100 FARM FORESTRY 



sprouts put forth, a new woodlot must be started naturally 

 from seed. Some tree seed is blown long distances. Light 

 seeded trees on the edge of the area cut over will soon seed 

 up the ground with new trees, provided the area cut is not 

 too large and provided the soil is in good condition. A soil 

 packed hard by the grazing of many cattle or a soil that has 

 been repeatedly burned over, will not be in a good condition 

 to germinate seed. Cut-over areas are often seen growing 

 up to weeds and grass instead of trees, even when seed trees 

 are growing along the edge of the tract, because of the poor 

 condition of the soil. A field that has been abandoned will 

 soon grow up to forest trees because of the good condition of 

 the seed bed. Not only will light seeded trees seed up cut- 

 over areas, but heavy seeds like walnut, hickory, oak and 

 chestnut will be carried in by birds and squirrels. The squirrels 

 gather large quantities of such seed, and besides storing the 

 seed in their hoards in hollow trees and under logs, they will 

 carry large quantities out into the open and bury them. A 

 large part of this seed is never recovered and germinates and 

 grows into trees. So an area cut over will soon be covered 

 not only with trees having light seeds, but the trees having 

 heavy seeds will gradually be introduced. Finally, all the 

 trees that grow naturally in the region will be found growing 

 on the cut-over area. If the area cut over is too large, not 

 all of it will be seeded up satisfactorily with trees. Even where 

 the area is small and there are many trees surrounding it to 

 sow the seed, the reproduction may be too scattering in some 

 places and too thick in others. Seedlings from the tree nursery 

 should be planted wherever failures occur. 



Sometimes the woodlot is cut off a strip at a time, the 

 strips being not more than once or twice as wide as the trees 

 are high. When the strip cut over is seeded with seedlings 

 from the neighboring standing timber a new strip is cut, and 

 so on across the woodlot. The first strip cut should run at 

 right angles to the prevailing winds and on the side of the 



