FORKST COMMISSIOXER's REPORT. St 



(Bctiila f'ol^iilifolia), so plentiful in southern Maine and along 

 the whole Xew England coast, but practically lacking in the rest 

 of the birch region, is abundant. Included within this territory 

 is a tract surrounding (irand Lake which contains good stands of 

 mature paper birch, and should undoulitedly be classed with the 

 region west of the Penobscot. 



In western Maine the bounds of the different fires are not so 

 well marked, but a large part of the territory was probably 

 burned over about 1825. The best stands here are to the south 

 and east of the Rangelcy Lakes, where they fully equal those 

 in central Elaine. Along the line of the Grand Trunk Railroad 

 in the neighborhood of liryants Pond, Lockes ]\Iills, and Bethel, 

 the birch has been cut very heavily for many years ; the original 

 supply has been almost exhausted, but there is now more or less 

 second growth available. 



In Xew Hampshire and \'ermont fires have also been respon- 

 sible for the creation of paper birch tracts, but not to such an 

 extent as in Maine. The stands are more scattered and the 

 yield, as a rule, not so heavy. ]\[uch of the timber is already 

 mature, but there is also much young growth. 



TYPES. 



Paper birch stands may be divided according to their ci>m- 

 position into two general classes — pure and mixed. 



Pure stands are not so abundant as mixed, but they are of 

 greater commercial importance. These stands vary in extent 

 from a few to .several hundred acres, and contain from 75 to 

 90 per cent of birch. The principal species found in mixture 

 in such stands are the two aspens, often with an understory of 

 spruce and balsam. These stands are generally even-aged, and 

 have a fairly uniform crown cover. There are usually a few 

 large-crowned, sprawly individuals which obtained an advan- 

 tage at the outset and have developed abnormally, and also a 

 few badly crowded, suppressed, and dying individuals; but the 

 main stand consists of trees of approximately the same degree 

 of development with rather narrow, medium-sized crowns. In 

 mature stands the crown cover is not continuous, but is more or 

 less open and broken in places, owing to the intolerance of the 

 birch. This enables such tolerant species as spruce and balsam, 

 which are able to start under the light shade cast by the birch, 

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