TAX LANDS AND FORESTRY. 83 



bear seed very young, consequently it is a frequent sight to see much 

 bass wood and ash in tracts that have been reforested naturally after 

 several fires. Often the growth of shoots from an oak root will be re- 

 peatedly set back by fires and the root will be weakened from trying to 

 reproduce many small weak stems. If these are thinned out, leaving 

 one or two or three, the equilibrium will be re-established and they will 

 grow and develop very rapidly into trees. I have seen this illustrated 

 in many cases, notably in the land immediately adjoining the State 

 farm at Grayling just over the fence on the south side. Here the 

 owner went through a tract of oak grubs that had grown up in the 

 manner I have just stated. He thinned out and pruned, leaving a few 

 stems only and the whole tract immediately developed into a rapid grow- 

 ing oak forest. 



As to the ability of the pine to, reforest. This is dependent largely 

 upon the prevailing wind and the topography of the region. The seed 

 of the pine is iurnished with a wing appendage similar to that of the 

 maple, ash, elm or bass wood, which enables the seed to be carried a 

 long distance and it is also coated with pitch which preserves the seed. 

 It will lie therefore a long time in or on the ground without rotting. 



All the so-called pine barrens will grow the pine luxuriantly if fire is 

 kept out. This is . demonstrated in many places in Roscommon, Mis- 

 saukee and Crawford counties where the conditions above referred to 

 exist. The whole problem depends on whether fire has left the seed. 



Eeferring again to the matter of oak, and other tap root trees and 

 reforestation therefrom after fires. In the woods, whether of pine, 

 hardwoods or mixed timber, there are always found many small trees 

 which the unpracticed eye would mistake for young seedlings. These 

 are dwarfed, stunted specimens that have been unable to attain size 

 or growth because of insuflQcient light, but yet have managed to live. 

 Small oaks of this kind, very small above ground, will have very large 

 roots. When the large growth is cut and fire afterwards follows, 'thes&- 

 roots beneath the ground withstand the fire and send up shoots. This 

 explanation makes clearer the reason for the frequency of the phe- 

 nomenon of oak following after a fire where pine originally stood. I 

 have myself, in company with an expert from the Forestry Department 

 at Washington, examined, under a microscope, specimens of small pines 

 that have been taken up by myself as young seedlings. Under the 

 microscope these specimens showed so many rings of annual growth 

 that we could hardly count them. These small shoots must have been 

 from sixty to seventy-five years old. Another instance in an artificial 

 planting on Burton farm near Grand Eapids, set out by Mr. Garfield 

 about 1885 or 1886, I assisted in the planting. Scotch pines were set 

 out and near them small ash seedlings. The pine seedlings outstripped 

 the others in growth and soon cut ofiE their light. The ash seedlings 

 are still there today, not over two feet high, while the Scotch pines have 

 probably grown to twenty feet or more. In the natural forest state 

 many of the very small specimens seem to have a better chance for de- 

 velopment than those which are larger but still too small to keep up 

 with the leaders. 



