12 AMERICAN FORI-:STRY 



reproduction; and the trees are subject to injury by having the earth 

 trampled away, exposing their roots and thus interfering with their growth. 

 If the trees are young, it is the height of folly to allow cattle to graze among 

 them, for the tops will be eaten back and the trees become twisted and broken 

 from the rubbing and trampling they will receive. This fact is witnessed by 

 the ruins of many a school ground plantation. 



The greatest enemy of the forest tree is fire. Fire may not so frequently 

 find its way to the woodlot as to the forest primeval, but it is nevertheless to 

 be reckoned with; not the great, flaming all-consuming forest fire, but the 

 creeping, seemingly insignificant ground fire which burns slowly through 

 leaves and humus. A furrow around the woodlot will frequently serve as an 

 efficient protection from such fires and prevent much damage. 



The proper utilization and management of the woodlot is a broad subject. 

 I shall have time only to mention a very few points. Proper cutting and 

 judicious improvement thinnings are essential to promote the best develop- 

 ment of desirable trees, especially if the woodlot is of native growth. In 

 some types of woodlots, pruning is advisable, but frequently this will be 

 unnecessary if not unwise. The most important feature is, of course, the 

 harvesting of the crop of the woodlot, which will consist, so far as the ordinary 

 farmer is concerned, of fence posts, fuel, poles, etc. A great many problems 

 present themselves which cannot be solved satisfactorily except by a knowl- 

 edge of silviculture and technical forestry. The students of agriculture may 

 well become familiar with the fact that in such cases, advice may always be 

 had at little or no cost from the Forest Service of the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture. 



The essential points which I wish to impress upon all teachers of agri- 

 culture is the importance of the considei-ation of trees as a farm crop just as 

 much as corn; and that the forest, in the form of the woodlot, has its place in 

 agriculture which we cannot afford to overlook. 



FORESTRY IN BOTANY. 



The student of botany will, of necessity, make the tree the subject of a 

 great deal of study. It is the best type of exogenous, or outside growing plant. 

 The annual rings of the tree contain many an interesting story of the vicissi- 

 tudes of its life history. We might dwell upon this interesting point for a 

 long time biit I must pass on. One type of inside-growing or endogenous tree 

 is found in the palm family. It will interest the botanist to compare the 

 fonn of the palm to that of ordinary outside growing trees and seek explana- 

 tions for the differences. 



The life pi'oces.ses of the tree are full of mystery and of interest to the 

 student. We shall find it profitable to learn why a girdled tree dies in a sea- 

 son, but one whose entire trunk, except the bark and sapwood, has decayed 

 will often thrive with no signs of injury for years, until blown down by some 

 wind storm. 



In considering that most fascinating of botanical subjects, seed dispersal, 

 the trees furnish us an infinite variety of studies. We might collect and study 

 the winged seeds such as those of the maple, elm, and basswood. The repro- 

 duction by seeding is well worth our attention, but we must not overlook that 

 other type of forest reproduction, the coppice or sprout method, for this is not 

 only interesting as a botanical study, but important from the side of forestry. 



Should we consider the ecology of the forest, we find the light relation of 

 trees evidenced in striking manner by the self-pruning of forest trees in com- 

 parison with the wide lateral branches developed in the same species where 

 grown singly in the open. It is also clearly shown by the rapid reproduction 

 which sets in when a clearing is made in the forest and the quick upshooting 



