GROWTH OF TREES AND FORESTS 



173 



remembered that seedlings grow very slowly at first, especially 

 under shade, and that a number of years may have been required 

 for the seedling to reach the height of the stump. For this 

 reason stumps to be analyzed should be cut as low as possible. 



By permission of S. J . Record. 

 Pig 53_ _ Cross section of a conifer (hemlock) highly magnified showing the annual rings 

 of growth. /I to £ is one season's growth. 



The average period required by different species to reach stump 

 height can be ascertained by studying the ages of a few seed- 

 lings of the desired height. The average age thus obtained 

 should be added to the age of the tree as found on the stump. 

 Thus, if there are one hundred and sixty rings on a hemlock 

 stump, two feet high, and a study has shown that it requires 



