48 FORESTS OF WISCONSIN. 



tliat not only 5 cents but even 50 cents per M. feet could prof- 

 itably have been deToted to the suppression of fire. 



Changes on Gut-Over Lands. — The condition and character 

 of the aftergrowth on cutover lamds is quite variable, since 

 changes occur in the plant cover as well as in soil conditions a3- 

 cording to original condition and subsequent treatment. These 

 conditions and changes have a bearing on the question of the 

 future of these lands, whether they be left alone or be restocked 

 with timber, so that it appears desirable to give a description at 

 least of the more frequent types. 



Sand Pinery Lands. — 1. When a clean dense stand of ma- 

 ture pine timber is cut, and the fire gets into the slashing late 

 the following summer after all the limbs and tops on the ground 

 have had a chance to dry, the ground is fairly cleared by the 

 fire, the bulk of the tops are burned, a "stump prairie" remains. 

 On the poor sandy soil whose smaU humus cover has been thus 

 destroyed, there comes first a crop of fire weeds, then aspen and 

 sweet fern, with other weeds, and some grass and isolated 

 bushy scrub oaks (often some willows) cover the ground 

 sparsely. As soon as enough dry leaves and other material have 

 accumulated the fire recurs and the small aspen and other growth 

 are killed. By this time the ground is much reduced in fertility, 

 aspen is slower to return and the ground is largely taken by 

 weeds and grass. A few repetitions of fire change the ground 

 sufficiently to prevent the further growth of aspen for years 

 and there are many areas where this tree has given up all effort 

 to restock the land. 



This seems to be the common form of slashing in heavy pine. 

 Such areas furnish little foliage for live ^ock, they are naturally 

 poor, and this condition is much aggravated by repeated fires 

 and exposure to wind and sun. To an attempt at restocking 

 with timber they offer no obstacle, save their poverty, which 

 would soon be changed by growing timber. 



If the fire is not repeated in such a slashing the aspen forms 

 dense thickets in which pine, birch, and maple gradually find 

 suitable conditions for their growth. For years the detrimental 



