82 FARM FORESTRY 



apart. It is best to underplant with some such species as 

 sugar maple. This will insure good forest conditions. The 

 cottonwood will produce lumber and the maple cordwood. 



Basswood (Tilia Americana). The bass wood or linden 

 tree is distributed from Canada to Alabama along the moun- 

 tains and west to Minnesota and Texas. It grows to be a 

 tree 70 to 80 feet in height and 2 feet in diameter. It is suited 

 to deep, rich, bottomland soils, but will grow slowly on poor 

 upland soils. It is a hardy tree and moderately tolerant of 

 shade. It makes a fairly rapid growth. It is often subject 

 to attacks of insects and fungi. The wood is soft, light brown 

 in color, straight grained and easily worked, but is not very 

 durable. It is used for lumber, woodenware, carriage boxes, 

 trunks and paper pulp. Its flowers yield large amounts of 

 fine honey. It is reproduced by both seeds and sprouts. The 

 seed ripens in September or early October. It should be col- 

 lected and either planted at once or stratified in moist sand 

 over winter. It is a prolific sprouter, one of the best. Seed- 

 lings raised in the nursery can be set out when one year of 

 age. They should be spaced about 5 or 6 feet apart. It 

 will do fairly well in pure stands and also in mixture with 

 white or Norway pine, white ash, elm, maples and hickories. 



Black Cherry (Prunus serotina). This tree is common 

 throughout the eastern half of the United States. It grows 

 to be a tree 80 feet in height and 4 feet in diameter, but is 

 usually found about 60 to 70 feet high and 2 feet in diameter. 

 It will grow fairly well on dry situations, but on moist, well 

 drained, fertile soils it reaches its maximum development. It 

 grows well on well-drained bottomlands. Under favorable 

 conditions it is a rapidly growing tree. A growth of 25 feet 

 in height and a diameter breast height of 6 inches has been 

 obtained in ten years on very rich soil, but usually the growth 

 is much slower. The wood has a beautiful grain and color 

 and is in demand for making furniture. The heartwood 

 makes a good wood for fence posts, it being very durable. 



