55 
of little promise in themselves; their growth is hampered and their 
scorched butts doomed to decay; but they are valuable in so far as 
they readily restock the ground with young timber, providing it is not 
killed by fire. If fires occur, which is generally the case, the entire 
grove is gradually burned and killed, or if the fire gets in during 
a very dry season and attains considerable proportions the entire grove 
is changed at once into a tangle of scorched and charred poles, which 
require for their improvement either a great amount of labor and 
expense or else the starting of more fires to first get rid of the débris. 
Where fire runs through slashings (in large timber) too early in the sea- 
son, and when the ground is still wet, and also where no fire occurs for 
several years after logging, so that the leaves have become litter and 
the small! twigs are decayed, then the slashings, even of wasteful oper- 
ations where large amounts of heavy tops and much dead and down 
material exists, are often not burned clean, the ground being strewn 
with scorched logs and tops, and many cases exist where settlers are 
logging to-day on old slashings of this kind, although not a living Pine 
occurs. 
It is but natural that these several forms grade into each other, and 
that nearly every slashing, especially during the first few years, mark- 
edly changes its complexion. In general the bare land form predomi- 
nates in all pinery areas and occupies to-day probably about 40 per 
cent of the cut-over lands. 
LOAM AND CLAY LANDS. 
(4) A greater admixture of hard woods, due to the presence of more 
clay in the soil, materially affects the condition and appearance of the 
cut-over land. Where Pine was predominant and the hard woods scant, 
as on the red clays about Lake Superior and on the poorer gravelly 
loam, the removal of the heavy stand of Pine commonly involves almost 
a total destruction of the hard woods, just as in the case of the regular 
pinery; the ground is soon cleared by a repetition of fires, the aspen 
ceases to return, but, unlike the sands, these loam lands soon produce 
a fair amount of grass and the land is converted into pasture. 
(5) Where the hard wood is heavier, and especially where Hemlock 
enters into the composition of the forest, the dead timber remains stand- 
ing for years, a forest of dead trees, and often 400 to 800 cords of timber 
per acre may be seen after repeated, and often severe, fires have swept 
over the ground. Such areas are not rare; the fires of 1594 created 
quite a number. They are undesirable pasture lands, difficult to clear, 
and still largely too good to be restocked with timber, which in such 
places would require considerable labor and expense. 
(6) Where the heavy hard woods and Hemlock predominate and the 
Pine is a mere scattered admixture, the ground and litter is usually 
damp. Firesrun only during exceptionally dry seasons (asin 1894). The 
removal of the Pine is not followed by fire. It leaves the lands densely 
