54 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 



Here is a piece of woods with a beautiful border of 

 beech, low-cro.wned blue beech, mixed with elm, and 

 maple, and a fringe of hazel, dogwood, and other shrubs. 

 The whole border is so dense that it seems as if it might 

 shut out all visitors, as well as the injurious drying winds. 

 Let us enter. They are very stately old woods and remind 

 us of the virgin forest we visited some time ago. But 

 there are many things changed after all, and the hand of 

 man is clearly visible. There is no dead and fallen tim- 

 ber ; it is all cleared away, evidently taken home for 

 firewood. Nor do we notice here any old crippled trees, 

 nor any of the greedy spreading ones which want a whole 

 acre to themselves. No doubt they were here at one time, 

 but all have been cut out and used up. Right here we 

 see a fine old mixed stand of mature timber, probably 

 every tree over a hundred years old. They are still 

 thrifty, but their shade is too dense for any young trees 

 to start. Let us walk on. Why, here is a park ! Every- 

 thing looks clean and neat, the stand is rather open, 

 nearly everything except the maple has been cut out, and 

 there are regular paths in all directions. Note the many 

 auger holes in the trees ; this is a " sugar bush." The 

 farmer, finding the maple predominant in this part of his 

 woods, cleared out much of the elm, oak, and other kinds 

 to give the maple more room. He also cleaned up more 

 perfectly to make his work in sap-gathering time more 

 convenient. 



