ARTIFICIAL REPRODUCTION 19 



Reproduction may be accomplished by either natural or 

 artificial means. Natural reproduction accomplishes its 

 purpose by self-sown seeds or by sprouts and, in instances so 

 rare as to have no commercial importance, by layering. Arti- 

 ficial reproduction, defined as the renewal of a forest by direct 

 seeding or planting, utilizes either seeds or young plants 

 grown from seeds or cuttings. 



Of these two methods natural reproduction is the more im- 

 portant because of the fact that it will be used on all but a 

 small proportion of the forest area. 



Artificial reproduction while logically a part of and in- 

 cluded under reproduction methods is more conveniently 

 treated as a unit by itself. This is due to the fact that two 

 subjects, namely, the collection and treatment of tree seeds 

 and the growing in nurseries of trees for planting must be 

 developed to considerable length in connection with the estab- 

 lishment of forests by artificial means. 



The comparative advantages of natural and artificial re- 

 production are outlined in the succeeding pages and later 

 under each reproduction method is indicated the extent to 

 which artificial reproduction may be employed. 



For a detailed discussion of the various ways of securing 

 reproduction by artificial means the reader is referred to 

 special works on artificial reproduction, particularly to "Seed- 

 ing and Planting in the Practice of Forestry," by J. W. 

 Toumey.^ 



Both artificial and natural reproduction have special ad- 

 vantages of their own which are best considered in a com- 

 parative way. Among those in favor of artificial reproduc- 

 tion are the following: 



Advantages of Artificial Reproduction. — i. The new stand 

 can be established immediately without the loss of time which 

 occurs when dependence is placed on natural reproduction. 



