46 THE BOOK OF FORESTRY 



sprouts from the root collar or starting suckers from 

 the underground roots. The first method known as 

 "coppicing" is quite common and such well known trees 

 as chestnut, maple, ash, red oak and basswood sprout 

 freely. Practically all broadleaf trees sprout during 

 early life but some lose this faculty at a comparatively 

 early age. As a rule the sprouting capacity is at its 

 best before thirty years and most trees sprout indif- 

 ferently after sixty years. Trees of seedling origin 

 have more vigor and better sprouting capacity than 

 those of coppice growth. A few conifers sprout but 

 ordinarily the growth of such trees as shortleaf or pitch 

 pine is comparatively short-lived. Redwood, however, 

 commonly reproduces by sprouting which accounts for 

 the large circles of trees found in redwood groves. 

 They are the second generation growing around the 

 parent stump. 



The faculty of sending up shoots from the under- 

 ground roots or "suckering" is a method of repro- 

 duction common to such trees as beech, black locust, 

 poplar, etc. Very commonly a dense thicket of beech 

 reproduction upon investigation proves to be a mass of 

 suckers surrounding the stump of a tree cut a few 

 years previously. 



Development of the Forest. In order that the life 

 history of a forest community may be clearly under- 

 stood let us watch how the forest develops. In many 

 parts of New England, pastures or even farms were 

 cleared from land which proved to be too steep and 

 sterile for successful agriculture, so these fields were 

 later abandoned. Within the last century many of 

 these areas have grown up to splendid forests of second- 

 growth pine or spruce, and the process was as follows: 



From near-by trees with large spreading crowns a 



