26 U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE BULLETIN NO. 484. 



ripens in October. Some is produced nearly every year, but full 

 crops are borne only at intervals of three to five years. Next to 

 beech, sugar maple is probably the most tolerant of American hard- 

 woods. In youth shade is an advantage, but at maturity full light 

 is not detrimental. It grows slowly and is a strong, vigorous, 

 aggressive species able to hold its own with any trees on soil suited 

 to it, but it is not a "poor-land" tree. It does not grow in swamps. 

 It prefers a fresh, well-drained soil, and in New England finds ideal 

 conditions at moderately high elevations on cool northerly slopes. 

 Its adaptability to such sites and to soils containing lime, together 

 with its tolerance of dense shade, make it a controlling tree when 

 found there in sufficient numbers, either in the main stand or in 

 the young growth beneath it. 



WHITE ASH. 



White ash resembles hemlock in the ability of its seedlings to start 

 in dense shade and to respond well when released, but the length of 

 time it can stand suppression is much less than that of hemlock. 

 Like other species, white ash is more intolerant on poor than on 

 good sites. After the pole stage it can endure only a moderate 

 amount of shade. It is found, except on poor, dry sites, through- 

 out New England, but is of greater importance in the northern 

 hardwoods and sprout hardwoods regions which adjoin the white- 

 pine region at the north and south. White ash occurs usually as 

 scattered individuals in second-growth mixed hardwood stands on 

 the richest soils now forested. It is not a swamp tree, but requires 

 deep, fertile, and well-drained soils, with abundant moisture avail- 

 able near the surface. Gentle north or east slopes are especially 

 favorable sites. 



It sprouts vigorously when cut, seeds freely about every other 

 year, with exceptionally heavy crops at intervals of three to five 

 years. It starts well in openings in broken hardwood stands and 

 also on pine needles under pure second-growth white-pine stands, 

 if not too dense. It also seeds in well after a fire, if the site is suffi- 

 ciently moist and seed-bearing trees are near. It grows more rap- 

 idly than the other hardwoods with which it is usually found and 

 occasionally forms 25 per cent or more of mixed second-growth 

 hardwood stands along streams or lakes on rich, moist, well-drained 

 soil. Under these circumstances its adaptability to the site, its rapid 

 growth, and its power of abundant reproduction by seed and by 

 sprous make it a controlling tree. Such stands may be clear cut if 

 they offer an open seed bed, or they may be handled on the shelter- 

 wood system if the stands are dense. 



