SILVICS 13 



Much can be said theoretically in favor of each kind. For 

 practical purposes in New England, it may be said that good 

 management of our existing mixed forests will gradually restrict 

 'the mixture to two or three of the most valuable species; while 

 plantations will be made pure, at least over small areas. As 

 certain soil-fertilizing qualities are furnished by the heavy shade 

 and decaying foliage of less valuable species, such as beech and 

 hemlock, they may be sometimes planted, but this planting 

 should usually be in the form of under-planting. 



Mixed forests undoubtedly have a greater esthetic value than 

 large pure forests, and for this reason will always be character- 

 istic of estate forests. 



COPPICE AND HIGH FORESTS. 



Nearly all the deciduous trees of New England have the 

 ability to resprout when cut, a power common to only one or 

 two conifers. In some cases these sprouts spring from the top 

 of the stump, but with most trees from its base. In the New 

 England forest, chestnut is the most prolific sprouter as regards 

 the number of sprouts, their thrif tiness, and the advanced age 

 to which it is able to produce them. While the white oak 

 sprouts but little af.ter the age of sixty years, there are numerous 

 cases of chestnuts which have grown from stumps one hundred 

 and ten years or more old. Besides the chestnut and various 

 species of oak, the red maple and white ash and basswood are 

 prolific sprouters. Next to these in this regard are some species 

 of birch and hickory; but the species characteristic of the 

 northern forest, such as sugar maple, yellow birch, and beech, 

 sprout comparatively little, and the trees resulting from them 

 rarely amount to anything. 



A forest produced by sprouts is a coppice or low forest, so 

 called because the trees seldom attain the height of those raised 

 from seed, and are grown mostly for the production of small- 

 dimension materials, especially fuel. 



As distinct from this is the high forest composed of trees that 

 have grown from seed. Practically all our virgin forests were 



