FOREST REGENERATION AND TREATMENT. 75 



necessity for any such method of rotation in forestry 

 as there is in agriculture. 



Pruning of Forest Trees is generally an expensive opera- 

 tion and little is required if trees are properly crowded 

 when young, so that they take on an upright form free 

 from side branches. If they are not crowded when young, 

 many side branches are formed, which generally die out 

 when the trees get large enough to shade all the ground. In 

 some cases these dead branches drop quickly to the ground, 

 and in others they remain for years, producing knots 

 and irregularities in the wood formed in the meantime 

 and should be removed. Trees grown in the open retain 

 their lower branches more or less throughout life, and 

 they produce in consequence timber of inferior value as 

 compared with trees grown in properly crowded woods. 



Large wounds made by cutting off green branches 

 should be painted with some protective covering such 

 as white lead. It is often desirable to remove dead 

 branches, and it is the practice to do so in some of the 

 plantings of White Pine that have been made in New 

 England. It is said that the lumber there is so greatly 

 improved by so doing that the operation is a paying one. 

 But under ideal conditions for the development of timber 

 trees very little is gained by pruning. 



The Young Growth is Often Injured in ordinary lum- 

 bering operations by the felling of the trees, which bend 

 them to the ground and often break them. Where special 

 care is desired to protect the young growth it may be de- 

 sirable to lop off the branches before felling. This is 

 practised to some extent where forests are very valuable. 



The Small Dead Twigs on such trees as Spruce, and 

 also the shrubbery which may surround them, are often 

 a very valuable protection against sun-scald. This 

 also protects from drying winds, which would otherwise 

 perhaps sweep through the forests and do them injury. 



