FLORA. 179 
ment of Olonetz. They have been found in the districts 0 
Pondoj and Kargopol, lying to the east, and under a lower 
latitude than the forest of Vuig. 
‘On becoming acquainted with the distribution of differ- 
ent kinds of trees in these forests, we come unconsciously 
to the conclusion that the true primitive and aboriginal 
trees must have been the pines and firs. Broad-leaved 
trees appear as if by chance accident in places which have 
been burned, or which have been otherwise cleared, and 
having once gained a footing, they have in a time more or 
less protracted at length gained the mastery over the coni- 
fers. The distribution of the conifers, I have had the 
opportunity of observing on so many estates, under so 
many varying conditions, that I cannot but make this bold 
deduction.* 
‘Wherever the birch comes into collision with the pine, 
the latter, having a less rapid growth and comparatively 
limited means of reproduction, gives place to its more 
favourably conditioned competitor for possession of the 
ground. I once had an opportunity, while in charge of a 
forest estate in another Government further to the south, 
of noting the progress of this death-struggle between 
different kinds of trees. Over an area of 1000 deciatins, 
birch trees, along with a smaller proportion of aspens, have 
in forty vears entirely superseded the pine, though within 
the memory of the older inhabitants their place was occu- 
pied by large pine trees, and I must add that the soil was 
not particularly good for the growth of birch; but in this 
case nature was aided by the unwise way in which the 
pine trees were cut down. i: 
‘On the Vuig estate the process is not perceptible, but 
nevertheless it is going on, though very slowly. In the 
neighbouring villages one sees more of the birch and 
aspen than in those parts of the forest which are less 
* My difficulty is to account, in accordance with this supposition, for the presence of 
seeds of igbad-leaved trees in the ground. In Finland I found the opinion existing that 
* the seeds had not been lying dormant there, but had been blown thither after the coni- 
fers had been burned. But I am not satisfied that it is s0.—J. C. B. 
