Some Aspects of European Forestry. 497 



care is taken, however, to choose those of quick growth so that 

 they may "catch up" with the rest of the stand. 



Frequently, "nurse trees" such as pine, larch, beech, oak, etc., 

 are planted in with the species of the final stand, merely to pro- 

 tect the main crop or to "fill in." For this purpose natural re- 

 production of birch and aspen is also welcomed but removed as 

 soon as it threatens, by overtopping or by whipping in the wind, 

 to injure the permanent species. Formerly, in the lower reaches 

 of the Austrian Alps, it was customary to plant pine and spruce 

 together ; the latter soon fell behind in the race but after logging 

 the pine, the spruce recovered from its suppression and came 

 into its own on the ground enriched by the pine crop. 



The application, to American conditions, of Austrian methods 

 of artificial regeneration, is obvious, still, it may be worth while 

 to review the salient lessons which Austrian experience teaches : 



(i). Unless due attention is given to the source of seed and 

 the methods of securing it, the whole process of artificial re- 

 generation will result in the deterioration of the forest. 



(2). Methods of direct seeding are necessarily limited to the 

 most favorable sites; even there, success is always partial. Di- 

 rect seeding is really only a stepping stone from natural re- 

 generation to planting. 



(3). The simplest, i. e., the most natural, means of planting 

 are ordinarily the most successful. Normal planting requires 

 normal stock, that is stock of the proper root development and 

 grown under conditions similar to those of the planting site. 

 Pampered stock often succumbs to the rigors of the planting site. 

 The correct criterion of successful administration is not the pro- 

 duction of luxuriant plant material but of thriftily growing plan- 

 tations. 



(4.) Transplants alone possess the shallow, compact root sys- 

 tem necessary for all but the most favorable planting sites. On 

 very favorable sites seedlings will succeed. It is useless to plant 

 trees with seriously injured or with crooked, or insufficient root 

 systems. It is cheaper to cull these at the nursery than later to 

 fill the gaps they leave in the plantation. 



(5). Care in planting is even more important than is care in 

 raising the stock. Planting by hand is surer, and hence cheaper 

 in the long run; for the use of planting instruments, time and 



