AMERICAN S Y L V I C U L T U R E 



to sixtieth year of the trees; tlie soil is then used for the produc- 

 tion of corn, cotton or small grain for a number of years and 

 thereafter allowed to revert to Pine obtained by n. s. r. from adjoin- 

 ing woods. The same system is followed by thousands of farmers 

 in the old country. 



II. Field crops temporarily raised amongst and together with 

 forest crops. 



a. In sprout forests: 



In Germany, the owners of coppice woods, after coppicing, fre- 

 quently burn the debris on the ground, ploughing the soil roughly 

 thereafter and using it for small grain or potatoes as long as the 

 fresh stool shoots do not overshadow the farm crops too severely. 



This system allows the farmer to continuously (although inter- 

 mittently) produce field crops on steep slopes liable to erosion, with 

 the help of the fertility furnished by the humus and by the 

 activity of the tree roots. 



b. In seed forests: 



1. In the early stages of sylviculture, acorns and pine seeds 

 were frequently planted with barley, oats or summer rye. Compare 

 Par. XV. 



2. Sir D. Brandis has established in Burmah a system named 

 " toungya " by which seedlings of Teak, planted with rice by native 

 lessees on government reserves, obtain protection from wild animals 

 and tires as well as from the Bamboo threatening to suffocate the 

 seedlings. 



3. A similar system has been practiced since 1810 in the German 

 Rhine valley where splendid polewoods of White Oak have thus 

 been raised. Here in years past the returns from toungya used to 

 more than cover the expense of forest planting and protecting. The 

 field crops shade the Oak slightly and tend to protect it from the 

 effect of late frosts as well as from the attacks of grub worms 

 (Melolonthidae). At Darmstadt, Germany, the pineries are often 

 regenerated by this method. 



4. In Western X. C, the expense of clearing the forest for 

 field crops amounts to ten dollars or twenty dollars, according to 

 the density of the growing stock and according to the yield derivable 

 from the sale of timber removed. 



On good forest soil a few years of corn crops are apt to refund 

 the outlay incurred for clearing. 



Thereafter the Pines, the Oaks, the Yellow Poplars and the 

 Ashes of the adjoining woods will quickly produce a superior plan- 

 tation of trees. 



Where the soil is stocked with tree weeds, and where immature 

 trees must not be sacrificed, the system can be strongly endorsed. 



