366 HORTICULTURE, FORESTRY, FLORICULTURE 



menace to the surrounding growth and frequently in felling destroy 

 more than their own value. 



Improvement Cutting. Cutting operations which aim to over- 

 come the above defects, namely, weed trees, inferior species, defective 

 and overmature trees are spoken of as "improvement cutting." In the 

 farm woodlot all cutting for firewood should be made from such 

 trees. It is not to be understood that it is advisable to go through 

 the woods and cut down all the above mentioned trees without re- 

 gard to the future of the area thus cut over. The first consideration 

 should be to protect the soil, that is, do not cut down a tree or a 

 group of trees unless you are certain that there will follow another 

 crop. If you do not get reproduction the following season it is al- 

 most certain that grass and weeds will come in and the soil will soon 

 lose its valuable character as related to tree growth. Whether you 

 can depend on the area reproducing from the seed of neighboring 

 trees or whether it will be necessary to use artificial means can only 

 be judged by local considerations. 



Thin Borders and Open Spots. The borders of wpodlots be- 

 come thin owing to various factors. This outside portion of the 

 woods is more subject to winds and storms which cause windfalls, 

 dry out the soil and blow away the leaves which should go to form 

 vegetable mould. Frequently the border is overcut, as the owner 

 does not trouble going to the interior of the woods for his fuel, etc. 

 In time the soil deteriorates, grass and weeds follow, and then we 

 have the characteristic border which is neither woodland nor pasture. 



The development of large open grassy spots in the woodlot is 

 usually due to the effects of grazing. The old trees have been taken 

 out and the young growth destroyed by the stock until grass has 

 taken possession and foimed an impervious sod in which the tree 

 seeds find it impossible to develop. The above conditions may be 

 improved in the case of the thin borders by planting evergreens or 

 coniferous trees about the border in order to form a windbreak. Open 

 spots in the woods if covered with grass could be improved by 

 roughly breaking the sod and allowing the seeds to reach the mineral 

 soil. Such breaking can be done with a disk-harrow or plow. In 

 some cases where there is no young growth to injure, it may be ad- 

 visable to turn in hogs as they frequently make a good seedbed by 

 their rooting in search of grubs, seeds, etc. These measures are to 

 be adopted when the surrounding trees are bearing seed. If there 

 is little chance of such areas being seeded from neighboring trees 

 or if the owner desires to introduce better species into his woodlot 

 he may resort to planting. 



Planting of this nature may be done by using the young plants 

 or by sowing seed. With the exception of nut trees, it will be advis- 

 able to use plants rather than seed. Methods of planting the woodlot 

 are similar to the methods of planting described elsewhere. While the 

 general methods are similar, there are many bare spots which may 

 need special attention owing to the small amount of light which is 

 able to reach the ground. When breaking the sod with disk or plow 

 is impracticable it is usually possible to break spots about twelve to 



