24 IMPORTANT TIMBER TREES 



respect it is no better than, if as good as, that which may 

 result from selective cutting, for, under that system, unde- 

 sirable species may be removed before seed-sowing. 



Spot Seeding. Still another method of aiding Nature 

 in sowing seeds prevails to a certain extent in Europe and 

 is known as " Spot Seeding." In principle it is substan- 

 tially the same as Strip Seeding. Observing when the for- 

 est trees will mature seed, a spot, circular or otherwise, is 

 chosen in the forest and cut clean of trees. Then as the 

 seeds mature the wind is depended upon to sow them on 

 the vacant area. This has one advantage over the strip 

 method. No matter from which direction the winds may 

 blow at the time the seeds fall, the ground is almost sure 

 to be seeded, for it will be entirely surrounded with seed 

 trees. But whether this or the Strip method is adopted 

 there is almost certain to be an irregular and unsatisfac- 

 tory distribution and scattering of the seeds, too many 

 in some places and too few in others, and there must be 

 a thinning in some localities and planting in others ; and, 

 furthermore, no satisfactory control of species can be ob- 

 tained, nor can seeds from nut-bearing trees be sown by 

 the wind. Besides this, the system leaves the forest in an 

 irregular stand, with mature and immature trees in clumps 

 and more or less interfering with roads and fire-lanes. 

 Another objection to it is that the mature trees left may 

 have to stand a long time before they can be cut, for when 

 they are removed no seeding can occur on the ground occu- 

 pied by them until the adjacent younger ones bear seed, 

 which, with most conifers, does not occur under thirty or 

 forty years from birth. In this feature it is not as satisfac- 

 tory as Strip Seeding, for then there is taken a strip, from 

 time to time, until the whole is gone over ; and by the time 

 the last strip has been cut the first one sown may be ma- 

 ture, and the process can be repeated. The features which 

 make it superior to that method are greater certainty of 

 seeding and protection of young trees from wind. 



