EOTATION" AND DISTEIBUTIOK 



It has been observed by foresters that there is a ten- 

 dency in any soil which has long been occupied by a 

 certain kind of timber, to produce, after the trees have 

 been felled, a very different kind, if it be left to its spon- 

 taneous action. The laws affecting such rotations have 

 been very well ascertained, and a careful investigation 

 of the subject would undoubtedly reveal many curious 

 facts not yet known. If the stumps of the trees, consist- 

 ing of oak, ash, maple, and some other deciduous kinds, 

 remain after the wood is felled, they will throw up suck- 

 ers, and the succeeding timber will be an inferior growth 

 of the original wood. But if the stumps and roots of the 

 trees should be entirely removed, it would be more diffi- 

 cult to determine what would be the character of the 

 next spontaneous growth. It would probably be planted 

 by the kinds that prevail in the neighboring forests, and 

 it would depend on the character of the soil whether the 

 hard or soft wood trees would finally predominate. 



There is an important chemical agency at work, that 

 originally determines the distribution of forests, and after- 

 wards their rotation. The hard- wood trees require more 

 potash and a deeper soil than the coniferous and soft- 

 wood trees. Hence they are found chiefly on alluvial 

 plains and the lower slopes of mountains, where the soil 

 is deep and abounds in all valuable ingredients for the 

 support of vegetation. Pines and firs, on the contrary, 

 though frequently discovered of an immense size on allu- 

 vial soils, are generally crowded out of such grounds by 



