MICHIGAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 
71 
The Beech-Maple {Fag us- Acer) Association. 
This association of forest trees is still fairly well represented in differ- 
ent parts of this region, but usually only in those parts which have been 
least accessible to lumbermen. It is scarcely to be doubted that they 
will all be cut within the next few years. The hardwood forests occur 
on the best lands of the region, occupying the land immediately north 
of Douglas Lake, a stretch of upland south of the west end of Douglas 
Lake shown in Plate 15, and extending along Burt Lake, shown in 
Plate 13b. There are other small areas scattered here and there, which 
are more or less typical of this association but usually fire and lumber- 
men have wrought havoc with them. Between Douglas Lake and Lake 
Huron there were large tracts of hardwoods, which within the past 
two decades have been cut and the land used for agricultural purposes. 
Hardwood land in this country is a paying proposition for agricultural 
use. This is not usually the case with pine land. Oats and potatoes 
are successfully grown for the market together with a certain amount 
of truck for home consumption. 
The hardwood forests occur on the better classes of land. It may vary 
from sand to clay but there is always at least a fair admixtur of humus 
which is continually hilt up by each year’s leaf-fail. The slope of the 
land varies considerably but it is usually rolling and well drained. 
Several trees enter into the composition of the beech-maple forest as- 
sociation and there is considerable variation in composition in different 
stations yet the structur and type of vegetation is quite uniform thru- 
out. Where the trees are best developt and the association is most 
typical or rather least disturbed by the inroads of man it is composed 
of about 48% of Fagus grandifolia, 35% of Acer saccharurn , 15% of 
Tsvga canadensis and the remaining 2% scattered among Abies bal- 
samca, Fraximis americana, Betula lutea , Tilia americana, Populus 
balsamifera and Finns strobus. The trees are usually large and very 
tall with but very few branches, as shown in plate 15. The ground 
vegetation in such places is virtually nil. In openings, however, seed- 
lings of the dominant trees and many secondary species are present, 
sometimes in abundance as shown in plate IGa. As a general rule 
when this association occupies the sandy upland soils the proportion of 
maple is much greater than that of beech, while the reverse of this 
is true of the more clayey, wetter, lower land soils. Exceptions occur 
in which even in the moister soils the proportion of maples is greater. 
The woods toward the northwest of Burt Lake are a very good example 
of the case in hand. Seeding trees of the dominant species are present 
in the region in abundance and seedlings are usually very abundant 
in the open places in these woods and in addition spred out into the 
aspens for considerable distances. This association is not so subject 
to fire, because the hardwood does not catch fire so easily nor does 
it burn so readily. In case of a fire, unless it is too severe, the trees 
can reproduce by growth from the stumps. 
Secondary species of the dense growth of this association are rather 
few and far between and consist mainly of the seedlings of the dominant 
trees, particularly the maple and beech, together with Arabia nudicauUs, 
Maianthcmum eana dense , Olintonia borealis , Trientalis americana , 
Streptopus longipes, and Polygonatwn comnuitatum, shown in Plate 
