One of the most interesting studies connected with forestry is the succession of forest growths. It is a common observation that when a forest disappears it is generally replaced by one of a different species. Close observers, however, note that there is a great regularity in the sequence - so great, indeed, as to take the events out of the channel of a mere struggle for life, and to place them in the great chain of foreknowledge and design, which is now becoming more and more perceptible to the scientific mind. There is a struggle for life in which the weaker is displaced; but the conqueror could never have conquered, or have maintained the conqueror's hold, but for his victim having had a footing before him. In the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, the first tree to take possession of the rocky heights is the aspen poplar. No other tree attempts possession of the sterile soil. No sooner, however, does it spread over the wide acres, than the twisted pine (Pinus contorta) rushes in, contests the ground, and finally conquers. No sooner does it claim the ground for itself than various species of fir appear; and before the cycle closes we have forests of fir only where once nothing but aspen clothed the ground.

The subject is still more interesting in those parts of the world where deciduous trees prevail, because of their greater number and variety of species. Hansen has recently contributed to L'Exploration, a paper on succession in Danish forests. There, as in our Rockies, the aspen first stakes its claim on land no other tree cares to occupy. It scarcely begins to flourish, however, before the birch envies it the possession, and drives it out. If the oak then has a chance, it will drive out the birch. The beech then follows, and challenges the oak, which has finally to succumb. The beech, indeed, is " the terrible child " of these Northern forests. It will not begin any warfare with the barren rocks for subsistence; but it contests the ground won by other species, and beats the original owners every time. - Independent.