66 



The Farm Woodlot 



FIG. 15. Burr oak (Quercus macro- 

 car pa). 



oak, scarlet oak and the 

 like to the black oaks, and 

 mature their fruit in two 

 summers. The oaks pro- 

 duce large quantities of 

 seed. The acorns may be 

 gathered in the fall and 

 planted at once or kept 

 moist and cold over winter 

 and planted in the spring. 

 The oaks also form excel- 

 lent stump sprouts, and a 

 good crop of fuel may be 

 grown in this way. All 

 the oaks are slow growers. 

 The white oaks are par- 

 ticularly slow and it re- 

 quires almost a lifetime to 

 develop a good tree. The 

 red oak is about the fast- 

 est grower of the oaks and 

 is an excellent tree for 

 planting. It furnishes 

 good fuel and supplies 

 many demands about the 

 farm. It would be difficult 

 to find a natural woodlot 

 without some species of 

 oak, and frequently sev- 

 eral kinds are present in 

 the same lot. 



