18 THE WHITE PINE 



and under almost any kind of management 

 short of the worst, is very full of promise. 

 That its present treatment fails to meet either 

 of these moderate conditions is obvious. 



The young seedlings bear a good deal of 

 shade provided they have germinated and grown 

 under the cover of older trees. Those which 

 have started in the open, on the other hand, are 

 easily overgrown and killed by hardwood 

 sprouts and fast-growing hardwoods from the 

 seed. Many seedlings of White Pine were 

 found suppressed and dying in these circum- 

 stances at the age of about twelve to fifteen 

 years. Other seedlings, on the contrary, under 

 the cover of dense Pine and Hemlock w^oods, 

 were alive and struggling even among the 

 mountain Laurel. Where some side light 

 reaches the plants, they withstand a large 

 amount of shade from above. One frequently 

 sees young seedlings growing on decayed logs 

 or stumps, or starting in the thick moss upon 

 the rocks, extending their roots in search of the 

 soil below. In open spots, along roadsides, and 

 in old pastures and deserted fields, young 

 growth is very common. 



It is probable that in only a few cases do those 

 plants recover which had stood in dense shade, 

 and have been suddenly exposed to the whole 



