758 JOURNAL OF FORESTRY 



a few years it will be possible to make further interesting observa- 

 tions. 

 Nineteen Thousand Board feet per Acre from Norzvay Spruce in 



^4 Years. 



Although considerable forest planting has been done in New Jersey, 

 nearly all of the plantations are still less than 20 years of age, and 

 therefore too young to provide an estimate of yield. There is, how- 

 ever, a plantation of Norway spruce, mixed with a few trees of Scotch 

 pme. hemlock, arborvitae, and tulip (a rather complicated mixture), on 

 deep rich bottomland in Warren County, that has grown 19,000 board 

 feet of sawlogs per acre at 34 years of age, or 560 board feet per year. 

 The trees were spaced 8 feet apart and the stand is now too open 

 because the spruce and hemlock have shaded out the less tolerant pines 

 and* tulips. There are now .318 trees per acre, ranging in diameter from 

 5 to 18 inches, with an average diameter of 9 inches. Had the planta- 

 tion been spaced 6 feet by 6 feet, and thinned at about 20 to 25 years, 

 no doubt a greater yield would have resulted. It is only fair to say that 

 it was intended for a game cover, and was planted on agricultural 

 land where optimum growth was to be expected. 



It is realized that more cuttings under various conditions, and long- 

 er periods of observations are needed to establish definite and ac- 

 curate growth figures, but we nevertheless believe that the examples 

 cited in this article are conclusive enough to permit us to adopt the 

 slogan, "One cord an acre a year." When New Jersey's "true forest 

 soils," of which we have nearly 2 million acres, are growing at half 

 that rate, we will not have to depend upon an imported supply of wood. 



