20 BULLETIN No. 82. 



left, which suppressed any valuable second growth which might spring 

 up. It is impossible to get the best development of trees in irregular 

 selection forests, as the dominant trees have too much room and de- 

 velop broad, spreading branches which retard the development of the 

 smaller trees beneath and cause them to grow crooked. Clean cutting 

 is becoming more common, however, since a good market for cordwood 

 has lately developed, so that now where it is done the inferior and de- 

 fective trees are cut with the straight and sound. 



The trees composing the forests of the State are about half sprout 

 and half seedling in origin. Chestnut and the different species of oak 

 are usually sprouts from old trees removed; tulip poplar, hickory, 

 sweet gum and red maple are more often of seedling origin, while the 

 conifers are from seed. 



There have been no extensive forest fires in Delaware, as the 

 wooded areas are so cut up by cleared agricultural land and roads as 

 to make large fires impossible. Fires over small areas of woodland oc- 

 casionally occur, but the damage from this source has been relatively 

 slight, and has been confined almost entirely to the destruction of un- 

 dergrowth and reproduction with little injury to standing timber. For- 

 est owners in the State, as a class, are diligent in keeping fire from 

 their woods. 



There has been no extensive injury to timber by attacks of insects 

 or from fungous diseases. The forests throughout are uniformly in 

 a healthy and vigorous condition, although lacking in regularity of 

 stock. Single trees are often wind thrown or broken, and some damage 

 is done by the grazing of cattle, but injury from either of these sources 

 is not extensive. 



The reproduction following the removal of old trees is usually ex- 

 cellent. In the pine region, lumbered and burned over forest land and 

 idle, cleared land become quickly seeded up to young pine. In the 

 hardwood region chestnut and oak usually sprout vigorously, especial- 

 ly after clear cutting, while most of the other hardwood species repro- 

 duce well from seed. There is often much hardwood reproduction 

 springing up under cover of old stands, which is destroyed, for the 

 most part, when the old trees are cut, but it generally sprouts again 

 and forms part of the new stand. Unfortunately there is often a heavy 

 undergrowth of worthless shrubs, which interferes greatly with the re- 

 production of desirable species, and which should be destroyed when it 

 is desired to establish seedlings of valuable species. As a rule, a fair 

 amount of natural reproduction can be secured with little or no extra 



