46 



BROOKLYN BOTANIC GARDEN MEMOIRS 



fight. The evidence of this contest for new land, as it comes to that in 

 the case of the trees, seems clear enough and to illustrate it, a section ex- 

 tending from pure grassland (east) to pure forest (west) has been studied in 

 considerable detail. Because topography is such a vital factor in supplying 

 shelter from the wind a rough cross-section of the hill is given to show the 

 conditions at the point the section was taken. 



Beginning at A (Fig. 15) the top of the bare Down, there is much the 

 same condition as that noted under the general description of the Downs, 



tast 



Uest 



7> 



A 



Bare 3ou)ns 



c 



Figure 15. Diagrammatic section from the Hither Woods (west) to the bare open 

 Downs (east), about i mile west of Montauk Village. The hill at A is about 50 feet high. 



A. Bare Downs, with herbs and scattered clumps of stunted bushes. 



B. Tension zone with occasional Oaks and much greater profusion of shrubs which 

 are taller than at A. 



C Edge of Oak forest at the Hither Woods For associated shrubs and herbs under 

 these trees see text. 



but with this difference. Here there are more numerous and larger patches 

 of stunted bushes, and these are not of the species there described. Two 

 of these new shrubs are interesting as being common bushes and of normal 

 height a short distance away in the protection of the Hither Woods. At A, 

 however, both Comptonia peregrina and Gayhissacia baccata are not over 

 eight inches high, and frequently they make patches 30-50 feet across. 

 That these and Amelanchier canadensis have "escaped" from the Hither 

 Woods onto these open Downs, seems a conclusion almost axiomatic. All 

 of them, and other woodland species, to be noted presently, have been 

 found on the Downs only at this contact with the Hither Woods. 



