THE ART OF THE SECOND GROWTH 



In the hardwood forests of Michigan, light surface fires tend to 

 destroy the heavy litter on the ground, and to produce a wonderful 

 cA)p of seedlings (Hard Maple, Beech, Elm), long before the logger 

 begins to operate. On Star Island, in the Minnesota National Forest, 

 fire has made possible the development of a fine stand of seedling 

 White Pine beneath a dense stand of Red Pine. Where the litter is 

 raked away, in the Southern Pineries, to be used on the rice farm, 

 a healthy growth of Pines is allowed to come up, before the axe 

 touches the trees. The splendid regenerations of Scotch Pine at 

 Ysenburg, Germany, have been obtained by this type on soil deprived 

 of its leaf mould. 



In the United States the removal of the superstructure, usually 

 followed by fires, tends to annihilate every vestige of advance 

 growth. 



C. Advantages: 



Where the system can be carried through, it off'ers the follow- 

 ing advantages: 



I. Concentrated logging. 



II. Well-preserved productiveness of the soil. 



III. Soil never idling, but producing without any delay. 



D. Disadvantages: 



I. The type is applicable only to intense shade bearers; and 

 these shade bearers are very apt to suffer from pudden changes of 

 environments. 



II. The logging expenses are very badly increased in the attempt 

 to save the advance growth from destruction. 



III. Under any circumstances, the rapid removal of mother trees 

 inflicts scars upon the young growth apt to serve as entrance gates 

 for fungi and insects. 



Paragraph LIV. The advance growth strip type 

 of natural seed regeneration. 



A. Advance grovrtli, being a chance product, is rarely 

 found in symmetrical, long-drawn strips. Where the cleared strip- 

 type is introduced, however, a strip of advance growth is often and 

 easily started underneath the border trees joining the cleared strip 

 to the windward. In that case, the advance growth strip-type is 

 bastardized with the cleared strip-type. 



B. Actual application: 



The type is found but in the bastard form just mentioned. 

 137 



