66 ELEMENTARY FORESTRY. 



sometimes sown in clear fields with oats, when the straw protects 

 from the sun in summer and the stubble holds the snow and acts 

 as winter protection. Seed of ash, maple, elm and some other 

 trees may sometimes be sown in the hills with corn to advantage 

 in prairie planting, and willow cuttings may also be used in the 

 same way or with beans. 



Natural Reseeding of the land is then almost the only 

 practical means of restocking the land in this section, which 

 should receive attention here, as other methods are too expen- 

 sive. It generally takes place in this section, and the only rea- 

 son why it is not more successful is the frequent destruction of 

 the young seedlings by fires. The small crooked branching pine 

 and other seeding trees that are always left by lumbermen in 

 their operations here, and generally considered worthless, per- 

 form a very important work in producing seed, and it is a pity 

 that there are not more such trees left to produce seed for our 

 cut-over lands. When such trees escape the first burning after 

 the land is cut over, they often remain for twenty years doing 

 their blessed work of distributing seed each year, and when the 

 conditions exist for germination and growth the seed grows and 

 lives. Sometimes where such trees are not left by lumbermen, 

 or where they have been destroyed by fire, it has taken twenty 

 years to get the land properly reseeded to White Pine by the 

 slow process of seeding from trees at a distance of half a mile 

 or more. 



The Covering of Tree Seeds in Woodland, whether 

 the seeds are sown naturally or artificially, can often be best 

 accomplished by stirring up the soil with a strong harrow or a 

 brush drag made of the branches of an oak or other tree having 

 strong wood. This may sometimes be done most advan- 

 tageously before the seeds fall, and at other times after they 

 have fallen. Where the soil is made loose and the forest floor 

 is broken up before the seeds fall, they are generally sufficiently 

 covered by wind and rain. They may sometimes be covered 

 most satisfactorily by driving a flock of sheep over the land 

 after the seed has fallen, the feet of the sheep pressing the seed 

 into the ground. 



Regeneration by Planting Seedlings. This form of 

 regeneration is practiced to a considerable extent in sections 

 where timber is high in price. It is often the most economical 



