It is also noteworthy that the most vigorous sprouts come from the clean, well-cut stumps from which the trees were cut during the late fall, winter or early spring before the sap begins to flow.

The top of each stump should be cut slanting so that it will readily shed water.

The trees that reproduce by sprouts include the oak, hickory, basswood, chestnut, gum, cottonwood, willows and young short-leaf and pitch pines.
In order that the farm woodland may be kept in the best of productive condition, the farmer should remove for firewood the trees adapted only for that purpose.

Usually, removing these trees improves the growth of the remaining trees by giving them better chances to develop.

Trees should be cut whose growth has been stunted because trees of more rapid growth crowded them out.
Diseased trees or those that have been seriously injured by insects should be felled.