REviKws 435 



stand in this type inckide yellow birch "because the tree appears on the 

 margin of the type and on knolls, or well-drained spots where the small 

 size of the area prevents elimination from the type." 



On spruce flat "birch exceeds in number all other hardwood species." 

 In the hardwood type "the lower, moist hardwood land will have more 

 birch than the better drained parts." On upper spruce slope "yellow 

 birch is the most widely distributed and best developed hardwood 

 tree. ... It can thrive better than maple or beech on the thin 

 soils, and can reproduce best of all hardwoods in the deep humus." 



The authors then review the influence of logging on the forest and 

 reach the following interesting conclusions. Where (1) the cutting 

 was of softwoods to a diameter limit, the hard maple and beech exceed 

 birch in the reproduction on the hardwood type because "the light cut- 

 ting was not enough to open up the crowns to allow, birch to succeed." 

 This statement is supported by comparative data on the number of 

 seedlings and trees less than 1.5 inches d.b.h. on hardwood land logged 

 (a) to a 10-inch diameter limit and (b) clear cut. Per acre, sugar 

 maple shows: (a) 3,T?9 trees, (b) 83 trees; beech shows (a) 1,036 

 trees, {b) 578 trees; yellow birch shows (a) 234 trees, (b) 3,530 trees. 



Where (3) all merchantable softwoods are cut. the resulting forest 

 on flats and hardwood lands will be "more largely hardwoods, but will 

 not exclude softwood reproduction . . . there will be a large mor- 

 tality due to windfall and exposure." Ten years after cutting the hard- 

 wood type shows beech 45 per cent of the stand, birch 32 per cent, 

 maple 17 per cent, spruce 10 per cent, and hemlock 6 per cent. 



Where (3) both hard and soft woods are cut clear (in the limited 

 sense as carried on in the large logging operations) the results are : (a) 

 numerical preponderance of hardwood reproduction, (b) dominant 

 position of yellow birch in the stand, (c) the failure of hemlock repro- 

 duction, (d) the prevalence of fire cherry and absence of aspen, (c) the 

 more rapid height growth of hardwood than of spruce seedlings. 



An average acre of hardwood type cut clear 11 years previously, 

 showed trees one-half inch and over, d.b.h., 1,874 birch, 1,413 sugar 

 maple, 1,218 beech, 968 red maple, 553 fire cherry, 157 spruce. 105 

 black cherry, and a scattering of lesser species. The average diameters 

 and heights of the reproduction were as follows: Birch, 0.8 inch 

 d.b.h., 11.0 feet high; sugar maple, 0.7 inch d.b.h., 10.8 feet high; red 

 maple, 0.9 inch d.b.h., 11.0 feet high; beech, 0.8 inch d.b.h., 10.1 feet 

 high; black cherry, 1.0 inch d.b.h., 14.0 feet high. 



