The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-10-22
FACTS ABOUT TREE GROWTH.
Primer Written to Supply EIemen-
tary Information.

Washington. Oct. A-Gifford Pinchot.
the Forester of the Department of Agricul
ture, has attacked his work on the very
sensible theory that when you have got
people somewhat interested In the subject
for its own sake, nothing is lost, but a
good deal gained by making them familiar
with its B C's, instead of attempting to
stimulate their interest at once by dis
cussion of is purely scientific bearings.
Until the war with Spain, for instance. set
people talking about the West Indies and
the Philippines, a large part of even the
newspaper-reading world could have done
little more than .ocate the two groups of
Islands in the Western and Eastern hemi-
spheres respectively. But, their curiosity
once excited, American readers eagerly de-
Voured anything touching the new colo
MES. So ii is with forestry, which has only
recently caught hold of the public mind.
Now, VIII lie the subject is at the front. Mr.
Pinchot shrewdly brings out as a depart
ment publication his little Primer of For
estry, very simply written dealing with
elemental facts and principles, and CO.
piously supplied with Photographic pic
lures
In the very opening of his little book.
although it treats wholly OF trees and tree
habits, Mr.. Pinchot takes pains 10 define
the science of forestry so as to distinguish
ii from other tree topics which people are
continually confusing with it. Arboricul-
ture, for instance, deals with Individual
trees, whereas forestry has to do with
single trees only as they stand together on
some large area whose principal crop is
trees Indeed, forest rs something more
than a group OF trees, however, extensive
1t has popula ion of animals and pants
peculiar to itself, a soil largely of it's own
making, and a climate different in many
ways from that of the open country. BY
It's influence upon streams ii tends to pre-
vent both floods and droughts; il supplies
fuel prime necessary of life, as well as
lumber. without which human civilization
could scarcely have made any progress II
will therefore be seen that the forest is
one of the best friends Of man and deserv-
ing of much more considerable treatment
than it usually receives
The relations of trees to heat and nois-
ture are largely responsible for their dis
tributton on the great divisions of the
earths surface as well as over tho
smaller rises and depressions of every re.
gion where trees grow. But i'm the strug-
gle between individuals or species for ac-
tual possession of the ground there are
influences greater than meteorological con-
ditions; one of these is the ability 10 bear
shade. Trees which are called tolerant
of shade are those which flourish under
n,
while "intolesant' trees are those which
demand a comparatively slight cover, or
even unrestricted light. Later in life all
trees require much more light than at
first, and usually those only live to old age
which are quite unshaded from above.
The tolerance or Intolerance of trees IS
often the first thing the forester seeks to
learn about them, because what he can
safely undertake in the woods depends so
largely on it. This matter of tolerance
moreover will explain a phenomenon
which has puzzled many observers. Hem
lock sometimes replaces white pine IN
Pennsylvania, because it can grow beneath
the pine, and so be ready to fill the OPEN
ing whenever a pine dies; but the pine
cannot grow under the hemlock. and can
lake possession of the ground only when
a fire or a wjndfall makes such an open
ing that 1t can have plenty of light. Some
trees having once been oVershaded,
cannot recover their vigOr when set free.
Others like the red spruce, in the Adj
rondacks, have a wonderful power of re-
cuperation; this spruce may spend its first
fifty or even hundred years in reaching a
diameter of a couple of inches. but when
liberated viii expand into a fine tree.
The rate of growth of different trees Of
ten decides which will survive in the for
est. For example, il two tolerant trees
should start under similar conditions in an
faster than the other to overtop il and cut
off its light the shaded tree would be de-
stroyed. The place where tree stands
has a great influence on its rate of growth.
Eillsides are often less favorable than rich
bottom lands; the chinquapin. for instance,
which reaches hight of 80 feet in the
coast valleys of Northern California, APP
pears as a mere shrub high up in the Ser
ra Nevada The canoe birch in the far
North rises only a few inches above the
ground, while farther south II sometimes
reaches 100 feet.
The nomenclature Of tree-growth often
puzzles the unlearned. Mr.. Pinchot clas-
SITES young trees which have not yet
reached a hight of three feet rs seed
lings;" those from three to ten feet high
as "saplings;" those ten feet high, till
they attain a diameter of four inches, as
large saplings;" those from four to eight
inches in diameter, as small poles"
those from eight to twelve inches in diam
eter as Large poles;" those from one to
two feet in diameter as standards" and
all more than two feet in diameter as
veterans" The diameter measurements
are made at the hight OF a mans chest,
or about four feet six inches from the
ground.
The forest has many enemies, fire and
reckless numbering being the worst. In
this country safeguarding and wind come
next. Cattle and horses do much less
damage than sheep, and snow-break is
less costly than wlndfall. Landslides,
floods, insects and fungi are often very
harmful. lightning blights trees and sets
woods on fire; birds and squirrels devour
great quantities of nuts and seeds which
might be used in reproduction, and por-