6 THE WOODLOT. 



The forests of southern New England are composed chiefly of hard- 

 woods, such as Oak, Chestnut, Maple, Hickor}^, and Ash. The hard- 

 woods predominate largely, except in eastern Massachusetts and north- 

 eastern Connecticut and Rhode Island, where White Pine occurs in solid 

 groves on gravel ridges and on the sand}^ borders of streams and ponds, 

 with only an occasional hardwood in mixture. Near the coast, as on 

 Cape Cod, Pitch Pine is the principal tree. Pitch Pine is also scattered 

 throughout the whole of southern New England, and in some places is 

 the tree which occupies worn-out and sandy fields. Red Cedar is 

 another evergreen which comes up on old fields, especially in southern 

 Connecticut. It sometimes grows to the exclusion of all other species, 

 with as ruan}^ as 500 to 1,000 trees per acre when -iO to 60 years old. 

 More often it is mixed with Gray Birch, and later in life with other 

 hardwoods, which gradually creep in among the cedars and birches. 

 Hemlock also grows in all sections of the region under consideration, 

 but it is confined, as a rule, to ravines and cool slopes. In the aggre- 

 gate it does not occupy over 5 per cent of the total forest area. The 

 other conifers, like the White Cedar in the coast swamps. Spruce and 

 Balsam on the high peaks of the northern Berkshires, and the rare 

 Tamarack and Red Pine, require no particular mention because of their 

 relative scarcity. 



The oaks are the most common hardwoods, except in the Berkshires, 

 where tbe}^ are largely replaced by Hard Maple, Yellow and Paper 

 Birch, Beech, and Black Cherry. In eastern Massachusetts the oaks 

 occup3^ the best situations, mixed with Maple, Ash, and Hickory, and, 

 on loose sands and gravels, accompany the White Pine. In this sec- 

 tion the commonest oaks are the White, Black, Scarlet, and Red, 

 while Scrub Oak is also abundant on old fields and in abused wood 

 lots. Along the coast Post Oak, a southern species, occurs among 

 the Pitch Pines. 



Chestnut is one of the commonest trees, except in northeastern 

 Massachusetts and in the Berkshires. In Connecticut it frequently 

 forms 60 to 80 per cent of the woods on rolling land and on lower 

 slopes of the higher ridges. In these places it is mixed with White, 

 Black, Red, and Scarlet Oaks, Shagbark, Pignut, Bigbud, and occa- 

 sionally Bitternut Hickory. Hard and Soft Maple, Black Birch, But- 

 ternut, Slippery Elm, and Ironwood; and, on the verj^ best soils, 

 with Tulip Tree, White Ash, and Basswood. On the shallower soils 

 the most prominent tree in mixtur.e with Chestnut is Chestnut Oak, 

 which often entireh^ replaces it on stony ridges and upper slopes. 



In most swamps throughout southern New England Red Maple is 

 the characteristic and often the onh^ tree. It is accompanied on the 

 wettest ground by Elm, Swamp "NA'hite Oak, Black Ash, and in some 

 places by Pin Oak. Gra}^ and Yellow Birch, Tupelo, White Ash, and 

 Hornbeam are plentiful in less wet places. 



