RAISING OR KEEPING UP THE FOREST 



47 



this kind of treatment ; that their stumps furnish an 

 abundance of sprouts ; that the sprouts grow fast, and 

 always much faster than young trees 

 started from the seed. Of seedling 

 trees we see but few, and none at 

 all in the denser parts of the woods. 



But, though the woods are fairly 

 good, there are several things here 

 which might be improved by a little 

 more care. In the first place, we 

 notice open spots ten or fifteen yards 

 across, where grass and weeds cover 

 the ground together with a few iso- 

 lated trees of red cedar. Apparently 

 the forest gave out and the stumps 

 ceased to sprout. Perhaps they were 

 too old or else had been burned, or 

 possibly cattle kept the sprouts down 

 by eating off the leaves and thus 

 killed the stumps, for, as we have 

 learned before, the stump can live 

 only if it has leaves to prepare 

 food for its cells. Such spots are 

 unproductive ; they are neither good pasture nor forest. 



In the woods we notice that some of the stumps have 

 too many sprouts, that these crowd each other, some are 

 dead and others are stunted by their neighbors. Evidently 



FIG. 20. Stump and 

 Sprouts 



