278 
site. The floor of the forest isa i ies of these ri ridges, 
heaps, and pits, so that travel is slow i 
The forest floor during the late summer is covered by a 
and goldenrod al elie normally flower at this season, but 
under y sterile. The numerous fruiting 
plants of raspberry, gooseber try, arrow pond: partridge-berry, 
fo) ndi ate 
ae 
season of April and May finds ihe | forests - with bloodroot, 
‘h hes nemones, but no trace of these 
set eee Be Poe Mason aie ferns a commons and the 
fh 
and the 
are ubiquitous. Decayed logs are marked by patches of en- 
Ss 
sh 
All these herbaceous plants are suprouncied and 7 
concealed by an unbroken mass of seedling maple trees. The 
Sueat maple eecms to set seed vad — every year, and its 
the million. f them 
to every square foot of the forest. "ecdlingbiches and elms are 
es 8 
insight into the struggle for existence in the forest ee shows in 
the 
Ifa ate a is assumed to live 350 years and to occupy 400 
d these figures are approximately correct, 
there spring uP ‘beneath it during this one generation no less than 
Of these the vast majority succumb 
during or at the end of thelr first year, and only 70,000 persist 
n 
eventually becomes a forest veteran. So one may find beneath 
a mature tree, in any single year, some 4000 seedlings, 400 two- 
