658 AMERICAN FORESTRY 



most convincing proof he can call to his aid will be an actual and local 

 illustration of such a system. If this proves practical and financially profitable, 

 and if the first cut is enough to make a fair logging chance, and the remaining 

 trees do not blow down but grow at an increasing rate, and if a number of 

 other things turn out as they should then the forester can use this example 

 as a reasonably safe argument. Numerous problems of this kind present 

 themselves, and actual illustrations of their solutions are always the best 

 arguments. 



Aside from the questions of fire protection and taxation, there are many 

 which are peculiar to the forests typical of northern Minnesota. The owners 

 of large areas of timber lands are willing and anxious to know how their 

 non-agricultural lands may be handled profitably; but the seemingly 

 unimportant details and possible results of periodic cutting, planting, etc., are 

 too hazy to carry conviction to their minds. With the hope of gaining 

 enlightenment on these various points, the forest experiment station was 

 provided near Cloquet, Minn., where the lumbering industi-y of the state is 

 now centered. 



Active work in developing this experimental tract began in April, 1910. 

 As preliminary work it was necessaiy to obtain a land survey and an inventory 

 of the timber resources. The fire danger was very great at all times, and a 

 constant patrol was required. A system of firebreaks was planned which will 

 include the whole area and utilize the various roads. Several miles of these 

 '"breaks" were cleared out. When completed, the firebreaks will furnissh 

 adequate protection for any experimental plots or plantings that may be made. 



The larger part of the Cloquet Forest is a sand plain or "pine barrens," 

 according to the original survey notes, on which the red pine and jack pine 

 thrive equally well. There are also several hundred acres of light clay loam 

 supporting a hardwood and white pine growth. This soil when cleared proves 

 adaptable for cultivation. In the swamps are found all the plant zone 

 gradations, — ranging from aquatic plants in the stagnant pools through 

 sedges, cattails, wire-grass, sphagnum, sheep laurel, cranberry, scrub spruce, 

 and finally into stands of merchantable tamarack and spruce. 



The variation in soils on this tract makes it possible to carry on a 

 comparatively wide range of experiments. There is also an additional 

 advantage in having considerable growing and mature timber with which to 

 work. Aside from the many jack pine stands, there is in one body 500,000 feet 

 of Norway pine in a pui'e and practically normal stand. In another body of 

 350,000 feet, white and Norway pine form about equal proportions of a dense 

 stand. 



Altogether there is approximately 2,000,000 feet of white and Norway pine 

 in several compact, even-aged stands. Plans are made to select and mark out 

 a large number of permanent sample plots. On the plots in the mature stands, 

 several methods of thinning will be tried, and a record kept to ascertain the 

 relative increase in rate of growth, the effects on reproduction, young growth, 

 and ground cover. On some plots, both under standards and on cut-over areas, 

 broadcast sowing of several species will be tried, to determine what conditions 

 and season of the year may prove adaptable to this method of regeneration. 

 Under contract with the federal government, all the timber on the Cloquet 

 Forest, with the exception of the above-mentioned selected bunches of pine, was 

 removed last summer. Seed trees were reserved on two ai-eas of forty acres 

 each. Consequently, the ground which has been so recently logged over is in 

 excellent condition to receive the attention of the experimenter. 



Particular attention will be given to the work of planting the various 

 sites to commercial timber species. About four acres of ground has been 



