180 BULLETIN OF WISCONSLN NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. VOL. 1. NO. 3. 
duce a considerable amount of fuel, both for domestic use and 
for consumption in various industrial establishments. A few 
trees are cut and sold for use as piles in the foundations of build- 
ings, but no lumber has been manufactured from trees grown in 
this vicinity for a great many years. Under these circumstances 
the forest area of the region has been practically stationary foi 
several decades. There has been some clearing for agricultural 
purposes in recent years, but the inroads made on the forest in 
this way are about counterbalanced by the reforestation that has 
taken place in the mianner to be described below. An exception 
must be made with the areas formerly covered by tamarack. 
These swamps have nearly all been turned into meadow or tilled 
land, largely within the last twenty years. This is not to be re- 
gretted. For tamarack forests are of little value, while the soils 
on which they grow, when properly drained, or dried by natural 
processes, are among the most fertile of our agricultural lands. 
Less satisfactory than the extent of these forests is the con- 
dition in which they are found at the present day. Being the 
property of so many different owners, who manage them with 
every conceivable variety and degree of care and skill, it is to 
be expected that their condition varies from lot to lot. Some- 
times one can find startling contrasts between , two neighboring 
wood lots, each but a few acres in extent. Such a contrast, for 
instance, may be seen in the northeast quarter of section 28, W au- 
watosa. One of these lots consists of vigorous oaks and maples 
in the pole stage, with the usual proportion of the other species 
commxon to this region. There are numerous stumps of stand- 
ards and veterans to show that not very many years ago a fine 
crop of wood was taken off the land. The crown cover is almost 
perfect ; the floor is loose, with a considerable amount of leaf 
cover; there is no grass, and a moderate amount of underbrush 
and herbage. Numerous seedlings, largely of the very tolerant 
sugar maple, are showing a prosperous growth. About the only 
criticism one could make is that too many valueless trees, es- 
pecially hop hornbeam, are allowed to take up space that ought 
to be occupied by their betters. 
Divided from this well-kept tract by nothing but a rail fence 
is a startling contrast. Here reckless cutting has broken the 
canopy and let in an excessive amount of sunshine. As a result 
the floor is covered either with a matted carpet of grass, or hard- 
ened to the likeness of rock. Hardly a seedling can be found 
on the tract. In many places there is a wild tangle of brambles 
and useless shrubs. Xot a few of the trees begin to be stag- 
headed and show other signs of decay, although they are still far 
from maturity. 
