No. 4.] NATURE'S FORESTERS. 285 



pine wood is cut there may be no good seed in the ground. 

 Again, young pines need some shade and protection, and if 

 the larger trees are all cut down, many of the young pines 

 may die when exposed to the sun. Those who, with a 

 knowledge of this fact, plant pines on unshaded ground, 

 especially in a season of drought, plant rye or some other 

 cereal with the pines, so that the quickly growing grain may 

 shade the young plants the first year. As we travel through 

 the country we can usually see how the young pines are 

 seeded down under favorable conditions. Many of the 

 neglected pastures of the State are being clothed with pines. 

 Note a group of large pines in a pasture. They were left, 

 perhaps, when the woods were cut off there years ago. On 

 the shady side of these are a few smaller trees, and beyond 

 these others smaller still, and so on, the pines grading in 

 size according to the distance from the parent trees, until at 

 the limit of the plot there is an outer growth of little pines, 

 perhaps only one, two or three years old. The seeds which 

 blew first from the large pine and fell in its shade have 

 germinated and flourished well, while many of those on its 

 sunny or exposed side died. Now, let us see why pines 

 appear where hard woods have been cut off. This kind of 

 succession is not so common, as many of our hard-wood lots 

 are cut for cord wood as soon as the trees are of sufficient 

 size. Sprouts shoot up from the stumps immediately on the 

 opening of the season, choking many young pines. Yet 

 some will flourish, and there is then a mixed growth of pines 

 and hard-wood trees. This is the character of much of the 

 wooded region near Boston. But if an oak or walnut wood 

 is allowed to grow until the trees are old, and is cut when 

 the roots have lost their vigor, sprouts, if they come up at 

 all, are not so vigorous, and the pines have a better oppor- 

 tunity. Where squirrels are numerous, a considerable part 

 of the fruitage of the pine is removed by them and the cones 

 are buried or scattered about, not only among the pines, but 

 among the hard woods. Watch the squirrels for proof of 

 this statement. The winds also scatter pine seed far and 

 wide, among deciduous trees. So, if there are pines near 

 hard-wood lots, there are usually young pines among the 

 hard-wood trees. When the hard woods are cut oft', these 



