Forestry for FarmersFernow, B. E. (Bernhard Eduard)
Science
Forestry for Farmers
Fernow, B. E. (Bernhard Eduard)
Agroforestry; Forests and forestry
There are, to be sure, different natural types of development, some,
like the walnuts, oaks, beeches, and the broad-leaved trees generally,
having greater tendency to spread than others, like spruces, firs,
and conifers in general, which lengthen their shaft in preference
to spreading, even in the open. This tendency to spreading is also
influenced by soil conditions and climate, as well as by the age of the
tree. When the trees cease to grow in height, their crowns broaden, and
this takes place sooner in shallow soils than in deep, moist ones; but
the tendency can be checked and all can be made to develop the shaft at
the expense of the branches by proper shading from the sides.
It follows that the forest planter, who desires to produce long and
clean shafts and best working quality of timber, must secure and
maintain side shade by a close stand, while the landscape gardener,
who desires characteristic form, must maintain an open stand and full
enjoyment of light for his trees.
Now, as we have seen, different species afford different amounts of
shade, and in proportion to the shade which they afford can they
endure shade. The beech or sugar maple or spruce, which maintain a
large amount of foliage under the dense shade of their own crown, show
that their leaves can live and functionate with a small amount of
light. They are shade-enduring trees. On the other hand, the black
walnut, the locust, the catalpa, the poplars, and the larch show by the
manner in which their crowns thin out, the foliage being confined to
the ends of the branches, that their leaves require more light--they
are light-needing trees; so that the scale which arranges the trees
according to the amount of shade they exert serves also to measure
their shade endurance.
In making, therefore, mixed plantations, the different kinds must be so
grouped and managed that the shady trees will not outgrow and overtop
the light-needing; the latter must either have the start of the former
or must be quicker growers.
[Illustration: Fig. 11.--Oak tree grown in the open.]
[Illustration: Fig. 12.--Maple tree grown in the forest.]
RATE OF GROWTH.
Not only do different species grow more or less rapidly in height and
girth, but there is in each species a difference in the rate of growth
during different periods of life, and a difference in the persistence
of growth.
It stands to reason that trees grow differently in different soils and
situations, and hence we can not compare different species with respect
to their rate of growth except as they grow under the same conditions.
Thus the black walnut may grow as fast as or faster than the ash on
a rich, deep, moist, warm soil, but will soon fall to the rear in a
wetter, colder, and shallower soil.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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