Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1902-12-09
suf,ce II to saw that the facts 1ust pre-.

Sumce 1t to say that the Iacts just pre-
scented have long engaged the interest
and attention Of students Of botany.
We know enough to be able to say
that the northern forests are distrfb-
uated on meridians rather than on
lines of latitude. The forests of east
ern Asia and our Atlantic woods are
alike In their rich abundance. For ex.
ample, Europe has no box elder, no
tulip tree, as we have seen; no gum
trees no locusts, no horse chestnuts,
no hickories, no walnuts, no magno-
las. On the other. hand, the near rel
atives of these our common trees,
forms closely resembling all these
American types, are found in eastern
Asia and japan. There are two spe-
cies or kinds Of box elder. We have
one in the United States. The other is
in Japan. We have the hickories and
the walnuts. but all their relatives
are natives of the orient, yielding their
fruits to the dark skinned races OF
Malaysia. China and japan. The so
called English walnut is an importa-
ton native to countries very much
farther east.
Now. to any one who stops to reflect
upon it all these peculiarities Of distri-
button are very strange. They show
plainly that the forests Of America, Of
the world, are, after all, not matters
Of climate only. Our two great forests
fail to be alike not wholly because sep
arated by an arid barrier, for, rs we
have seen, one of them at least re-
sembles in closest fashion forests on
the other side Of the globe, separated
by barriers OF yet greater moment.
To understand the situation as 1t
now unfolds we must go much deeper
into our problem. We must take into
account what we now know Of the long
past history Of the forests Of the
world. We must summon to our as
sistance the student of the rocks and
let his light shine. If that perchance
may prove efficient to make our diff
culties disappear.
The fact is that all the later formed
rocks Of the arctic northern world are
filled with leaf impressions. impress
sions mostly of deciduous leaves. and
these represent to a surprising degree
the types of our modern forests. Thus
the tertiary rocks Of Greenland and
Spitzbergen, or northern Europe, con-
tain fossil impressions Of the leaves
Of the tulip tree and sprays of the Sc
quota. We have indeed the complet-
est evidence that there was time
when all the frozen north was not
only a land Of sun and light. but a
land Of forest, of forest Of wonderful
richness ard diversity, including all
the types now found scattered in all
the far sundered regions we have been
discussing. How that forest came
there it is vain for US perhaps now to
inquire 1t is sufficient for the pres.
ent that its existence was an undeni-
able fact Not only so, but we have
similar evidence just as strong to
show that when the pole was thus a
land of forest tropical species -four
ished in the north. occupied our TEN.
perate zones. even extended themselves
beyond their northern limits.
Now. having these facts. all we have
to do is to assume that colder coadi.
tons gradually came on, and our prob
lem with its difficulties becomes SIM
plicity itself The forest slowly moved,
retreated southwark. radiating from
the pole, occupying all southern hab-
table lands.
But the biologists tell us more. They
assure us Of the incoming Of conditions
not only Of present cold. but Of fri
gidity much more severe by far, bring.
ing an arctic climate to Iowa, to Ohio.
to regions farther south. Nor Is this
all. We have abundant evidence that
summer heat and arctic cold have
more than once changed places in our
northern hemisphere. chasing the for
osts up and down. so what we now see
Is but the resultant Of many north and
south m sra:.c1s
[CopyriEh; 1909 by ..r""s n HGra-son