64 
FOURTEENTH REPORT. 
Whether they are sufficiently numerous and whether the soil is too 
poor to allow the replacement of the stand of white pine are things 
which -the future must disclose. These seedlings are all that there is to 
suggest the presence of this association. 
The Times s trebles Association. 
In former days this association covered the greater part of the region, 
but at the present time there is not a, typical station in this area. 
It is represented only by seedlings, young trees and a few seeding trees, 
scattered among other associations, particularly the aspens. Accord- 
ingly from present-day evidence there is but little to say about this 
association. The pines occupied sandy, well-drained land which con- 
tained some humus. The pineland was virtually self-perpetuating. Be- 
tween it and the cedar bogs the tension line was sharp and succession 
was virtually nil and remained so except when the water table was 
decidedly changed. At that time succession might commence but prob- 
ably did not proceed far, as the high and low water cycles came often er 
than the lives of the trees. With the increase of food material in the 
soil, hardwoods appeared and were very gradually tending to displace 
the pines. 
Then the lumberman came. The pines were all removed and the ground 
burnt, accidentally or otherwise. Following this devastation the lire 
associations made their appearance and just now the pine is beginning 
to come back. It occupies the position of invader in the aspens. Pimis 
resinosa is well represented by numberless seedlings and several young 
trees, some of which have already begun to seed. Pimis strobus is not 
well represented and there are scarcely a dozen trees of Pinas bank- 
siana. Pine seedlings develop readily in the light shade of the aspens 
and in due course of time supplant them altogether. See Plate 10. 
The pine association of the near future will occupy a greater area in 
this region than the one that was cut, because virtually all of the 
typical aspen association goes to pine land and in addition the hard- 
wood land which was thuroly burnt goes thru aspen to pine. If the 
country were allowed to remain undisturbed and no fires occurred, it 
is obvious that in the course of time, hardwood would supplant the 
pine which is developing now, but as conditions now stand, the pines are 
gaining, rather than losing out to the hardwoods. In the hardwood 
areas that now occur, there are frequently large pine trees which serve 
as relics of their former dominance and show what the trend of succession 
has been in the past. As no seedling pines occur in the average hard- 
wood, it is evident that hardwoods can replace pine and perpetuate 
themselves against the pines, provided the soil is sufficiently rich. 
Where the present stands of pine are densest the ground flora fre- 
quently contains the following species: Myrioa asplcnifolia , mullein, 
horse-weed, Panicurn depauperatum, bracken fern, Agrostis alba, golden- 
rods and asters, altlio this assemblage does not present the typical 
structure of an association. 
The Larix laricina Association. 
This association, the first of the bog tree associations in the genetic 
arrangement, occurred over a long stretch of country northwest from 
