CULTIVATING DENUDED WOOD-LANDS. 39 



wooded. The only general rule which intelligent forest- 

 ers follow in such cases is: first, to make a calculation 

 in regard to the profitableness of the operation, and then 

 to do the work as thoroughly as the means on hand will 

 permit. 



Before entering upon active operations, there should 

 be taken into consideration everything influencing the 

 growth and thrift of forestal vegetation. In this respect 

 we have first to examine the condition of the soil, this 

 being a source from which the young trees receive their 

 principal nourishment. As the soil, especially on the 

 plains, changes very much in regard to both its mechan- 

 ical character and chemical condition of fertility, a close 

 investigation of the components of the soil is required, to 

 find out the quantity and quality of the plant-food con- 

 tained therein. 



Trees strive to penetrate with their roots as deep as 

 possible into the soil. The more room there is for the 

 extension of the roots, the more they will be developed 

 and able to promote a quicker and stronger growth of 

 the trees, these receiving a great deal of their food and 

 a very essential one at that through the roots from the 

 contents of the soil. Poor soils as well as exhausted ones 

 offer great difficulties for raising trees, and, therefore, 

 preparatory operations have to be undertaken, in order 

 to enable them to produce a good forest vegetation. 

 The obstacles to a vigorous growth of forest trees are 

 manifold. Sometimes the soil, by the continuous and 

 unimpeded exposure to the sun's rays and parching winds, 

 has become thoroughly dried up and impoverished, and 

 in addition to this it is often covered either on its top or 

 in its intermediate layers with impenetrable strata of 

 carbonaceous or feruginous substances, which prevent the 

 growth of plants upon them. Sometimes the fertile soil 

 has been either washed away or made too compact and 

 firm, or swampy, or boggy, by rain or snow. In all such 



