AMERICAN FORESTRY 



AUTISTIC THINNING OF BIRCH THICKET. 



\our idea of an American forest 

 ln\\ then von and 1 are thinking 

 aldiis^ different line ' 



\n ulcl field in the forest irresistibly 

 calls tn mind the tliickels with which 

 Nature is wmil to imade these places. 

 To tlie lavmau the arti-tic treatment of 

 the thicket seems the nmst hopeless task 

 It is just lirush. and the quicker 

 i' is uliliter.ited entirely the better, so 

 it \\niild seem. I'.ut, really, a great deal 

 dune with a thicket ; in fact, a 

 judicious touches here and there 

 \\ill make von fall in love with it and 

 \er alter have a warm spot in your 

 t for the once despised "brush 

 pat. h " A little analysis will show you 



that it is almost invariably composed of 

 trees that are wing-seeded or have 

 sprung from bird-dropped seeds- 

 birches, aspens, wild cherries, sour 

 gums and the like. None of them will 

 ever become imposing forest trees. 

 There are two standard methods of 

 treatment open to you ; either use the 

 thicket as a background to set off some 

 fine specimens, or treat it frankly as a 

 thicket and make it beautiful. Down in 

 Southern Utah and Nevada Nature 

 grows silver spruces and aspens to- 

 gether, a hint that we may put into 

 practice by using the thicket as a back- 

 ground for blue spruces. They never 

 look better than when contrasted against 



