CHAPTER II 



THE CHOICE OF SPECIES IN ARTIFICIAL 

 REGENERATION 



BEFORE undertaking the necessary operations for artificial re- 

 generation, careful consideration should be given to the following: 



a. The principles which determine the choice of species. 



6. The principles which determine the spacing. 



c. The principles which govern the composition of the stand. 



No amount of attention given to the actual operations of seed- 

 ing or planting or to the later care of the stand can entirely over- 

 come mistakes made in the choice of species, in spacing and in 

 the mixture of species used. 



Artificial regeneration affords much greater latitude in the 

 choice of species than is the case in natural reproduction. In the 

 former case, the selection is made from among all species, both 

 exotic and indigenous, that are considered suitable to meet the 

 special conditions. The seed or plants may be, and often are, 

 brought from long distances. In the latter case, the seed is from 

 mother trees on the site or in the immediate vicinity. Since seed- 

 ing and planting permit a much wider range of selection, the pos- 

 sibility of mistakes in the choice of the species used is much 

 greater. 



1. EXPERIMENTAL SEEDING AND PLANTING 



A sharp distinction should be made between experimental 

 seeding and planting and artificial restocking for economic results. 

 In the former case, the forester has great latitude in the choice of 

 species and is justified in trying a great variety, exotic as well as 

 indigenous, so long as there is any hope of success. Many species 

 will fail, but this is to be expected in experimental work. Be- 

 cause of its uncertainty, experimental restocking should always be 

 made on a limited scale in demonstrating the desirability of a species 

 for a particular site. 



In the selection of species for experimental purposes we should 

 be guided primarily by the closeness of the correlation between 



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