Esthetic Forestry 193 



permanency of our composition. We can make sure, for 

 example, that the tolerant and persistent growers, such as 

 the beech, the sugar maple, the holly, the hemlock, the firs 

 and spruces, will be able to hold their own in the struggle 

 for light and air-space; while such extremely light-needing 

 and not persistent growers as the aspen, white birch, black 

 locust, soft maple, will soon be crowded out; finally the light- 

 needing and yet persistent growers, like the Tulip tree, the 

 oaks, the Yellow Birch, and the pines, if their heads are once 

 above their neighbors, will be able to maintain themselves. 



With such knowledge we can formulate the general policy, 

 namely, to reduce more or less rapidly the short-hved, light- 

 needing species, which cannot maintain themselves in a mix- 

 ture; and to keep the last-named species with their heads 

 free and preferably in small groups, when the central ones 

 at least will maintain themselves, those on the outside of the 

 group succumbing gradually and being removed as dead 

 wood. In this way these species have maintained them- 

 selv^es in the natural forest, otherwise the shade-end urers 

 would occupy all the ground, where not prevented by unsuit- 

 able soil conditions. These latter alone will insure per- 

 manency and should in most cases form the bulk of the 

 woods, for in addition to permanency they also furnish the 

 best protection to the soil by their shade and abundant leaf 

 fall. 



There is one other feature influencing permanency which 

 is often overlooked. Much of the woodland of hardwoods 

 or deciduous trees which comes into park use is composed 

 of coppice, i.e., sprouts from the stump, the trees having 

 been cut again and again and being replaced by stool shoots, 

 not seedhngs. Such stool shoots are of the nature of branches 

 from the original bole, and do not grow in the same manner 

 as do trees which grow from seedlings. Although develop- 



