The Republican journal., 1883-01-04
Changed Growth of Woodlands.

the nature of the soil. 1t appears that a coarse,
| gravely soil distributed by drift, or formed
| from the decomposing rocks which underlie it,
is adapted by nature to the support of forest
| growth, and it is only by cultivation that such
lands can be kept free of bushes and made avail
| able for the production of grass. On the other
hand, the fine soils of the western prairies,
| largely composed as they are of vegetable mat
ter, are equally well suited by nature to the
production of grass, and upon these soils for
ests can be started and propagated only by care
full and continued husbandry. That the exist
ence of native forests depends largely upon the
character of the soil seems most likely from the
fact that almost every variety of our forest
growths has its favorite habitat, which seems
to have been selected from some popularity of
soil or of exposure. That the quality of the soil
| has much to do with determining the kind of
growth which covers it appears as well from
the circumstance everywhere observed that
when any one variety of trees has been re-
moved for timber or destroyed by fire it is
regularly succeeded by different variety. and
| this difference in variety will be greater or less
according as the conditions of the soil have
been more or less changed 1t is so common
| an occurrence as to be considered as the estab-
| lshed order of things that growth Of ever
green trees will be followed by one of broad
leaved varieties whose foliage falls at every ap-
proach OF winter, while the contrary result is
| no less frequently to be observed. In cases
, where forests of any kind are completely de-
| strOyed by fire. OF where the timber has been
| cut and then the lands cleared for purposes of
tlllage or of pasturage, there complete change
! is commonly to be seen in the nature of the
growth if at any time the woods are allowed to
renew themselves.
These changes are pretty clearly due, in a
| large measure, to the effect produced in burn
ing over the ground. Usually fires prevail at
seasons when the ground is very dry, and they
burn Oft so much of the better portion of the
soil, so that, upon a renewal of the forest it
! Will be found that the pioneer growth first to
occupy such lands belongs to the class of trees
which thrive best in a soil having the mineral
elements in excess. Many of the level. sandy
plains of our Northern States We're originally
covered with forests of the white pine, inter-
mixed at times with some variety of oak. From
the dryness of these lands the growth was liza
bic to be swept off by fire. and with the growth.
there was strong likelihood that the little veg
etable mould upon the surface would be burn
| cd. Upon these barren sands would then spring
up the pitch pine-a variety which can with
stand any degree of ardity in the soil, and
which will send its roots twenty feet or more
beneath the surface for the scant support it re-
qures from the ground. 50 well Is this variety
of the pine adapted to the pioneer work of
tabShln9 colony of trees upon denudcd spots
that, although in its full development it attans
a height of sCyenty-tve feet and diameter of
thirty inches on barren lands from which all
mould has been burned out, perfect specimens
| OF it may be found showing all marks of matur
ty, and even Of age, bearing cones of ordinary
size and prolific in seeds which are capable of
)
a height of not more than three feet and di-
| Hmctcr of less than two inches. Three or four
generations Of this tree later. however. it will
produce heavy forest growth. Then. when the
conditions seem most favorable to its propaga-
ton. when the decayed trunks of its pr0genitors
| and the fallen leaves have supplied the surface
of the ground with Il thin coating of mould, all
1T once its seeds cease to germinate; the white
pine springs up under the shade, and reclams
It's old inheritance. instances like this are noted
to show how intimately are associated the qllal-
ity of the soil and the character of the growth
upon it. Had this relation been familiar to the
early settlers upon our wooded lands. they could
have taken the trees rs an index to the soil. and
much of the land which has been rendered
worthless by clearing might have been kept in
profitable productiveness by being devoted to
forest growth.
