CUTTING AT XE-HA-SA-NE PARK. IX THE ADIROXDACKS 3S1 



were not classified by types. However, the data regarding the rate of 

 growth and mortality of spruce, given below, make it difficult to see 

 how this yield from the present stand can be as great as predicted. 



THE PROSPECTS FOR THE XEXT CUT 



The prospects for the next cut, or third cut, of spruce are not encour- 

 aging. The hardwoods are fast dominating the stands. As figure 2 

 shows, in the two-inch class both areas have about 50 per cent of spruce 

 and of hardwoods. From two to ten inches the per cent of hardwoods 

 is almost uniformly greater than that of spruce. Above ten inches the 

 per cent of hardwoods increases rapidly and in the higher diameter 

 classes the hardwoods are completely dominant. Not only are there 

 more hardwoods than spruce in practically every diameter class, but the 

 inevitable decrease in number with increase in diameter is less rapid 

 for the hardwoods than for the spruce. 



On the first area in the two-inch class there are 25.8 spruce and 25.5 

 hardwoods, or practically an equal number of each. In the ten-inch 

 class the hardwoods are nearly double the spruce, for there are 8.0 

 hardwoods and 4.3 spruce per average acre. 



This numerical decrease is not necessarily due to mortality. How- 

 ever, above ten inches the rapid increase in the per cent of hardwoods 

 shows that there is no mortality among the hardwoods comparable to 

 the decrease caused by the axe in the spruce. 



A comparison of the number of hardwoods and spruce w^hich have 

 died, apparently since the last cut, also indicates a greater mortality 

 among the spruce (see figure 2). 



Since the number of hardwood trees above ten inches has greatlv 

 increased since 1898; since the hardwoods are dominating practically 

 all diameter classes in the present stand, and since the death rate of 

 the spruce is apparently greater than that of the hardwoods, the young 

 spruce growing up from the lo\ver diameters have, evidently, a hopeless 

 fight against an overtopping mass of large hardwoods. The condition 

 of the spruce, moreover, makes the situation even more hopeless. 



CONDITIOX OF THE SPRUCE 



On the first area over 60 per cent of the spruce below seven inches 

 are suppressed. This per cent drops, due probably to the death of a 

 large number of the suppressed trees, to 29.2 per cent at ten inches. 

 On the second area the per cent of suppressed trees runs a little higher. 



The question as to whether these suppressed trees can recover is a 



