I02 FOREST COAIMISSIONERS REPORT. 



furnish seed for such seedlings as are able to establish them- 

 selves. 



3. In all other cases the complete removal of the birch, with 

 no provision for reproduction or a second cut, is advisable. 

 The object is to utilize all of the birch already on the ground 

 and at the same time to restore the type natural to the locality. 

 This method is obviously the one to use in mixed stands of 

 birch and conifers or birch and other hardwoods, where there 

 is no hope of securing birch reproduction, and where the object 

 is to favor the other trees by getting rid of the birch altogether. 

 It is particularly advisable in the white pine belt. The same 

 system of cutting, with the same object, is applicable to pure 

 birch stands which are overmature or in which there is already 

 a second story of other species ready to occupy the ground as 

 soon as the birch is removed. In neither case can satisfactory 

 reproduction be looked for. Overmature stands should be cut 

 at once and younger stands at the time they will yield the great- 

 est amount of wood of the best quality. 



The best method of disposing of the debris left after lumber- 

 ing in birch stands is to lop the larger branches of the tops so 

 that they and the main trunk will come into contact with the 

 ground. In the moist woods of the Northeast the danger of 

 fire starting in old tops is not very great where ordinary pre- 

 cautions are taken, so that it is unnecessary to pile and burn 

 them. Moreover, birch rots very quickly in contact with the 

 soil, and these old tops and brush help to improve the humous 

 conditions of the forest. Whether the scattering and burning 

 of the tops as they lie on the ground might sometimes be advis- 

 able as a silvicultural measure is an open question. This method 

 would destroy the ground cover, expose the bare mineral soil, 

 and bring about the very conditions which first produced the 

 birch, stand. It would, therefore, be reasonable to expect a 

 fair reproduction on such land again, particularly if natural 

 means were supplemented by the broadcast sowing of a small 

 amount of seed. On the other hand, this burning would in 

 most cases destroy large numbers of seedlings of other species 

 which had already established themselves, and would delay the 

 ultimate occupation of the land by the natural type best suited 

 to it. Furthermore, great care would have to be exercised to 

 see that the fire did not escape into the surrounding forest with 

 disastrous results. On the whole, scattering and burning of 