Another circumstance which has contributed
greatly to change the character of our forest
growth, both upon lands which have never
been cleared and upon the abandoned fields
ana pastures which have grown up to native
woods again. Is the universal practice in this
country of allowing stock free range among the
growing timber Fifty years of this treatment
will show mar ked results. and such results as
should ctfectually discourage the practice. Pro-
feSsor Sargent attributes to this cause greater
destruction OF wood than that 0ccaSloncd even
by fires. Such may be the case III some parts
of the country, but in the pine-producing re-
gionS Of the North and East this agency oper-
ates rather to change the varieties of growth
that 90 to make up the forests. The reasons for
this change are bV no means obscure. A II the
| browsing of cattle is confined to broad-leayed
trees. These in the delicate stages of their early
| growth are a fayortc food with neat cattle,
preferred even to grasses. The feeding upon
shrubs by cattle is limited to spring and early
summer, while the leaves and shoots are tender
and the abundant sap has all its sweetness. At
ter July the leaves and wigs are too dry and
hard for tempting food. The sugar of the spring
sap is less delicious in the form of woody fibre.
In the later summer and fall cattle do most
harm by breaking down the branches of the
| smaller trees in WantOn mischief. Similar dam
age results from the practice of allowing swine
free range through the forests as is still done in
certain portions of the country. These animals
| eagerly dcYOur 'he mast before termination, and
thus cut off the annual succession Of trees neces-
sary to the prolonged existence of the forest 1t
will at once appear from these considerations
that the broad-leaved woods will have no chance
| whatever to renew themselves upOn lands which
are thus pastured. Wherever the browsing is
close enough to keep down all underground, as
the larger trees mature and decay. the forest
must disappear and the land be left covered
| only with grass,
But upon soils suited to the growth Of ever
green trees the effect of close pasturing of for
| est lands is to change the growth from one of
! brOad-leaved trees, or Il mixed one, to growth
of exclusively narroW-leayed trees. No domes-
| tic animal brOWses upon the evergreen trees
except the sheep, and this only under the ur-
gency of keen hunger in the depth of winter.
| When snow-bOund under the shelter of small
pines. sheep will manifest something of the pc
culiar habits of deer which are forced by the
| deep SHOWS in our northern woods to ward, as
it is termed; that is, the herd collects under IL
dense growth of small evergreen. and occupies
| only so much ground as that over which it eau
| keep the snow trodden hard and smooth through
out the winter. The deer never 90 abroad from
this spot while The snow lies deep, but they sub
sist entirely upon the leaves and bark of the
trees under which they find shelter. The injury
thus inflicted upon the young growth is very
considerable, and its effects may be traced for
| years afterWard, But the sheep does no brows-
ing upon evergreen shrubs so long as proper
forage is supplied. In Maine and New Hamp-
shire, when the supply of hay and grain runs
short i'll the long winter, boughs of pitch pine
or of Norway variety are sometime brought to
the barn-yard to exc out the scanty allowance
of food for the sheep. This is the extent to
which evergreens are fed upon by domestic
animals. Practically they escape all injury
from the practice of pasturing forest lands.
| The result of this usage, where the growth is of
a mixed character such as is commonly met
| with, Is that the broad-leayed trees gradually
disappear and the narrowIeayed varieties as
steadily increase.
Farmers often observe. and not seldom de-
| plOre, that their woodlands are rapidly chang
ing to what they call black growth leaving
them destitute of hard wood for fuel or other
uses, while the owners have not the shrewdness
| to discover cause which is obvious enough to
| tut lolCSSloHdl iOOhtl-OI. ItlHdpS. HOW
ever. this unreadiness to find out the reason
for the change that is noticed arises from our
common reluctance to trace 10 our own acts or
management the causes of evils from which we
suffer. From what has been shown to follow
the indulgence to stock of allowing it free range
through our woodlands, it will be plain to all
how it happens that the old worn-out lands of
New England. no matter how closely they may
be fed, will yet grow up rapidly to pines and
spruces, and hemlocks and frs, with not a tree
of broad-eaved sort among them. Boston
| Advertiser.
A PRESBYTERIAN INDEED. Yarmouth, Nova
Scotia, has a witty and wde-awake Prcsbyte-
rian elder of pronounced Scotch antecedents,
| who. although persistent advocate of the
WESTMINSTER Confession, will occasionally.
for convenience sake and from an innate love
of social religious intercourse, attend the meet
ngs of his Methodist brethren.
AT recent prayer-meeting of the latter body
of Christians that was held as preparatory to
| centennial service in cOmmemOration of the