98 USEFUL BIRDS. 
wood be cut off, and if the conditions are favorable, the 
young hard-wood trees spring up and flourish. But why do 
not pines spring up where pines are cut off? For this there 
are several reasons : (1) pines do not sprout from the stump ; 
(2) there is not a crop of pine seed each year, therefore, 
when the pine wood is cut there may be little good seed 
in the ground; (3) young pines need some shade and pro- 
tection, and if the larger trees are all cut down, many of 
the young pines may die when exposed to the sun. Those 
who, with a knowledge of this fact, plant pines on unshaded 
ground, usually sow rye or some other cereal with the pines, 
so that the quick-growing grain may shade the young plants 
for the first year. The shaded trees grow, and in time fur- 
nish shade for others, and so the wood extends. 
Now let us see why pines sometimes appear where hard 
woods have been cut off. This kind of succession is not 
common. The trees growing on most wood lots are cut for 
cord wood as soon as they are of sufficient size. Immedi- 
ately on the opening of the season, sprouts shoot up rapidly 
from the hard-wood stumps, choking many young pines. 
Still some will live and flourish, and so there comes a mixed 
growth of pines and hard-wood trees. This is the character 
of much of the wooded region near Boston. But if an oak 
or walnut wood is allowed to grow until the trees are old, 
and is cut when the roots have lost their vigor, the sprouts, 
if they come up at all, are not so vigorous, and the young 
pines have a better opportunity. Where birds and squirrels 
are numerous, a considerable part of the fruitage of the pine 
is removed by them, and cones or detached seeds are buried 
or scattered about, not only among the pincs, but among the 
hard-wood trees. The winds also scatter pine seed far and 
wide anong deciduous trees ; so, if there are pines near hard- 
wood lots, young pines usually sprout among the hard-wood 
trees. When an old growth of deciduous woods is cut off, 
these young pines, having had a start in the ‘shade, flourish 
and afford some shade for still younger seedlings, which 
quickly germinate from the seed in the ground; thus occa- 
sionally the pines succeed the broad-leaved trees. 
