ESTABLISHING KEW FORESTS. 



81 



must be brought to light. But we may well leave the 

 higher and drier regions west of the one hundredth 

 meridian, for future generations to experiment upon, for 

 the present has enough to do in raising forests on more 

 congenial soils. There are limited areas where both 

 soil and climate are so well adapted to the growth of 

 trees that forests can be started by merely scattering the 

 seed over the ground, and leaving them to sprout and 

 grow without further care or attention, but while this 

 system may answer for such kinds as locust, maples, and 

 elms, and on soils quite free from rank growing grasses 

 and weeds, other kinds would fail unless covered with 

 earth, or at least shaded until they had produced roots 

 and become fixed to the soil. When trees are started in 

 this way there can be no uniformity in their distribution, 

 and while some will be crowded others will have more 

 room than is necessary ; consequently, if anything like 

 system or regularity is to be secured, there will need to 

 be more or less thining out and transplanting done, and 

 this will cost nearly or quite as much as it would to have 

 sown the seed in nursery rows and then transplanted the 

 seedlings when of proper size and age. Sowing forest 

 tree seeds on unbroken soils on the banks of rivers and 

 smaller streams, or in forests where the trees are very 

 scattering, has often been practised with excellent results, 

 and is to be recommended for those who cannot afford to 

 adopt a more advanced system of tree culture. Such 

 half-wild plantations will also furnish trees for trans- 

 planting to other locations if they are needed, but the 

 usual system of raising seedlings in beds or nursery rows, 

 will, as a rule, give the best and most satisfactory results. 



The first thought of the pioneer in a forest covered 

 region is to clear off the trees — let in air and sunlight in 

 order that the earth may be warmed, dried, and fitted 

 for cultivation and production of such crops as are re- 

 quired for the maintenance of man and his domesticated 



