108 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL 
woods in any abundance. It is sometimes found in 
swales and swampy thickets, and here the plant will 
sometimes be found to grow to a height of five feet. In 
the open Pine Plains the Bracken usually measures about 
two to three feet in height. 
Tue Harpwoops 
The hardwoods are usually found on the higher eleva- 
tions and there is a very striking difference between the 
soil composition of this region and that of the pine plains. 
The distribution of the hardwoods seem to be governed 
by the amount of clay and humus in the sand. The ~ 
more clay, the greater the forest growth and the more 
pronounced is the fern flora. The entire floor of the 
forest is covered with a layer of leaf mold to a depth of 
several inches. The hardwoods are well drained but 
are always moist beneath the vegetable mold. 
Very few areas of the original hardwoods remain un- 
touched, the last active lumbering taking place about 
1912. After the timber was cut off, the area grew up to 
brambles, red-berried elder and if perchance it were 
burned over, it grew up to Epilobium angustifolium and 
Erechtites hieracifolia and, in several places, the areas 
have been cleared for farming land. The effect of the 
lumbering and the fires is very noticeable on the dis- 
tribution of the flora especially that of the ferns. Before 
the advent of the lumberman and the forest fire, a num- 
ber of species of ferns were to be found in all the hard- 
woods, but at the present time the only species to be 
found in these cut and burned over areas are Pteris 
aquilina, Polypodium vulgare, Phegopteris dryopterts, 
and Adiantum pedatum. Polypodium vulgare was foun 
in but one place and then only on a moderately high 
bank overlooking Douglas Lake to the north. 
About two miles southeast of Douglas Lake on the _ 
west shore of Burt Lake, there still stands a tract of 
