4 
FORESTS OF WISCONSIN. 
erally pine lands proper, being covered with dense and almost 
pure forests of pine, both white and red (Norway) and only in 
small part stocked with jack pine. The grayish to reddish-gray 
soil and subsoil of these sandy areas are not generally differen¬ 
tiated. They are usually of great depth, of medium to fine 
grain and over more than two-thirds of the area contain suffi¬ 
cient clayey matter to deserve the name of loamy sand. These 
soils support a luxurious growth of pine, but are unsuited to 
hemlock and hardwoods, which latter are represented only by 
the white birch, poplar, aspen, and some stunted maple. The 
most characteristic plants of the cut-over lands of these sandy 
areas are the jack pine, scarlet oak, and sweet fern, while the 
white birch is common to all loamy sands but does not thrive 
on the poorest soils. 
The districts of sandy loam before mentioned occupy about 
15 per cent, of the total area. They border, for the most part, 
on the sandy lands fringing this territory on the south, and are 
mere modifications of the same. The soil in these districts 
though generally quite fertile is extremely variable, quite 
heavy in places, often very sandy, and is covered in numerous 
small and large patches by layers of black muck which greatly 
increase their fertility. The soil and subsoil of the large body of 
gray loam and gray clay lands are usually more or less well de¬ 
fined and generally there is found a small amount of humus 
cover. In most localities the subsoil, especially of all knolls, 
etc., is mixed with gravel, which occurs either in layers of ir¬ 
regular thickness and distribution or else is mixed promiscu¬ 
ously through the ground. Generally, too, stones or boulders 
of large size (4 inches to 50 inches) occur both on top and in 
the ground, which though quite abundant in places do not on 
the whole, interfere with agriculture, but are even regarded as 
an indication of good land. The mixture of gravel and loam 
or clay is extremely variable and in places sufficient sand and 
fine gravel appears on the surface to make a soil classification 
quite difficult. 
These general outlines will require much modification in a 
