76 Our Field and Forest Trees 



trees, coming up between the larger ones are not 

 broken, nor burled under piles of waste, a second 

 timber crop will after a while be ready for the 

 woodcutters. 



Indeed, by wise care the timber stand can be 

 improved as years go on; the better and more 

 useful trees can be spared long enough to sow 

 many seeds in successive springs, and the cheaper 

 timber can be cleared away and sold as soon as it 

 becomes marketable. 



In the German National Forests, which are 

 models to the world, the timber land is divided 

 into sections, and the trees are graded like school 

 children. All those growing in one section are 

 of the same age, and they are all ready for the 

 lumbermen together. They fall together, and 

 when their timber is removed there are not a 

 number of young trees growing between the older 

 ones to be crushed and trampled, or to be spared 

 by the exercise of much delay and difficulty. 

 The land is completely cleared, and then sown or 

 planted with trees which again will all mature 

 together. 



Our National Forests, like the Dominion Re- 

 serves of Canada, were taken over from Nature 

 just as they were planted by her. Most of them, 

 when they were adopted by the nation, were a 

 mixture of old trees, trees in the prime of life, 

 young saplings, and little seedlings. In such woods 

 it is difficult to cut down and remove timber with- 



