Second. Planting: restocking the land by planting seed- 

 ling trees or seeds of desirable species. , 



Third. Protecting the young trees against injury from ex- 

 cessive growth of weeds, fire, or live stock. 



THINNING. 



The first step involves the greatest amount of work and 

 possibly the greatest amount of expense. All the mature trees 

 should be cut to make room for the smaller-sized trees now 

 growing together with them, and to make room for planting 



FIG. 164. A force of men planting evergreen seedlings on cut-over land. 

 [Courtesy American Forestry.] 



seeds or seedlings of desirable trees for future crops. The 

 undesirable trees of the present stand, regardless of their age 

 or size, should also be cut so as to make room for as many trees 

 of the more valuable species as possible. This cutting may 

 be done by one of two systems the group or strip system. 

 The group system consists of cutting the trees in groups of 

 irregular areas here and there throughout the woodlot. One 

 or more groups are cut each year until the entire woodlot 

 has been cut over. This system will probably be found to be 

 the most satisfactory in the Kansas woodlots. The strip 



