46 THE BOOK OF FORESTRY 
sprouts from the root collar or starting suckers from 
the underground roots. The first method known as 
“soppicing”’ is quite common and such well known trees 
as chestnut, maple, ash, red oak and basswood sprout 
freely. Practically all broadleaf trees sprout during 
early life but some lose this faculty at a comparatively 
early age. As a rule the sprouting capacity is at its 
best before thirty years and most trees sprout indif- 
ferently after sixty years. Trees of seedling origin 
have more vigor and better sprouting capacity than 
those of coppice growth. A few conifers sprout but 
ordinarily the growth of such trees as shortleaf or pitch 
pine is comparatively short-lived. Redwood, however, 
commonly reproduces by sprouting which accounts for 
the large circles of trees found in redwood groves. 
They are the second generation growing around the 
parent stump. 
The faculty of sending up shoots from the under- 
ground roots or “suckering” is a method of repro- 
duction common to such trees as beech, black locust, 
poplar, ete. Very commonly a dense thicket of beech 
reproduction upon investigation proves to be a mass of 
suckers surrounding the stump of a tree cut a few 
years previously. 
Development of the Forest—In order that the life 
history of a forest community may be clearly under- 
stood let us watch how the forest develops. In many 
parts of New England, pastures or even farms were 
cleared from land which proved to be too steep and 
sterile for successful agriculture, so these fields were 
later abandoned. Within the last century many of 
these areas have grown up to splendid forests of second- 
growth pine or spruce, and the process was as follows: 
From near-by trees with large spreading crowns a 
