388 JOURNAL OF FORESTRY 



private lumber companies have given this diameter hmit method of 

 cutting a very thorough trial with the intention of maintaining soft- 

 wood production upon their lands. Many of these private companies 

 have since gone over their lands the second time and picked up the 

 wind fallen spruce and continued the cut down to the merchantable 

 limit for pulp because of the heavy loss from windfall. The only 

 motive which seems to have actuated pulp operators to give up the 

 diameter method of cutting has been the damage from windfall, 

 which cannot be denied, especially on exposed situations. Sufficient 

 time has now elapsed since the first cutting by the diameter-limit 

 method to answer the questions presented as to the silvicultural fea- 

 sibility of this method of management of the Adirondack forest. 



ACCELERATED GROWTH OF SPRUCE 



I wish to present data taken from an area which had been cut to a 

 diameter limit 20 years previous to the study on the Brandreth Estate 

 immediately south of Nehasane Park, and to make the statement before 

 presenting figures that in my judgment the hardwood crown has closed 

 over the spruce trees remaining after the first cut so quickly as to have 

 made their recovery brief and to have added very little extra volume 

 to even the larger diameter classes and almost none to the lower. An 

 examination of the data presented will show plainly that the increase 

 in rate of growth after the first lumbering operation was not greatly 

 in excess of what might be expected from the virgin stand untouched. 

 The crown cover of the forest shows every evidence of complete closure 

 in the lapse of 20 years after the first logging operation to a 12-inch 

 diameter limit. 



The following facts may be deduced from Table i and figure i. 



1. Diameter growth on the stump shows practically no acceleration 

 over the normal rate of growth even in the first ten years and less in 

 the second, especially in the 8-inch class. 



(Attention is called to p. 445 of U. S. Forest Service Bulletin 26, 

 which shows acceleration in diameter growth greater at the stump than 

 at the top of the first log.) 



2. Mean height growth was least in the tallest trees and shows a 

 falling off in the lower two classes. 



3. Eight-inch trees are 167 years old, with no visible means of short- 

 ening this period materially under the shade of hardwoods. 



In the matter of volume of second cutting, it is true that a compar- 

 atively good cut has been obtained after a lapse of 20 years, but this 



