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stand and had a fairly full crown were allowed to remain as cover. 

 There is no chance of their overtaking the favored trees, and they fur- 

 nish the needful shade whereby a more radical opening of the crowns 

 in the dominant stand is permitted. The final trees of the grove are 

 to be selected from the trees which are 4 to 7 inches in diameter, the 

 remainder acting as a reserve in case the selected trees should meet 

 with accident. The heaviest cutting was made in that part of the 

 stand which ran from 2 to 4 inches in diameter, the class which inter- 

 fered most with the future sugar trees. Those individuals which gave 

 promise of becoming members of the final stand were given more 

 room than the others. Although the cutting took away such a large 



FIG. 5. The same stand shown in fig. 4 after thinning. 



proportion of the stand, it will be observed that the trees are still in 

 close order. This will necessitate a later thinning, probably after 

 about six years, but at present further thinning would subject the 

 long, slender saplings to danger of overthrow and the ground to 

 drying. 



SITUATION OF A SUGAR GROVE. 



The best location for a sugar grove is where the maple thrives best 

 under natural conditions. In the Appalachian region this will be in 

 the north coves, and in Ohio, Indiana, and adjacent States on rich, 

 moist, gravelly soils. In the Northern States, where the maple flour- 

 ishes on all exposures, the exposures to the south are generally to be 



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