332 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 496. 



never suspect any lack of virility, as has sometimes been 

 charged to it. 



The extreme conditions of soil and moisture tor the 

 White Pine are reached in the sand dunes and the rocky 

 ledge and the peaty swamp. In dune regions its chief 

 hardwood competitors are Oaks, mostly the Black, Scarlet, 

 White and Bur Oak. In damper areas among the dunes, 

 where the mineral constituent of the soil is chiefly sand, 

 but mixed with more organic matter than on the hills, its 

 principal competitors are species of Poplar and Birch. The 

 dunes by the Great Lakes are as typical as any. Those at 

 the south end of Lake Michigan, with their network of 

 railroads, afford as adverse conditions as can well be 

 found. Scarcely a year passes during which some of the 

 ground is not burned over, and the ranging of cattle 

 increases these unfavorable conditions. But in many spots 

 on the sand hills, especially on their slopes, the White Pine 

 if removed springs up again, and groves are formed in 

 which trees from one to three or four inches in diameter 

 closely crowd each other. If these chance to be protected 

 for a sufficient time they make a respectable growth of 

 timber, the smaller and weaker trees dying out by natural 

 process of thinning. There are also spots where the Pines, 

 both the White and the Gray, have an advantage over the 

 Oaks. They are too damp or wet for any but the White 

 Oaks. They are in hollows among the sand hills or flatter 

 reaches of ground which have been raised above the 

 swampy level by the gradual accumulation of sand brought 

 in by winds and rains and by the deposits of vegetable 

 matter, and thus have assumed drier conditions. Here 

 the main competitors are the American Aspen and the 

 Paper Birch, or, perhaps, the White Cedar. Thickets of 

 Pine spring up in such places from seedlings to trees from 

 ten to twenty feet in height. The soil is peaty, or has too 

 great a supply of organic matter to suit the Oaks. Even 

 the Tamarack may accompany the Pines, and the prevail- 

 ing undergrowth shows plants adapted to peaty formations. 

 Beyond the dune region in the bordering drift-covered land 

 small areas are found among the hardwoods, where the 

 Beech and the Sugar Maple predominate, in which the 

 White Pine occurs. They are hollows, where sphagnous 

 Mosses, Vaccmium and Gold-thread reveal a peaty soil. 

 The bottoms, once covered with water, have been par- 

 tially filled by soil washed down from neighboring hills 

 and by the decay of organic matter, but are still wet 

 ground. 



Two or three more stations may be specified which show 

 the persistence of the White Pine under different conditions 

 of soil and moisture, as in western New York, where land 

 was taken up and settlements began about a century ago. A 

 farm in this portion of the state, in the western part of what 

 is known as the "Finger-lake" region, came into my pos- 

 session a few years ago. I examined with interest the 

 remnants of its forest-covering and that on adjoining- 

 farms. The soil conditions differ widely from any already 

 described. Its prevailing character is argillaceous. Though 

 the underlying rocks of slate are heavily covered with drift, 

 they are cut into and exposed by streams which rush down 

 the steep hillsides. The principal forest-trees of the uplands 

 are the Chestnut, Sugar Maple, Shag-bark and Bitter-nut 

 Hickories, and two or three kinds of Oaks. The trees were 

 comparatively young, for nearly all the larger ones had 

 been cut down and removed. One of the pieces of wood- 

 land on the farm was well stocked with White Pine. It 

 was on the top of a ridge where some gravel or sand was 

 mixed with the clay, but the soil was essentially argilla- 

 ceous. This wood was a mixed growth of Pine, Chestnut, 

 Hickory and Oak. Scarcely a Pine exceeded a foot in 

 diameter, showing that it was of recent growth. In ravines 

 upon the hill-slope, difficult of access, were older trees, two 

 or three feet in diameter. These were growing in a soil 

 almost purely clay from the decomposed underlying slates, 

 whose harder parts, where exposed, showed that they were 

 slightly arenaceous. But they formed a soil very slippery 

 and unctious to the touch when wet. 



West of the Genesee River, and not many miles from this 

 farm, other conditions of growth are found. Some are areas 

 of limestone, with a thin covering of soil whose mineral 

 ingredients are almost entirely derived from the underlying 

 rocks. Silex is plentiful in the form of nodules of flint, the 

 rock being the corniferous limestone of the New York 

 system of geology. As the rocks decompose the nodules 

 break up into flakes, and the soil is often so full of chert 

 and bits of limestone as to resemble beds of crushed stone. 

 Wheat and Red Clover have been the main crops where 

 the more favorable portions of the land have been tilled. 

 The trees are chiefly Oaks and Hickories interspersed with 

 occasional clumps or trees of White Pine. Here the White 

 Pine grows in a calcareous soil, siliceous matter being 

 present from the decaying flint. 



Close at hand is still another condition of growth. The 

 streams which drain the slope of country to the south of 

 this outcrop of limestone come down upon it. But it is so 

 fissured or porous along certain lines of underlying gypsum 

 that the smaller streams sink into the earth before reaching 

 the farther edge of an escarpment, and the larger ones lose 

 much of their volume or wholly disappear in the dry 

 season. The water thus lost for a time bursts out again at 

 the base of the escarpment in clear, cold springs. The 

 streams they produce with the contiguous swampy land 

 give rise to Cedar and Tamarack swamps ; with the White 

 Cedar and the Tamarack the White Pine is intermixed. 

 The roots of trees in such situations are in contact with a 

 soil more or less pervaded or even saturated with water, 

 though the Pine in most cases affects the drier positions. 

 The water, well charged with mineral matter, is also a 

 cause of the production of drier conditions, for its lime 

 carbonate is deposited in the swamps and marshes, where 

 it is forming extensive beds of travertine which are grad- 

 ually filling them up. The Pines in places may be seen 

 growing on these beds of travertine, where they appear 

 near the surface. Leaves of trees and of shrubs, aquatic 

 plants and other organisms are imbedded and fossilized in it. 

 They all help to form hummocks of limestone and produce 

 more favorable states for the growth of certain kinds of 

 vegetation, among which the White Pine has taken a 

 place. But the soil is still very wet and prevailingly peaty. 



These specific illustrations of conditions under which 

 the White Pine grows could be repeated and extended in 

 all essential particulars by cases taken throughout its range. 

 Extreme cases, or those apparently the most unfavorable, 

 have been chosen in order to show its power of adaptation. 

 Its growth in rocky regions, either of sandstone or the 

 crystalline rocks, as well as in sandy or gravelly areas, is 

 most familiar; that upon the clay hills bordering the outlet 

 of Canadice Lake is the most exceptional in my experience. 



Chicago, III. E. J. Hill, 



Plant Notes. 



Viburnum clentatum. 



"It is wonderful to see the fertility of your country in Viburnums." 

 — Collinson and Barlr am letters, 17 6 J. 



THE Arrow-wood, Viburnum dentatum, is the most 

 conspicuous small-flowered member of its family, 

 for, unlike the others of this group, it is not restricted to 

 damp ground and shaded woodland belts, but grows 

 equally well on dry banks and in open fields. The foliage 

 is so clean and healthy-looking all summer long, with a 

 striking red marginal coloration in autumn ; the white 

 cymes of blossoms are so showy, succeeded by almost 

 equally showy blue berries, that one might reasonably 

 suppose it a plant worthy of attention, but in central Penn- 

 sylvania all the specimens that have ever come under my 

 observation have been in a wild state. Of course, this 

 Viburnum, like our other native species, is beautiful any- 

 where, for, taken as a class, there are no handsomer 

 shrubs in our forest glades. But it does seem almost 

 unaccountable that shrubs adapted to every use and situa- 



