76 SEEDING AND PLANTING 



production are numerous and vary to a greater or less extent in 

 each locality. Furthermore, the various operations by which 

 both natural and artificial reproduction have been attained in 

 the past cannot be followed blindly but must be modified and 

 shaped to fit the conditions surrounding each particular case. 

 Because certain empirical operations have resulted in successful re- 

 generation at one time and under a particular set of conditions, it 

 does not follow that similarly conducted operations will be uniformly 

 successful when carried out at other times and under other 'condi- 

 tions. No description of methods used in regeneration should 

 be followed blindly. At most they are only suggestions. The 

 forester must adapt the method of regeneration and conduct 

 his operations to fit best his own particular needs and attain 

 the object in view in the simplest manner and at the least cost. 



Sieber 1 warns against the assumption that any one method of 

 reproduction is the best method. The fact that many methods 

 are recommended by foresters, all with good reason, argues the 

 excellency of each under special conditions and when properly 

 applied. Each practitioner must reserve the right of choice and 

 of working out the one best suited to his particular conditions and 

 that can be handled most successfully by him. 



Regeneration attained at a low cost but resulting in a fragmentary 

 or incomplete stand must be counted as a failure and is more to be 

 avoided than regeneration attained at higher cost but which is suc- 

 cessful. The tendency in the United States has been toward the 

 employment of inexpensive methods; as a result, the percentage 

 of failures has been excessive, so much so that the average cost 

 of regeneration based upon the total area that has been seeded 

 and planted is inordinately high. Foresters in this country must 

 give up the idea of inexpensive methods of artificial regeneration 

 on adverse sites. Greeley 2 states: 



"The experience of the past ten years on the National Forests 

 clearly shows that it would have been preferable to develop suc- 

 cessful methods and learn their limitations on the most favorable 

 sites before attacking lands where forests were never produced 

 by nature." 



1 Sieber, P.: Uber Fichtenvorverjiingung mittels Unterpflanzung. (Forstw. 

 Centralblatt, S. 631-640. 1909.) 



2 Greeley, W. B.: Reforestation on the national forests. (Proc. Soc. Am. 

 For., vol. VIII, p. 261. 1913.) 



