70 PRINCIPLES OF AMERICAN FORESTRY. 



the first burning after the land is cut over, they often 

 remain for twenty years doing their blessed work of dis- 

 tributing seed each year, and when the conditions exist 

 for germination and growth, the seed grows and lives. 

 Sometimes where such trees are not left by lumbermen, 

 or where they have been destroyed by fire, it has taken 

 twenty years to get the land properly reseeded to White 

 Pine by the slow process of seeding from trees at a dis- 

 tance of half a mile or more. 



The Covering of Tree Seeds in Woodland, whether the 

 seeds are sown naturally or artificially, can often be best 

 accomplished by stirring up the soil with a strong harrow 

 or a brush drag made of the branches of an Oak or other 

 tree having strong wood. This may sometimes be done 

 most advantageously before the seeds fall, and at other 

 times after they have fallen. Where the soil is made 

 loose and the forest floor is broken up before the seeds 

 fall, they are generally sufficiently covered by wind and 

 rain. They may sometimes be covered most satisfacto- 

 rily by driving a flock of sheep over the land after the seed 

 has fallen, the feet of the sheep pressing the seed into 

 the ground. 



Regeneration by Planting Seedlings. This form of 

 regeneration is practised to a considerable extent in 

 sections where timber is high in price. It is often the 

 most economical way of securing a stock of coniferous 

 trees upon the land. Under the conditions which fre- 

 quently prevail on our cut-over land, there is very little 

 chance for natural or artificial regeneration of desirable 

 kinds by seed, owing to the fact that all the seed-pro- 

 ducing trees were cut when the land was logged, or have 

 since been destroyed by fire and the ground covered by 

 a growth of weeds and inferior trees ; but seedling Pines 

 can often be set out at intervals of perhaps ten feet apart 

 each way where they would be sufficiently crowded by 



