102 FARM FORESTRY 



STARTING A NEW WOODLOT BY REMOVING THE OLD TREES IN' 

 TWO OR MORE CUTTINGS, THE NEW STAND STARTING 

 NATURALLY FROM SEED SOWN BY THE TREES LEFT AND 

 UNDER THEIR SHELTER, KNOWN AS THE SHELTER-WOOD 

 SYSTEM. 



According to this method about half the old trees are re- 

 moved at the first cutting. The trees to be cut are taken here 

 and there throughout the woodlot so as to break the canopy 

 uniformly and allow the sunlight to fall on the forest floor. 

 The trees left will soon start to grow vigorously after the 

 thinning, because the increased sunlight will enable the trees 

 to manufacture more food. The sunlight falling on the floor 

 will help to decay the leaves and twigs and furnish additional 

 food for the trees. The result will be a heavy crop of seed. 

 The seed falling on the ground under the shade and shelter 

 of the old trees will germinate, and soon the floor will be 

 covered with young seedling trees. The new stand may be 

 secured at once, or it may take several years to bring about, 

 depending on the seed crop. A woodlot does not produce 

 heavy crops of seed every year. 



After the young seedlings are well started the rest of the 

 old trees are removed. Many of the seedlings will, of course, 

 be destroyed by the cutting of the old seed trees, but enough 

 should escape to produce a well-stocked stand. Sometimes 

 when the trees are very thick in the old stand and so are not 

 wind-firm, and the removal of trees around them> would be apt 

 to cause them to be blown over, several light cuttings are made 

 instead of one heavy cutting, removing but few trees at a time. 

 In this way the trees left will gradually thicken and strengthen 

 their root systems and become wind-firm, and be able to with- 

 stand storms without falling before they have sown their seed. 



In all these different methods it will often be found that 

 seedlings of trees have already begun to grow in the woodlot. 

 This is called advance reproduction and should not be injured. 



