350 JOURNAIv OF FORESTRY 



lowing cuttings of today. Old cuttings used to select only the choicest 

 trees, leaving many inferior specimens standing, as a rule. Modern 

 cuttings take all the Douglas fir, though leaving many specimens of 

 other species where present. It is common in areas of young growth 

 to tind many old windfalls which may have been in part the seed trees 

 that helped in the establishment of the stand. These statements are 

 made only in the interest of supplementary investigations to the notable 

 ones already made by Hofman. 



A further word as to the practical bearings of these investigations 

 may be justified. The writer has maintained for several years that the 

 cheapest method of regeneration in our overmature forests, to which 

 cutting is confined at present, is to modify present cutting methods very 

 little — that is, clear cut — burn the slash in a seed year for unmerchant- 

 able trees left on the ground at a time after the seed is ripe, but before 

 it has fallen, and thus get all reproduction possible from this source, 

 added to that along the margin of the cut-over area adjacent to stand- 

 ing timber. Regeneration should then be completed artificially, if nec- 

 essary. These investigations seem to confirm the method, with the ex- 

 ception of the slash burning That has heretofore been thought neces- 

 sary to permit Douglas fir to reproduce So far as fire protection goes, 

 it would without doubt be cheaper to provide intensive patrol of slashed 

 areas until the new growth is large enough to keep the slash damp most 

 of the year than it is to burn slash. Slash burning is not a preventive 

 of further fires ; it only diminishes intensity. At any rate, the investi- 

 gations cast extreme doubt on the advisability of leaving an investment 

 of $5 to $20 per acre in seed trees. 



B. P. K. 



^^'atllial Kef'roduction- from Seed Stored in the Forest Floor. Journal of 

 Agricultural Research, Vol. TI, October, 1917. 



Badoux writes interestingly in regard to at- 

 Bxotics tempts to introduce exotic trees into forest planta- 



in tions in Switzerland. Originally botanists and 



Switzerland horticulturists were responsible for introducing 

 exotics. Jussieu brought the cedar of Lebanon 

 in 1734. the specimen persisting to date in the Jardin des plantes in 

 Paris; Robin brought the Robinia to France in 1601, now common 

 everywhere. Since 1890 the German foresters systematically culti- 

 vated this field, but of the many species tried so far only six have been 

 found desirable — Douglas fir, white pine, Japanese larch, cottonwood, 

 red oak, and black walnut. 



