11 



from cigar stubs or matches, the herbs and shrubs should be cut, and if 

 necessary the roadway burned over. 



When trees are cut in the woodlot, all branches and smaller Umbs 

 should be utilized as fully as possible for fuel. Those which can not be 

 utihzed should be taken to an open space and burned or cut up and 

 spread over the ground to hasten their decay. 



The tools best suited for fighting fires in woodlots are heavy rakes, 

 with which paths may be cleaned m front of advancing flames. 

 Shovels are very useful where the soil is light and can be easily thrown 

 upon the fire. It will not be necessary to back fire except in rare cases^ 

 and then it should be done by raking a path parallel to and some dis- 

 tance ahead of the fire, and starting small fires along this path to 

 destroy debris so that when the two fires meet they will die out for 

 lack of material. 



INSECTS AND FUNGI. 



Since farm woodlots are usually small in area and widely separated 

 by cultivated fields, roads, and streams, there is less danger of exten- 

 sive infestation by insects and fungi than where forests occur in solid 

 bodies of wide extent. If insects are unusualty abundant and are 

 doing much damage to the trees, specimens should be sent to the 

 Bureau of Entomology of the United States Department of Agricul- 

 ture, which will identify them and give suggestions for combating 

 them. Where single trees seem to be dying out as a result of a rot 

 or of insects, they should be removed, and all portions of the tops 

 not suitable for fuel should be burned at once. In pruning, care 

 should be taken to cut the limbs close to the trunk in such a manner 

 that water can not find lodgment. • The entrance of the spores of 

 fungi may be largely prevented if wound surfaces on trees are painted 

 over mth white lead. 



MANAGEMENT. 



Reproduction. — The following suggestions for the reproduction 

 and care of woodlots are given with the presupposition that stock 

 and fire are to be excluded. Should it be necessary to use a part 

 of the tract for pasture, it may be divided into sections and each 

 section fenced oft' in succession, until reproduction in each can be 

 accomplished. 



Natural reproduction hy seeds and sprouts. — The woodlots through- 

 out the State are made up of hardwoods, most of which sprout readily 

 from the stump. A large part of the timber in these woodlots has 

 come from stump sprouts, which, under conditions of healthy grow^th, 

 make trees of a size suitable for posts and logs in a shorter time 

 than it took the original tree to grow. Because of the ease and cheap- 

 ness of this method of reproduction, it is likely to be used more exten- 

 sively than any other. Trees cut during the mnter sprout better 

 than those cut at other seasons, but for reasons explained later, 



[Cir. 154] 



