THE WOODLOT STARTED FROM SPROUTS 123 



the bark is used for making doormats, for bedding cattle and 

 for fodder. It sells for about $15 a ton. 



MANAGING THE MAPLE SUGAR BUSH 



In the northern states where the hard or sugar maple forms 

 a large percentage of the trees in a woodlot, the making of 

 maple sirup or sugar is an important spring industry. Many 

 farm woodlots are managed especially for this product. 



Sugar maple is a forest tree and to grow well in a woodlot 

 requires forest conditions. The canopy must be kept intact 

 so that the sunlight will not fall on the forest floor, and the 

 ground must be covered with a layer of leaves and humus to 

 the exclusion of grass and weeds. The amount of sap pro- 

 duced by a tree is proportional to the extent of the leaf sur- 

 face. In the woodlot the best results will be obtained not by 

 a few trees with very wide spreading crowns, but by the largest 

 number of trees consistent with fully developed crowns. In 

 the "sugar bush" the trees should stand farther apart than in 

 the farm woodlot managed for the growing of wood products 

 alone, in order that good crown development will be secured. 



Maple, being a tolerant tree, would naturally grow in un- 

 even aged stands containing trees of all sizes and ages. Such 

 a stand would be managed by the selection system, the old 

 trees being removed when mature and their places being taken 

 by younger trees that have developed beneath them. Ordin- 

 arily stands of the sugar maple are more even aged owing to 

 the trees having seeded in on a clearing or because of grazing 

 that has killed off the younger trees until all the trees are about 

 of the same size. Where such a stand is mature and the 

 trees stand far apart, small maple trees should be planted 

 among the trees and in the openings, and the mature trees 

 gradually removed. In young, even aged stands where the 

 trees stand closely together, they must be thinned out every 

 few years lightly, so as to induce crown development. Cer- 



