6 Georgia State College of Agriculture. 



Oak. Damage as a result of drouth, insects and disease is greater 

 on southern aspects. The eastern aspect is somewhat similar to 

 the northern while the western resembles the southern. 



How Trees Reproduce Themselves 



Seed. All trees reproduce themselves by seed. A few species 

 produce a large crop of seed every year but most species require 

 from one to several years recuperation. Trees in the open are more 

 apt to seed every year, due to the large crown and the extensive 

 root system producing a large store of food. Trees in a woodlot 

 produce seed in the top of the crown only that portion which re- 

 ceives direct sunlight. A large part of the seed produced is infertile 

 (unsound). About 5 per cent of Yellow Poplar seed is sound; 

 60 to 80 per cent of Pine seed, and 80 to 95 per cent of Oak, Walnut, 

 and Hickory. With certain species the seed germinates before, or 

 as soon as it falls, while with others the seed remains dormant in 

 the soil for one or two years. The seed of a few trees germinate 

 in dense shade but with most species either full or partial sunlight 

 is required- for development. The seedlings of many species require 

 some shading for the first year or two after germination but later 

 demand full sunlight. 



Most trees are very particular as to the character of the seed- 

 bed. Pine seed must be brought in contact with the mineral soil 

 while seed of Yellow Poplar and Maple germinate readily in or on 

 a moist humus. The seed of Oak, Walnut and Hickory are suscep- 

 tible to damage by drying and must be brought into contact with 

 moist soil. Red Cedar, on the other hand, is able to germinate 

 on a dry soil. 



Trees vary greatly in their power to scatter seed. Light-seeded 

 species (Aspen, Birch, Paulonia) may be carried many miles in a 

 high wind. Even the heavier seed of White Pine, Maples, Ash, 

 Yellow Poplar are often carried a mile or more from the parent 

 tree. The nut trees, or heavy-seeded species, must depend on some 

 other agency than wind for seed dissemination. Usually this is 

 achieved through the agency of rodents, although these little ani- 

 mals are at the same time the greatest destroyers of seed. 



Sprouts or Coppice. When a hardwood tree is felled, girdled or 

 otherwise seriously damaged new shoots are sent up from the stump. 

 This property is confined to the hardwoods, with the exception of 

 the Redwood of California. The ability to coppice varies for differ- 

 ent species and also for the same species at different ages. Oak, 

 Chestnut, Hickory, Locust, Beech and Maple coppice freely but 

 within certain age limits, stated roughly, between twenty and fifty 

 years, or while the trees are from six to twelve inches in diameter. 

 Two kinds of sprouts, stump and crown, are recognized. Stump 

 sprouts originate at the top of the stump, crown sprouts at or just 



