax forest consisting of stable tree citizens, found 

 w^orthy by trial, has developed. In localities which permit the 

 growth of forests, the climax forest is always the ultimate result 

 of the working out of mutual adjustments and dependencies over 

 a long period, sometimes of centuries. The primeval woods which 

 originally covered the greater portion of New York State were in 

 the main of this type but to the climax forest the advent of man 

 is always a catastrophe. Civilization, with its demand for agri- 

 cultural lands and forest products, chief among wliicli is wood. 



