112 FOREST commissioner's report. 



mixed with spruce was the most a])undant ^^rowth. On the 

 remainder, mixed hard woods, in which at present dwarf 

 maples are most prominent, hold the ground. The two things 

 were mixed largely, but in general this proportion was thought 

 to hold. The significance of these different elements, their 

 permanence and prospective value, has already been indicated. 



The reader of course cannot be burdened with a mass of 

 this kind of detail. It has seemed well, however, to explain 

 and illustrate the methods of inquiry used. If these are ap- 

 proved of, if the methods devised appear to be adapted and 

 sufficient for the purpose, a presumption will be created that 

 they were used with good judgment and discrimination. As 

 to the amount of timber left and consequent inferences as to 

 the growing power of the hind, little more than the final 

 statement of conclusions remains to be said. 

 Where cut- There were, however, some special objects con- 

 be unlpar-'^ nected with the exploration of this town. Strik- 

 ^^^' ing out on Monday morning to the west, the valley 



opposite camp was traversed, then we struck over the ridge into 

 the basin of the next brook north. On the divide was found 

 what is not so infrequently seen on high ground, a piece of 

 flat wet land, in character approachino; bog. The ledgy 

 ridge crow^n was flat and almost devoid of mineral soil. 

 Vegetable material, however, moss and decayed leaves, formed 

 a stratum from which there had grown up a heavy stand of 

 spruce. The cut here had been heavy, but it might well have 

 been heavier, for most of what was left had blown down. 



Ledgy land, wdiere the trees simply sit on the surface and 

 are not anchored into soil, can be treated in one of only two 

 ways, if its value is to be reaped. Either but few of the trees 

 should be cut, the largest and tallest, leavino; enousfh for 

 mutual protection from the winds, or else every stick that 

 can be handled at a profit should be taken. Halfway meas- 

 ures are most wasteful. The winds of our ordinary seasons 

 will destroy in five years after opening such timber more than 

 will be replaced by the growth of the next fifty. The prac- 



