RESTORATION AND TREATMENT OF FORESTS 17 



the seeds and provides means for their distribution. To the 

 seeds of most trees she gives wings, that they may travel 

 on the winds and find a home far away from the parent 

 tree ; while she leaves the task of scattering some to the 

 birds, squirrels, and other animals, and trusts to varying 

 chance and opportunity their subsequent life and growth. 



NATURAL REFORESTATION 



To understand fully the results which are likely to ensue 

 from natural reforestation it will be well to study the his- 

 tory of an average forest. Naturally, as stated, trees spring 

 from seed, grow, reach maturity, become old, die, decay, 

 and Nature arranges for others to take their places. If the 

 seeds are ready to fall in the place of fallen trees, or other- 

 wise unoccupied ground, and conditions are such that the 

 seeds will germinate, and the surroundings are such that 

 the young trees can triumph in their struggle with other 

 growths of the soil, or sprouts come from those that are 

 growing old, then natural and profitable reforestation 

 will take place in good time; but if the seed is not ready 

 at the right time, or the conditions are not favorable, then 

 the seeds of worthless species may, and almost invariably 

 will, come and occupy the ground and a valueless forest 

 will be the result. The same thing may occur when a por- 

 tion of the trees are removed by man, with the additional 

 chance of failure through the removal of seed-bearing 

 trees, or injury to those left standing through the removal 

 of the others. 



Besides this the valuable species of trees in a given for- 

 est may all be ripe and fit to be removed, and actual loss 

 occur if any of them are allowed to stand longer ; or they 

 may be few in number and surrounded with worthless 

 ones. To remove all the valuable ones in either case would 

 preclude the possibility of natural reforestation with valu- 

 able species ; and to remove the worthless ones, or a large 

 portion of the others, might prove disastrous because of the 

 inability of those left to endure their changed surround- 



