Part 1 (2/2)

There is little danger of weeds ss under such conditions After the seed has gers will havethe fall of the sas should be transplanted to nursery rows Thereafter it is custo daorous and have reached the age of two to five years, they are dug up carefully and set out pers one year in the seedbed and two years in the nursery rows before they are set out Whether the transplanting should take place during the spring or fall depends largely on the cliraphy of the locality Practical experience is the best guide in such matters

So out hardwood forests for commercial purposes If they do not wish to purchase their seedlings frorow them from carefully selected seed planted in well-prepared seedbeds The popular practice is to sow the seed in drills about 2 to 3 feet apart so that horses may be used for cultivation The seeds are sown to a depth of 2 to 3 tih in the drill so that fros to the linear foot result In order to hasten the sprouting of the seeds, some planters soak the In the case of such hard-coated seed as the black locust or honey locust, it is best to soak the

CHAPTER II

THE FOREST FAMILIES

Trees are as queer in picking out places to live and in their habits of growth as are the peoples of the various races which inhabit the world Some trees do best in the icy northland They becoht to warm climates Others that are accustorohen exposed to extreme cold The appearance of Jack Frost means death to most of the trees that come from near the equator Even on the opposite slopes of the same mountain the types of trees are often very different Trees that do well on the north side require plenty of moisture and cool weather Those that prosper on south exposures are equipped to resist late and early frosts as well as very hot sunshi+ne The moisture needs of different trees are as remarkable as their likes and dislikes for ware size in a swampy country Trees of the same kind will become stunted in sections where dry weather persists

In some parts of the United States forestry experts can tell where they are by the local tree growth For example, in the extreme northern districts the spruce and the balsaive way to little Jack pine and aspen trees Next come the stately forests of white and Norway pine So hemlock trees appear in the colder sections If one continues his journey toward the equator he will next pass through forests of broad-leaved trees They will include oak, maple, beech, chestnut, hickory, and sycamore

In Kentucky, which is a centre of the broad-leaved belt, there are several hundred different varieties of trees Farther south, the cone-bearing species prevail They are followed in the march toward the Gulf of Mexico by the tropical trees of southern Florida If one journeys west from the Mississippi River across the Great Plains he finally will coreen trees predorow in that region, they occur in scattered stands In the eastern forests the trees are close together They form a leafy canopy overhead In the forests of the Rockies the evergreens stand some distance apart so that their tops do not touch As a result, these Western forests do not shade the ground as well as those in the east This causes the soils of these forests to be er froon, unlike ion, are as dense as any forests in the world Even at ht in these forests The trees are gigantic They tower 150 to 300 feet above the ground Their trunks often are 6 feet or larger in diameter They make the trees of the eastern forests look stunted They are excelled in size only by the iant Sequoias of the southern Sierras

[Illustration: THE SEQUOIAS OF CALIFORNIA]

Differences of clirowth and types in this country The distribution of tree fa all the time It shi+fts just as the clie Trees constantly strive a themselves for control of different localities For a time one species will predominate Then other varieties will appear and displace the ones already established The distribution of trees changes very remarkably from one century to another For exa the white oaks

Soht than others that do well under heavy shade Oak trees require plenty of light; ht

The seed of trees requiring little light ether with that of trees which need plenty of daylight in order to s that like shade will develop under such conditions while those that need light will pine away and die Gradually the shade-loving trees will replace the light-loving trees in such a forest stand Even the different trees of the saht and moisture Each tree differs from every other one in shape and size Trees will adapt theht and moisture conditions to which they are exposed A tree that has access to plenty of round to its top with a bushy, wide-spreading crown

The saht but will have a srowth The winners get the desirable places in the sunlight and prosper The losers develop into stunted trees that often die, due to lack of light exposure A better quality of luht trees than that produced by the sy trees That is why every forester who sets out trees tries to provide conditions which willof branches on the lower part of the trunks

Where trees are exposed to strong winds, they develop deep and strong root syste trunks that can bend and resist violent winds which sway and twist theer and sturdier than those that grow in a sheltered forest The trees that are blon in the forest provide space for the introduction and growth of new varieties These activities are constantly changing the type of tree growth in the forest

Our original forests which bordered the Atlantic coast line when America was first settled, were dense and impenetrable The colonists feared the forests because they sheltered the hostile Indians who lurked near the white settlements In time this fear of the forest developed into hatred of the forest As a result, the colonists cut trees as rapidly as they could In every way they fought back the wilderness They and their children's children have worked so effectively that the original wealth of woodlands has been depleted At present, cleared fields and cutover areas abound in regions that at one tinificent stands of timber

In many sections of the country our forests are now so reduced that they are of little commercial importance However, these areas are not yet entirely denuded Predictions have been made frequently that our woodlands would soon disappear Scientific foresters report that such statements are incorrect There are only a few districts in the country which probably will never again support ely to the destruction of the neighboring mountain forests and to the activities of erosion Under ordinary conditions, natural reforestation will rowth on lands where a practical system of forest protection is practiced

The complete removal of the forest is now accoricultural value of the land is too high to perer in forest cover

Even in the Mississippi Valley and the Great Lakes belts there are still large areas of forest land Most of the far, and some lumber For the most part, these fared correctly Fortunately, a change for the better is now evident The far to appreciate the i the trees for future use In so areas that have been cut over There are large tracts of sandy, rocky and swampy land in these districts that are satisfactory for tree production In fact, about all these fields are good for is the growing of ti and develop the production of lands adapted for forestry which previously have been idle

The United States of the future will not be a desert, tree-less country However, i trees in timber has already been felled The afterenerally are inferior Our supplies of ash, black walnut and hickory, once abundant, are now seriously limited

Formerly, these mixed forests covered vast stretches of country which today support only a scant crop of young trees which will not be ready for rowth stands will never approach in value or quality the original forests Over large areas, poplar, white birch, and Jack pine trees now predominate on lands which formerly bore dense stands of white pine In many places, scrubby underbrush and stunted trees occupy lands which heretofore have been heavy producers of , farm lands should not be used for forestry purposes On the other hand, soriculture For exa stuan, and Minnesota So purposes, others are not It is preferable that they should produce farm crops instead of tree crops if the land is best adapted to agricultural use It is an economic necessity that all lands in this country best suited for far population de crops should be cleared and devoted to far Under such conditions, the settlers should reserve sufficient woodlands for their ho between the land that is best for agricultural purposes and the land that is best for forestry purposes, and thus doubling their resources

Thoughtless lued millions of acres of our most productive forests The early lumbermen wasted our woodland resources They made the same mistakes as everyone else in the care and protection of our original forests The greatest bla of our lumber resources rests with the State and Federal authorities who permitted the depletion Many of our lu our forests for future generations So all in their power to aid forest conservation

The ability of a properly ed forest to produce new crops of trees year after year promises us a future supply of wood sufficient for all our needs if only ill conserve our timberlands as they deserve It is our duty to handle the forests in the saed