60 IMPORTANT TIMBER TREES 



All this loss of fertility of land unfitted for agriculture, 

 yet subject to serious erosion, can be avoided by planting 

 it to trees ; and instead of its growing poorer from year to 

 year, it will be constantly increasing in fertility, and a 

 greater profit from forest products will be secured than if 

 cultivation is attempted. 



The species of trees of which a woodlot should be com- 

 posed need not vary far from those suitable for the pro- 

 duction of lumber. It is true that not all such are the best 

 for fuel ; in fact, the reverse is somewhat the case, for those 

 which grow most rapidly, and therefore will bring the 

 quickest return in lumber, do not make the best fuel; 

 yet there are few of these that will not produce a very fair 

 article if the wood is properly seasoned and kept under 

 cover after being cut. Weight for weight there is little 

 difference in calorific energy in the wood of our best 

 timber trees. Such species, then, should be chosen for the 

 woodlot as will best serve for all purposes, for lumber, 

 fuel, posts, and the like. Fitness of species for the location 

 must be a paramount consideration, a matter discussed 

 elsewhere. So, too, the method of growing tree plants and 

 transplanting them has been explained. Such treatment as 

 is suitable for forest culture is likewise suitable for culture 

 for the woodlot. Trees, however, that will make good fuel 

 when advisable to cut them, may be profitably grown in 

 rows or clumps for wind-screens, but such will not be worth 

 much for lumber because studded with limbs from the 

 ground up. 



If the farmer possesses a woodlot of any sort its con- 

 ditions and possibilities should first be carefully considered. 

 It may be possible to maintain or even restore it by natural 

 reforestation, if not too badly cut over ; but the chances are 

 largely against that method. To bring that about it must 

 be a close approach to a virgin forest or one in which the 

 cutting has been done judiciously. It is not claimed that 

 selective cutting and natural regeneration cannot be as 

 successfully carried on in a woodlot as in a virgin forest, 



