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AMERICAN FORESTRY 



Such trees as Scotch, Austrian and red 

 pine, black locust and red oak, make 

 satisfactory growth on dry soil because 

 their long tap roots are able to take up 

 moisture from the lower sub-soil. There 

 are no trees, however, which make a 

 satisfactory growth on cold soils thor- 

 oughly saturated with water, because 

 air in the soil is necessary. 



All trees, in order to make a profit- 

 able growth, require light, but the maxi- 

 mum and minimum requirements vary 

 considerably according to species. Light 

 shade is beneficial to nearly all species 

 when they are first planted, but some 

 kinds, such as spruce, have the ability 

 to withstand considerable shade. Often 

 times there will be existing growth, such 

 as grass, brambles, brush or brakes on 

 the land to be planted. In such cases 

 a liberal sized space should be cleared 

 before planting the trees, so as to allow 

 a fairly good opening to prevent the 

 ground cover from choking out the 

 trees or matting them down after the 

 rank growth of the summer has been 

 weighted down by the winter snow. 



Of course it is hard to select any 

 species which is not afflicted with insect 

 pests or fungus diseases to a more or 

 less extent. There are some species, 

 however, which are especially undesir- 

 able for this reason. For instance, the 

 chestnut should not be planted in the 

 Atlantic States because of the chestnut 

 blight, and in certain localities the locust 

 borer works such havoc with plantations 

 as to discourage the planting of this tree. 

 Ordinarily, however, the locust will 

 reach a size suitable for grape stakes 

 or fence posts before the plantation is 

 destroyed, and when sprout growth 

 comes up after cutting, it gets a very 

 good start before another attack is 

 likely to occur. Where there is a ground 

 cover of sweet fern the Scotch pine is 

 apt to develop a fungus disease which 

 requires the sweet fern as a host in 

 order to carry out its life cycle. In some 

 localities the white pine weevil causes 

 considerable damage to plantations 

 periodically and, in such cases, it might 

 be best to consider the substitution of 

 red pine. 



SIZE OF TREES TO BE USED. 



Ordinarily a land owner expects to 

 receive trees three or four feet high, so 



as to make an immediate showing, but 

 the folly of using such stock is easily 

 seen when we consider the cost of trans- 

 portation, the increased cost of labor 

 in setting them out, and finally the 

 large percentage of loss where this large 

 stock is used. Under most conditions 

 the largest tree advisable for reforesting 

 work is the four-year-old transplant and 

 the use of this tree is not to be advised 

 ordinarily unless there is filling in to 

 be done where former planting has 

 already made a fairly good start, or in 



Photo by C. L. Barrus. 



Xo. 1 — Five Year Old Scotch Pine Seedling 

 FROM Seed Spot. 



No. 2 — Foi'R Year Old Scotch Pine Transplant 

 FRo.M Nursery. 



note better roots O.N NO. 2. 



planting on very dry and exposed situa- 

 tions where the smaller transplants or 

 seedlings could not survive. The best 

 proportioned tree for ordinary ])lanting 

 is the thrcc-year-old transplant which 

 has a very well developed root system, 

 even though the top does not make as 

 much of a showing as that of the four- 

 year transplant. The transportation 

 of such trees is considerably less than 

 the four-year transplant, and they are 



