Natural Reprodzcdion in the Adirondack Forests. 53 



are sound. It is a common practice among orchardists, when wish- 

 ing to remove an old orchard, to girdle the ,trees a year before re- 

 moval in order first to secure a large crop. Yet, where lumbering 

 in the mixed forest has been carried on periodically, if a forest is 

 left at all, it is bound to be a hardwood forest. 



In the great pine forests of Canada, which the lumberman has 

 cut over even only the second time, the scarcity of young pines is 

 remarkable. If a fire runs over these lumbered forests leaving a 

 sufficient number of seed trees, a larger number of young pines 

 will appear. If, however, this young growth is again soon de- 

 stroyed by fire it will not reappear in the same abundance, as many 

 of the seed trees will be killed. 



In a forest lumbered periodically, the regeneration of White Pine, 

 spruce, and hemlock is, then, largely dependent upon the exist- 

 ence of a good mineral seed bed. In the virgin forest they repro- 

 duce on old fallen, rotting pine, spruce, and hemlock trunks, and 

 are found very rarely on the forest floor. The balsam and cedar 

 in the dense forest reproduce somewhat more freely. In places 

 where the light is abundant they do fairly well on the forest floor. 

 The cedar reproduces abundantly from seed in old pasture fields. 

 In the swamps it is frequently regenerated from root suckers. 



The hardwoods, especially the maple, birch, and beech, repro- 

 duce freely everywhere. The abundant regeneration of these as 

 compared with that of the softwoods is everywhere noticeable. 

 Almost any kind of a seed bed seems to be sufficient for them. 



The softwoods are more exacting than the hardwoods in regard 

 to light requirements and are more easily injured by frost. 

 Nurserymen are careful in raising conifer seedlings to see that the 

 plants are shaded from the hot glare of the sun, and that the 

 screens are removed in continued cloudy or wet weather. In the 

 winter the beds are well covered with leaves to protect the plants 

 against the frost. No such careful treatment of hardwoods is 

 necessary. In the forest, then, it is only where the light condi- 

 tions are good, and sufficient protection is afforded in the winter 

 that the conifers can be reproduced. 



But it is not only in the matter of seed bed and light conditions 

 that the hardwoods have the advantage, for they also sprout from 

 the root. Beech roots run frequently above the surface of the 

 soil, and these when wounded, as by the skidding of logs, send 



