The daily Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1878-1???, 1884-10-08

alter forest has been destroyed by
fire or otherwise, have led many per-
sons to think that it was the result of
u natural tendency to q rotation in
this class of vegetation. If pine for
ests are destroyed by fire they are fire.
quently followed by growth of oak
and hickory, and this is especially true
in some Of the Atlantic States. But
this change can readily be accounted
for from the fact that the pine stumps
and roots do not throw up sprouts,
and the pine seeds and small seedlings
are far more quickly destroyed than
the nuts of the oak or hickories; and
furthermore, the roots and stumps of
these same trees do not burn as read
lily as those of the pine, and will also
withstand far higher temperature
without serious injury. In all of the
pine forests that we have examined, in
the localities named, we have always
found more or less scrub oaks and
stunted hickories, and similar species
of deciduous trees which the deep
shade of the pines had kept in check,
only few obtaining sufficient sunlight
to insure vigorous and natural
growth; but, so soon as the shade is re-
moved by the destruction of the ever
green trees, they make their presence
known by shooting up rapidly.
The casual observer of such sudden
changes in the appearance of forest
growths, without knowing the facts is
often led to believe in the erroneous
theory OF spontaneous generation OF
plants. In fact. we have often heard it
asserted that the oaks, hickories, and
other species of trees that are known to
spring up on what are called the pine
lands of New ersey and Long Island,
were spontaneous productions of the
soil, and did not spring from either
seed or roots; but close examination
will prove this to be an error, for all OF
these trees are sprouts from old roots
or we'll developed seeds. In most OF
these forests the oaks and other species
of deciduous trees have been cut out
from time to time during the past cen
fury or longer, and this left the pines
more room to grow, spread out, and
shade the ground once occupied by the
kinds of trees removed, and in this way
forests that century ago were COM
posed of mixed species are now almost
exclusively pine. In some parts of the
South the same change is observed, and
the pine is followed by the oaks in
digenous to the region, while in other
localities the pines take posses
sion of abandoned plantations and
old fields, even Where the orig
inal forests were composed principally
of dcciduous species. Almost the same
thing usually occurs in New Jersey
when fields are abandoned, only it is
the common red cedar that has posses.
sion of them instead of pines, the
seeds OF the cedar probably being
widely distributed by birds which feed
on the berries in autumn.
In regions where the deciduous
species make up the bulk of the forests,
the kinds that spread most rapidly into
uncultvated fields and out on the
prairies are those that have winged
seeds, like the naples, ash and elms,
for these are Widely scattered by the
wind, and it is quite probable that if
| the Indians had ceased burning off the
grass on the prairies two or three CEN
turtles ago, our pioneers in Illinois,
Wisconsin and adjoining States would
have found great forests, instead of an
open and sparsely wooded country.
The annual Tres kept down the shrubby
growth, besides constantly encroaching
| upon the forests; but, as soon as these
| fires ceased, the trees again began to
| advance, and in some instances spread
out miles bevond the former boundaries
of the forests, before the pillow of the
husbandman made further progress i'm
possible.
After leaving what may be termed
the Mississippi Valley, we reach the
plains, where for thousand miles
westward tree culture is u thing to be
tested, but with fair chance of it's sue
cess only in the more favorable valleys,
or where irrigation is practicable. On
the foothills and mountains, after cross
ing the plains, forests again appear,
and although miners, lunbcrmen and
the ore smelters have made sad havoc
of the forests Of the Rocky Mountain
regions, they have scarcely been more
destructive than the ever-recurring for
est fires in those regions. When tho
trees have been cut off by lumbermen
or for cord wood, new growths spring
up of the same or closely allied species
of those that are removed, and we do
not now remember to have ever OBJ
served that any different species came
in to replace those destroyed, except in
some instances where the land had
been burned over by accident or design.
Wherever fires are kept out of these
clearings, seedlings spring up in
greater or less abundance, and, II not
disturbed, new forests will soon be
found in the place OF the old, composed
of the same or similar species of trees.
What is most needed in all forest-cov-
cred regions, or where forests have
been removed, is protection to new
| growths, and if this is afforded, renew
ais will go on rapidly and uniformly,
even without tho aid of man. 1t Is
true, however, that foresters can be OF
, great service in increasing the value of
forests by n iudicious system of thinning
out, destroying the less valuable kinds
TO make room for better. Some of the
most worthless trees for either timber
or fuel grow very rapidly, and will, II
, permitted to do so, crowd ont and over