PLANTING AND SEEDING OF WOODLOTS 



By Geo. Latta Barrus, New York State Forester 



THE establishment of tree growth 

 in the woodlot, or on large forest 

 areas may be brought about by 

 two methods, namely, natural 

 reproduction and artificial reproduction. 

 I wish to give some advice to woodlot 

 owners on planting and seeding, and to 

 draw their attention at this time to the 

 planning of such work for the spring 

 season. In another issue of this maga- 

 zine there will be discussed the different 

 systems to be followed in securing 

 natural reproduction of forest growth. 

 It will be learned from such discussion 

 that, while natural reproduction is the 

 ideal to be hoped for, there are certain 

 fundamental requirements, at the start, 

 necessary in order to make the adoption 

 of that system possible, the most impor- 

 tant factor being the presence of good 

 seed trees of desirable species. 



On vast areas of land in the United 

 States not only are desirable seed trees 

 lacking, but there are often no signs 

 of any tree growth, leaving artificial 

 reproduction as the only choice. Even 

 in the small areas of woodlots there are 

 often open spaces where planting or 

 seeding is advisable to secure satisfac- 



tory conditions. Thus, in any opening 

 where grass is found, and where it 

 would be difficult to secure reproduction 

 of the best species, it woiild be wise to 

 resort to planting. Only too often all 

 the trees of the best species have been 

 cut out from a woodlot, so that it would 

 be impossible to secure their natural 

 reproduction. Also it might be desirable 

 to introduce species which had never 

 grown there before. Again, in such 

 spaces where the land is now occupied 

 by large spreading trees of poor quality, 

 it would be better to cut these out and 

 plant. 



There are very few woodlots which 

 could not be very greatly improved by 

 planting from one hundred to four 

 hundred trees per acre. Like all other 

 forest planting, the work can generally 

 be done before the ordinary farm work 

 is taken up, so that it will not interfere 

 with that work. In case the market 

 conditions warrant cutting of the poor 

 material, generally the value received 

 from such cuttings will be enough to 

 pay for the cost of planting the woodlot 

 with new stock, as this latter cost is 

 very low. 



Photo by C. J . Ayres. 



The Land Gives Evidence of Being Occupied Immediately Aktek Planting, 

 scotch pine on .adirondack sand. 



2S7 



