WHITE PINE UNDER FOREST MANAGEMENT. 
17 
penetrate into it the subsoil becomes more and more important in 
the growth of the tree. Its roots once well established in fertile, 
moist soil, future growth of the seedling depends very largely upon the 
character of the vegetation surrounding it. In hot, exposed situa- 
tions it needs, during the first summer, a slight protection from the 
intense heat and light of the sun. On old fields and pastures this is 
afforded by short grasses and low scattered herbaceous vegetation, 
like sweet fern and blueberry. A light cover of ferns or other small 
herbs will often cast just enough shade to protect the pine seedling, 
yet afford it sufficient sunlight with which to manufacture food. x On 
the other hand, white-pine seedlings grow so slowly during the first 
four or five years that they are very easily killed by tall, dense, vege- 
tation of any kind, such as berry bushes, golden rod, fireweed, fern 
brakes, or rank wild grasses. Not only does such vegetation keep 
out needed light, but its roots take from the soil the moisture which 
the young white pine requires. Under the protection of young, fast- 
growing hardwood sprouts, witch hazel, dogwood, and similar under- 
growth, white-pine seedlings may thrive for a year or two, but the 
shade of such stands is usually too dense for continued growth of the 
pine (see PI. Ill, fig. 2, and PL IV, fig. 1 ) . In stands containing broad- 
leaf trees many white-pine seedlings are smothered by fallen leaves. 
To determine the influence of different degrees of shade upon the 
vitality and rate of growth of white-pine seedlings a number of sam- 
ple plots were laid out in 1905 at Keene, N. H., in stands of different 
crown density, but in other respects alike. Table 1, based on counts 
in 10 plots of 1 square rod each, shows the average size and number 
of seedlings per square rod in 1905 and the number and size of those 
still alive in 1909. 
Table 1. — Vitality and rate of growth of seedlings under different degrees of shade. 
Crown cover. 
Average number of p . 
seedlings per ^^f 
square rod. 8 
Average height. 
Average 
growth in 
4 years of 
seedlings 
1905 
1909 
1909 
1905 1909 
which 
survived. 
271 
102 
100 
15 
62 
94 
5. 5 
60.8 
94.0 
Inches. Inches. 
1.5 4.5 
1.5 1 10.0 
1.5 11.0 
Inches. 
3.0 
Broken 
Open 
8.5 
9.5 
GROWTH OF INDIVIDUAL TREES. 
Aii important characteristic of white pine is that its growth is 
steady and uniform up to an advanced age. In this it differs from all 
the other eastern and many of the western pines, in which the rate 
1 Influence of Shade and Other Factors on Plantations, by G. W. Kimball and E. E. Carter. 
Quarterly, Vol. 11, No. 2, p. 176. 
6738°— Bull. 13—14 2 
Forestry 
