52 PRACTICAL FORESTRY IN THE ADIRONDACKS. 
long, clear, full trunk and a narrow crown. It inhabits a great variety 
of soils and situations, but attains its best development on hardwood 
flats. Although it occurs on low, marshy ground, Birch avoids wet 
swamps, where it is short, scrubby, and unsound. It has a shallow 
root system, well adapted to meager, stony soil, and it frequently 
appears on bare rocks, spreading its roots over the edge into the soil 
below. Seedlings often come up on logs and stumps, so that when 
the latter rot away the tree is supported only by its prop-like roots. In 
general, the Birch is more abundant on southerly than on northerly 
slopes. 
Yellow Birch is decidedly tolerant of naa but not to the same 
degree as Hard Maple, Beech, and Spruce. Under dense hardwoods 
its seedlings are less abundant than those of Beech or Maple. In open- 
ings it springs up abundantly, with a marked tendency to associate in 
groups. Birch reproduces itself prolifically. The seed germinates 
better on moss-covered soil than where there is a thick layer of leaf 
litter. It is frequently abundant in windfalls.. Thus, on Spruce flats, 
after windfalls, Birch and Soft Maple often form the second growth. 
It is common on Spruce slopes. 
The average rate of growth was found to be, for the 78 trees meas- 
ured, 1 inch in diameter in 20 years. Young trees are plentiful, and, 
as in the case of Spruce, there is a regular gradation in number of trees 
from the small to the large diameters. 
BEECH. 
The Beech reaches a diameter of nearly 3 feet, and in dense stands 
produces a long, clear, smooth trunk and a narrow, compact crown. 
In its choice of soil and situation it is moderately fastidious. It 
reaches its best development on moderate northeastern slopes, where it 
often occurs in nearly pure patches. On high land it is abundant, and 
it is found also on Spruce flats, and even in some marshy situations. 
It is extremely unsound on low ground, and indeed throughout the 
forest the proportion of unsound Beech is large. 
It reproduces itself abundantly. Young trees spring up in dense 
thickets where the hardwood forest is thinned, and are capable of liv- 
ing under heavy shade. 
Compared to other hardwoods, the growth in diameter is fairly rapid. 
The average current rate of growth for 16 trees, with an average 
diameter of 15 inches, was 1 inch in 13 years. 
HARD MAPLE. 
Hard Maple reaches a height of 90 to 100 feet and a diameter of 
nearly 3 feet. Of Hard Maples over 10 inches in diameter there are 
about 6 sound trees per acre, with an average diameter of 14 inches. 
In favorable situations these trees form long, clear trunks and narrow, 
