204 Forestry Quarterly. 



killed, and so on. Sometimes all are produced from the original 

 tree; sometimes from older sprouts, or both. Each crop is less 

 vigorous than the one before. How many crops can be produced 

 is not certain. The writer has counted as many as four, produced 

 at from three to eight year intervals, all surrounding a single still- 

 standing Chestnut bole. Nearly twenty years had elapsed since 

 the first fire. Such sprouts seldom amount to much even if fires 

 are at length stopped. 



The power of sprouting after lire gives a species an advantage 

 in maintaining itself under conditions of annual, periodic or casual 

 burning, but it does not help the resistance of a single trunk. 

 Chestnut and Red Maple often maintain themselves in stands long 

 after their original trunks have vanished. The sprouts keep com- 

 pany with the scarred trunks of oak and others which do not 

 sprout as readily, but are otherwise more resistant. 



Other than Sprouting Power it is difficult to isolate the factors 

 of Continued Resistance. Resistance of wood to combustion and 

 decay do not seem to be all. Some species have the power of 

 hanging on to life under all sorts of unfavorable conditions. For 

 lack of a better term, we call them hardy. If asked why they are 

 so, we can only answer "the inherent quality of the protoplasm." 



With few exceptions species characteristic of dry, barren, 

 rocky, and exposed sites are also fire resistant. Species character- 

 istic of moist, fertile sites are generally non-resistant. In the 

 group of barren land and resistant species come; Black and Chest- 

 nut Oaks, Pitch Pine, and to a lesser degree, Hickory and Red 

 Oak. On the other hand, not considering sprouting power, which 

 seems to bear no relation to site, are such species as Beech, Black 

 and Yellow Birch, Red, Silver and Hard Maple, Ash, Tulip, Bass- 

 wood and Black Cherry, which are characteristic of good sites, 

 and are non-resistant. 



There are exceptions to this law. Trees with perishable wood 

 are non-resistant even if characteristic of poor sites. Examples 

 are Gray Birch and Scarlet Oak. Other species with very re- 

 sistant wood or a high recovery power are classed as resistant even 

 though characteristic of good soils. White Oak is an example. 

 Chestnut which is non-resistant in youth, develops a thick bark at 

 maturity and is then quite resistant. 



