Forestry for Farmers

by B. E. Fernow

In general, the first openings may contain from one-fourth to one-half an acre or more, and the gradual enlarging may progress by clearing bands of a breadth not to exceed the height of the surrounding timber.

The time of the year when the cutting is to be done is naturally in winter, when the farmer has the most leisure, and when the wood seasons best after felling and is also most readily moved. Since it is expected that the seed fallen in the autumn will sprout in the spring, all wood should, of course, be removed from the seed ground.

The first opening, as well as the enlargement of the groups, should not be made at once, but by gradual thinning out, if the soil is not in good condition to receive and germinate the seed and it is impracticable to put it in such condition by artificial means—hoeing or plowing.

It is, of course, quite practicable—nay, sometimes very desirable—to prepare the soil for the reception and germination of the seed. Where undesirable undergrowth has started, it should be cut out, and where the soil is deteriorated with weed growth or compacted by the tramping of cattle, it should be hoed or otherwise scarified, so that the seed may find favorable conditions. To let pigs do the plowing and the covering of acorns is not an uncommon practice abroad.

It is also quite proper, if the reproduction from the seed of the surrounding mother trees does not progress satisfactorily, to assist, when an opportunity is afforded, by planting such desirable species as were or were not in the composition of the original crop.

It may require ten, twenty, or forty years or more to secure the reproduction of a wood lot in this way. A new growth, denser and better than the old, with timber of varying age, will be the result. The progress of the regeneration in groups is shown on the accompanying plan, the different shadings showing the successive additions of young crop, the darkest denoting the oldest parts, first regenerated. If we should make a section through any one of the groups, this, ideally represented, would be like [figure 14], the old growth on the outside, the youngest new crop adjoining it, and tiers of older growths of varying height toward the center of the group.

WIND MANTLE.

On the plan there will be noted a strip specially shaded, surrounding the entire plat ([fig. 13, a]), representing a strip of timber which should surround the farmer's wood lot, and which he should keep as dense as possible, especially favoring undergrowth. This part, if practicable, should be kept reproduced as coppice or by the method of selection, i. e., by taking out trees hero and there. When gaps are made, they should be filled, if possible, by introducing shade-enduring kinds, which, like the spruces and firs and beech, retain their branches down to the foot for a long time. This mantle is intended to protect the interior against the drying influence of winds, which are bound to enter the small wood lot and deteriorate the soil. The smaller the lot, the more necessary and desirable it is to maintain such a protective cover or wind-break.