HERMAN H. CHAPMAN 55 



seeded trees like oaks, chestnuts and others, if they are 

 to be reproduced from seed, must be managed by gradu- 

 ally opening up the stand, so that there is light for the 

 seedlings and the seed trees will not be too far off. But 

 anything like the system used in Europe will not be pos- 

 sible here for many years. 



The Sprout System. — The simplest method of repro- 

 ducing a forest, and one which has been unintentionally ap- 

 plied over vast areas, is to depend upon the sprouts. As 

 all hardwoods sprout, we have only to be sure that the 

 trees are young enough to retain this power, and to cut 

 them at the proper season, that is, the dormant period 

 of the tree's annual growth, and the second crop starts 

 at once. These stands are even-aged if the area has been 

 clear-cut. It is usually far better to make a complete 

 cut than to select the best trees and leave part of the 

 stand, if this method of reproduction is to be used. Some 

 of our best species, as chestnut, are rather intolerant of 

 shade. If many trees are left, the sprouts from a chest- 

 nut stump soon become too shaded for good growth, and 

 lose their upright form, spreading out sideways for light. 

 Finally they may die and the productiveness of the stump 

 be ended. 



Sprouts from trees which were originally seedlings are 

 vigorous and apt to be sound. But in many places in 

 New England, these sprouts have again been cut, giving 

 rise to a second generation of sprouts. A third and fourth 

 cutting may be made, but with each crop, the sprouts 

 grow more slowly, reach a smaller size and are more apt 

 to be rotten, since they frequently become infected from 

 the rotting stump to which they are attached. One of 

 the most difficult problems of the forester is to renew 

 such depleted sprout forests. This should be done by es- 

 tablishing seedlings in the place of the old sprouts. The 

 European method is to allow the stand to grow to an age 

 at which the stumps have lost their sprouting vigor. It 



