8 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



north of that it drives out the red maple 

 except in the swamps where it can not 

 grow. Its autumn colors are gorgeous 

 reds and yellows, its timber is exceed- 

 ing fine and valuable, and you can 

 tap the sturdy ones for maple syrup in 

 the spring when you hear the first blue- 

 bird. A three-quarter-inch auger hole 

 put in four inches with a wooden spigot 

 driven in will yield you three pounds of 

 maple sugar to the tree. The juice of 

 the red maple is by no means as plenti- 

 ful or of as fine quality as the sugar 

 maple. 



To conclude the matter of the grove. 

 Having found a fine dry locality already 

 populated with sturdy trees bigger than 

 the average, clean out the underbrush, 

 and thin out all the crooked, spindling 

 and dying trees that are obviously ham- 

 pering the growth of the others. Aim 

 to leave the canopy overhead in such 

 shape that it will close up solid in a few 

 years. You will find that your big fel- 

 lows in doing this will have grown to 

 really noble proportions. And T would 

 not introduce evergreen here if I were 

 you — a grove of Druidical oaks is your 

 effect — but I would plant nursery sap- 

 lings where you perceive such-and-such 

 a tree is urgently needed. A nursery 

 sapling has not only a more compact 

 and vigorous root system but it grows 

 much faster than the forest transplant. 

 A three-inch nursery sapling will reach 

 12 inch diameter of trunk in twenty 

 years in all the standard deciduous 

 trees, whereas our forest-grown oaks 

 and maples seldom reach ]2 inches in- 

 side of their fiftieth year. I have had 

 such poor results in transplanting all 

 sizes and kinds of forest trees that I 

 have come to regard the nursery sap- 

 ling as cheaper, quicker and better ex- 

 cept in a few special cases. 



Assuming that your woodlot has a 

 brook, let us walk the length of it from 

 boundary to boundary. Here it comes, 

 tumbling down through a rocky dell — 

 what a place for hemlocks and balsams ! 

 Perhaps Nature has already put in a 

 few or rather, man has left a few sur- 

 vivors. There is nothing prettier tlian 

 a feathery, dark-green hemlock over- 

 hanging a brook, and you are to study 

 your vistas with an eye to hemlocks. 



taking care, however, not to choose 

 sites that will be washed out by spring 

 freshets. And, for those little bottoms 

 in the elbows and turns of the brook, 

 there is no better tree than the silvery, 

 aromatic balsam, the Christmas tree 

 "spruce" of the city markets. Both 

 it and the hemlock endure shade and 

 will grow prodigiously if you but clear 

 away the immediate saplings without 

 attempting to disturb the larger trees 

 overhead. At salient points along the 

 ravine banks you will plant white pines. 

 They also endure shade hardily and 

 even a little State nursery transplant 

 will become a very respectable tree, 

 reaching in twelve years a diameter of 

 three inches and a height of thirteen 

 feet, and this under considerable shade 

 from the forest trees. 



As you progress down the course of 

 the brook you will note that the crowd- 

 ing of saplings in the ravine is tremen- 

 dous. You can not see the woods for 

 the trees, to use an Irish bull. Nature is 

 sure to have grown at vantage points 

 along the bends, here a black birch, yon- 

 der a stunning red maple, on this point 

 a fine beech or black gum — but you pass 

 right by these unnoticed wonders be- 

 cause the eye is distracted by millions 

 of tangled saplings all crowding and 

 fighting for sunlight and room. Here 

 is where the axe gets to work ; and in 

 ])lanning for it aim to have each vista 

 frame some strikingly beautiful tree 

 bordering the brookside. You will be 

 surprised to find how even a few 

 bushes will spoil a most soul-satisfying 

 view. Clear the way ! Lay out a brook- 

 side trail and let it cross the brook 

 whenever you have some particularly 

 lovely landscape to show off. Here we 

 come to a tiny water meadow, grown up 

 with rank lush grasses, with alders and 

 blackberries ])ordering the stream. 

 What a place for willows ! .\nd the 

 sunny meadow was particularly de- 

 signed for a clump of tulip trees and 

 sycamores. If Nature has not already 

 been there before you better hie you 

 to the nursery and invest in salix nigra 

 and Babylonica, Liriodendrou, tiilipi- 

 fcra and platanus accideufaiis forthwith. 



Speaking of meadows, let us not for- 

 get to be on the lookout for them in the 



