OCCUPA TION OF LAND. 305 



remains are added to, and enrich, the soil. In some places 

 grasses, like the broom-sedge (andropogon), succeed the weeds, 

 and a turf is formed. 



471. Trees follow weeds and grasses. — Seeds of trees in the 

 mean time find lodgment. During the first few years of their 

 growth they are protected by the herbaceous annuals or peren- 

 nials. In time they rise above these. Each year adds to their 

 height and spread of limb, until eventually forest again stands 

 where it was removed years before. In the Piedmont section 

 of the Southern States such a view as is presented in fig. 253 

 represents how abandoned fields are taken by the broom-sedge, 

 to be followed later by pines, and later by a forest as shown in 

 fig- 254. 



472. Self-sown white pines. — In New York State many 

 abandoned hillsides are being reforested slowly by nature with 

 the white pine. Fig. 255 represents a group of self-sown pines 

 ranging from three to six meters high (10-20 feet), growing up 

 in an abandoned orchard near Ithaca. In this reforestation of 

 impoverished lands, man can give great assistance by timely 

 and proper planting. 



