DEFINITIONS AND GENERALITIES 15 



character of the adjacent woods and the quality of the site. 

 Therefore, in most cases of clear-cutting with natural reproduc- 

 tion, blanks occur which ought to be filled by seeding or planting. 

 Because of the difficulties and uncertainties in attaining natural 

 reproduction after clear-cutting, artificial reproduction is often 

 advantageous because it is more certain of success and the new 

 stand is established at once. Only the species desired are re- 

 produced. 



Abandoned farms and woodlands that have been repeatedly 

 lumbered and burned are often without sufficient seed trees, and 

 consequently restocking is possible only through artificial means. 

 On prairies and other lands naturally without trees, seeding or 

 planting is the only recourse. Artificial restocking is always 

 necessary when a change of species is desired. It is often the 

 case that a forest cannot be brought to the desired composition 

 except through artificial reproduction. This is particularly true 

 of woodlands that have been culled of the better species and 

 otherwise neglected. 



Because of the aggregate area of idle farm lands that ought to 

 be producing timber, the large areas laid waste by repeated fires 

 on which there is no hope of natural reproduction, and the culled 

 and otherwise neglected condition of much of our woodland, 

 seeding and planting must become more and more an essential 

 part of forestry in this country. It should be clearly kept in 

 mind, however, that artificial reproduction, because of the initial 

 expense involved, is seldom justifiable except when conditions 

 make natural reproduction uncertain and incomplete. 



