THE FOREST FAMILIES 25 



ity of growth. The winners get the desirable 

 places in the sunlight and prosper. The losers 

 develop into stunted trees that often die, due to 

 lack of light exposure. A better quality of lum- 

 ber results from tall straight trees than that pro- 

 duced by the symmetrical, branching trees. That 

 is why every forester who sets out trees tries to 

 provide conditions which will make them grow 

 tall and with the smallest possible covering of 

 branches on the lower part of the trunks. 



Where trees are exposed to strong winds, they 

 develop deep and strong root systems. They 

 produce large and strong trunks that can bend 

 and resist violent winds which sway and twist 

 them in every direction. Such trees are much 

 stronger and sturdier than those that grow in a 

 sheltered forest. The trees that are blown down 

 in the forest provide space for the introduction 

 and growth of new varieties. These activities 

 are constantly changing the type of tree growth 

 in the forest. 



Our original forests which bordered the At- 

 lantic coast line when America was first settled, 

 were dense and impenetrable. The colonists 

 feared the forests because they sheltered the hos- 

 tile Indians who lurked near the white settle- 



