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BULLETIN 244 ; U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



METHOD OF DETERMINING SPROUT ORIGIN. 



Determination of the sprout origin of shortleaf pines during early 

 life is possible by means of external characteristics. The presence of 

 a colony of two or more living stems, also the presence of dead stems 

 or stubs of the parent tree (charred in the case of fire), and the large 

 size of the sapling or pole in relation to its age are clear evidence of 

 coppice origin. A clean, smooth base without scars or adjacent stubs 

 indicates seedling origin. This evidence is sufficient and dependable 

 up to about the eighth year. Dead stems from 2 to 5 feet high, 

 when killed by fire, will ordinarily be found standing at the end of 

 the third year. In very early life sprout stands may be found to 

 contain a considerable number of twin and triple colonies, but the 

 number decreases rapidly with advance in age. In the latter stands, 



Fig. 9. — Determination of origin of shortleaf pine by basal sections at the ground: A, Tree of seedling 

 origin; B, coppice tree 64 years old. Diameter of core, or first year's growth, is 3 times and cross-section 

 area 8.9 times that of tree (A ) of seedling origin. (From photographs.) 



trees are frequently seen with dead or dying stems, forked at an 

 acute angle or emerging from their sides, at distances a few feet 

 above the ground. Following the first 6 to 10 years no external 

 characteristics are usually apparent except occasionally multiple 

 living stems. 



The first year's stem growth of trees of seedling origin is about as 

 thick as a darning needle and 2 to 4 inches high, while the corresponding 

 growth of young coppice sprouts is commonly as large as an ordinary 

 lead pencil in diameter and about double its length. (Fig. 9.) The 

 following few years' growth in each case is on a proportional scale. 

 Thus the character of early growth, particularly that of the first year, 

 recorded in the base of the tree and visible when the tree is cut level 

 with the ground, affords a dependable record of the origin of the tree. 

 Coppice trees, furthermore, usually have some of the dead stubs of 



