CHAPTER VI 
GROWING TREES 
What is a Forest? —A heavily wooded area, a tract 
of timberland with its varied growth of vegetation, a 
highly organized portion of the vegetable kingdom are 
expressions describing a forest. With the exception of 
mountainous sections and a few waste tracts, the great 
forest areas have disappeared in the path of agricultural 
progress. 
The present ideas of forestry are limited to the plant¬ 
ing and growing of trees in woodlots. Our science of 
forestry, as applied to the farm does not extend to the 
great preserves, but is limited to the woodlot and the 
groves about our homes. The name Arboriculture, 
meaning the cultivation of individual trees, applies more 
to our present study. 
Need of Forests.— Have you noticed the washed and 
deeply grooved appearance of barren hillsides and sloping 
fields? The heavy rains have fallen upon these fields for 
a number of years, carrying away the soil, leaving the 
land rough and untillable. The torrent of water rushing 
down to the valleys causes streams to be flooded and 
great waste of soil fertility. Since hillside land soon be¬ 
comes worthless, it is quite important that these fields 
should be replanted with trees which will prevent wash¬ 
ing and retain the moisture. 
Reforesting. —There are thousands of square miles 
of waste land in the South that were once covered with 
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