690 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



be roughly divided into spruce slopes, 

 spruce flats, and spruce swamps. 



The management of our spruce 

 slopes, particularly the high slopes, is a 

 difficult proposition. The timber on such 

 a location is usually quite uniform but 

 smaller in diameter and shorter and is 

 much more liable to be wind thrown 

 than the spruce on the lower situations. 

 The use of a diameter limit under such 

 conditions does not bring good results 

 as a rule. Practically all the trees that 

 are left below the limit set, provided we 

 take out enough to make the operation 

 profitable, are wind thrown and such 

 trees, of course, had better be taken out 

 during the lumbering operations. 



The best method to use would prob- 

 ably be some sort of a clear cutting 

 operation by strips or groups. Seed 

 trees might be left as groups of trees 

 covering perhaps a tenth of an acre 

 and thus would give mutual protection 

 against the wind. A system of clear 

 cutting by strips might work out very 

 well under these conditions, cutting say 

 a strip about 100 to 150 feet wide and 

 leaving a strip of equal width to be 

 taken out at a second operation after 

 reproduction is established on the cut- 

 over strip. In any method of leaving 

 trees for the distribution of seed, it 

 must be remembered that good natural 

 reproduction cannot be counted upon to 

 take place any farther from the base of 

 the trees than a distance equal to the 

 height of the tree or half again that dis- 

 tance. This rule, of course, would have 

 exceptions, varying with the topography 

 of the country and the species. 



To consider the management of 

 spruce flat. This is the best type of 

 spruce timber and can oftentimes be 

 managed by a diameter limit cutting. 

 In the case of all diameter limits, we 

 must be sure and not make them rigid. 

 In scientific management the first prin- 

 ciple is to insure reproduction and often- 

 times in cutting to a rigid diameter limit 

 there are not enough seed bearing trees 

 left on an area to give the proper re- 

 production. Our system of cutting 

 should be such that wherever it is nec- 

 essary to leave trees over the given di- 

 ameter, it should be possible to do so. In 

 this type of spruce windfall is of the 



least importance. However, even here 

 we must be very careful, if the stand is 

 anything like pure spruce, to eliminate 

 as much as possible the loss through 

 windfall by judicial cutting. 



On such locations the spruce is often- 

 times small and of a very even diameter, 

 and cutting to a diameter limit often- 

 times means taking all or none. The 

 cutting system should be such that it 

 would be possible to remove all timber 

 not needed for the regeneration of the 

 stand and yet at the same time prepare 

 against windfall loss, as on this type of 

 soil the windfall damage is liable to be 

 quite severe. 



Virgin white pine stands should be 

 handled by some sort of a clear cutting 

 method, leaving seed trees as individuals 

 or groups. Wherever seed trees are 

 left as individuals the loss is oftentimes 

 as high as 75 or 80 per cent, through 

 windfall and much the better system is 

 to leave the seed trees in small groups 

 uniformly scattered over the cutting 

 areas. On some operations the groups 

 left have contained 25 to 30 per cent, of 

 the original stand and after reproduc- 

 tion is established there is enough tim- 

 ber left in the groups to make a second 

 cut profitable and thus our seed trees 

 are not left at a loss as they might be 

 if only just enough trees were allowed 

 Ito remain to insure reproduction. 



Here, as with the spru:e types, a 

 diameter limit should be an elastic one, 

 cutting over or under as conditions 

 warrant, but keeping, on the whole, to 

 an average diameter. In the case of 

 good markets and easy access to the 

 forests, a selection system is sometimes 

 used, cutting out from time to time only 

 the best individuals. Unless the method 

 is very carefully carried out it is very 

 liable to result in deterioration of the 

 forest. 



Second growth white pine will have 

 to be managed differently in most cases. 

 Here we will not be willing to wait 

 until the trees are old enough to bear 

 sufficient seed and as these second 

 growth stands can usually be termed 

 even aged, they will have to be clear 

 cut and planted to have anything like 

 satisfactory resulting conditions. 



