68 FOREST commissioner's REPORT. 



mixture of pine. The latter on liberal soils and in fairly thick 

 growth, had reached a height of ninety to one hundred feet, 

 and had furnished already logs of considerable size. The 

 spruce, on the other hand, had just reached in such places a 

 pulp-log- size, ten to twelve inches in diameter by about sixty 

 feet high being a fair size for the larger and more open trees on 

 such ground. On rocky and poorly drained land both 

 species shrunk, the injury, however, being especially evident 

 in the pines. 



But the value and producing power of second growth like 

 this is a problem by itself, quite different from the main one 

 we have been considering. Statement and discussion of some 

 figures gathered at this point will be found in the appendix 

 to this report. 

 Expiora- The township was really first attacked from the 



tion.charac- ^ '' 



tryaiKi°"'^ cast. Coming off Spencer mountain which had 

 stand. been climbed for a bird's-eye view of the country 



round, on the evening of August 21st my temporary com- 

 panion and I reached an old camp not far from Lazy Tom, 

 assembled enough of an old stove to build a fire in, and tak- 

 ing the chances on some ragged pieces of blanket we hit upon 

 obtained a sheltered and comfortable night's sleep. In the 

 morning w^e struck directly north through the old works, 

 counting and estimating, completing then and later a line of 

 exploration up through the east side of the town, a mile from 

 its eastern boundary. 



On this course a portion of the uncut timber was passed. 

 In this there was great variety, due principally, as it appeared, 

 to the lay of the ground. The ground was seldom level, so 

 that there was little of the thick, stunted spruce often seen, 

 due apparently in most cases to defective drainage. Much 

 of the country was broken in surface, with very little soil, 

 and on such ground a thick stand of smallish spruce timber 

 was generally found. Situated as it was, most of the terri- 

 tory was fairly thrifty, and if opened up by cutting a good 

 increase on the timber left could be expected. 



