26 



FOREST commissioner's REPORT. 



The larojer use which is made of these fisjures in this work has been 

 previously referred to aud illustrated. By them has been estimated the 

 growth upon particular tracts of laud, aud upon the whole extent of 

 teri'itoiy over which exploration has been carried. 



Thus on No. IV, R. VII, a country of rocks aud moss with slow-grow- 

 ing spruce upon it, we got the annual yield on the cut-over land by using 

 a factor of 2 per cent on the amount of wood whicli was thought to be 

 standing. 2 per cent it is seen stands in the table of growth for such 

 laud as the percentage for trees between 11 aud 12 inches in diameter. 



Again on the Moose river saj^ a township covered with mixed growth 

 has been closely cut for saw logs, and as a result of exploration it is 

 determined that 300 or 400 cubic feet of small spruce are still standing on 

 the laud per acre. Looking iuto the table of growth for such laud, 3 and 

 one-half per cent will be found to be a fair percentage to applj- to it to 

 ascertain its annual increase. .That was, in fact, just what we did iu the 

 case of Dennis. So with Brassua, a township of black growth on most 

 of which the accretion is rather rapid. As a result of exploration it was 

 judged tliat an average of about 400 cubic feet of spruce was stauding on 

 the land. To this we applied 3 per cent as a factor, getting thus a yearly 

 growth of 12 cubic feet or 4S board feet per acre. With these results iu 

 haud and putting together all that had been learned about the drainage, 

 we set the yearly growth of the Moose river basin at not less than IS 

 million feet. A similar computation can be made for a region of larger 

 extent, the degree of its proximity to the truth depending on the accuracy 

 of our knowledge of its toi^ograpliy, its stand of timber, and the historj^ 

 of its cut. 



The following table, embracing the results of observation on about 50 

 spruce standing in high mountain land on the Kennebec, will be worth 

 recording. Poor sites of whatever nature have a small growth, alike 

 in a volume and percentage. Less thrifty trees than these might readily 

 have been found. 



Mountain Spruce, from Steep, Rocicr Land with Little Soil— Mt. Higelow 



AND HOBBSTOWN. 



Two-tliirds of trees from 2,000 to 2,500 feet above sea. 



