Forest Finance and Management 155 



pine is coming up lustily, wherever seed has reached 

 the soil and the fire has given the young growth a 

 chance. These small white pines, however, are 

 not rarely mistaken for jack pine by the inhabitants 

 of the region ! A circumstance which often pre- 

 vents a careless observer from recognizing the new 

 growth of pine is, that the cut-over lands almost 

 invariably cover themselves at first with rapidly 

 growing broad-leaved species, such as the aspen 

 (Populus tremuloides, Michx.) and paper birch 

 (Betula papyrifera. Marsh). Under the light shade 

 of these trees the little pine seedlings increase slow- 

 ly in height and vigor, until after about fifteen years 

 they begin to overtop them, and gradually by their 

 own shade kill the trees that have protected them 

 in their infancy. In Maine and the other eastern 

 lumber regions there seems to be no such supersti- 

 tion about white pine not reproducing itself, prob- 

 ably because there the second growth is by this 

 time of such age and size that even the most super- 

 ficial observer cannot deny its existence. 



Another way of explaining the reason why refor- 

 estation has not yet recommended itself to the 

 owners of pine lands is hardly more founded on 

 fact than the legend that pine will not grow again 

 in its old habitat. It is sometimes said that the 

 reforestation would be too expensive to bring 

 profit from the final harvest within the bounds of 

 probability. Let us see what there is in that. 



Undoubtedly the cash expense to be incurred 

 by the American forester for the labor required 



