6o FORESTRY IN NEW ENGLAND 



It germinates best on bare mineral soils, especially those which 

 have been burned over and, therefore, along with the birches, 

 the poplars are the first trees to reclothe burned areas. 



Poplar is used for lumber, paper pulp, and many special uses, 

 and on account of this, its rapid growth and its power to cover 

 burns, it is a tree to command considerable respect in forestry. 



Chestnut {Castanea dentata). 



The chestnut is a southern tree and extends north only to the 

 southern portions of Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. 

 It extends west into the Mississippi valley and south into Ala- 

 bama and Georgia. 



Chestnut prefers a rather moist loam soil, although it some- 

 times grows on sand plains and on the dry, trap ridges of Con- 

 necticut where, however, it is unable to compete with the chestnut 

 oak. Perhaps of all deciduous trees it is the most conspicuously 

 independent of lime. As regards light, however, it is more exact- 

 ing. The young seedlings cannot thrive long under shade any 

 more than can the sprouts which spring in great numbers from the 

 stumps. This sprouting capacity of the species is its strongest 

 characteristic, and the one by which, with each successive cutting, 

 it gains in the struggle for existence with the rival inmates of the 

 wood lot. Trees sprout to a more advanced age than any 

 other species, and vigorous sprouts are common on specimens 

 no to 1 20 years old. Seed years are not infrequent, but the 

 nuts are eaten so extensively by men and rodents, and are 

 so injured by insects, that reproduction depends largely upon 

 sprouts. The chestnut is one of the most rapid growing New 

 England trees. The young sprouts are especially fast growing, 

 often making a height of five or eight feet the first year. In 

 the course of forty or fifty years, however, the seedlings overtake 

 the sprouts and live to a greater age. Most of the chestnuts 

 of southern New England are of second or third growth, and 

 it is seldom that a tree over 150 years is found, though ia 

 the virgin forests of the south they attain an advanced age. 

 The smooth bark of the young chestnut renders it particu- 



