A STUDY OF REGENERATION ON CERTAIN CUT-OVER 

 HARDWOOD LANDS IN NORTHERN MICHIGAN 



By p. L. Buttrick, 



Assistant Professor of Forestry, Michigan Agricultural College 



The summer camp of the Forestry Department of the Michigan 

 Agricultural College was held in the summer of 1920 on the lands of 

 a lumber company whose holdings are in Charlevoix and Antrim 

 counties, Michigan. The camp itself was located in an old logging carrtp 

 situated in the midst of an old hardwood cutting on a hillside, such as 

 is typical of that portion of the northwestern portion of the lower 

 peninsula of Michigan, where the topography is rough and more ele- 

 vated than elsewhere in the State. The original forest was typical of 

 the hardwood forests of northern Michigan. It had consisted of an 

 all-aged mixture of sugar and red maple, American, rock and slippery 

 elm, basswood, beech, hemlock, and a small amount of white pine. The 

 stand had probably averaged from 10,000 to 15;000 per acre. The 

 cutting had taken place in the winter of 1913-14, and had been a clear 

 cutting — all that remained standing were a few dead snags and a small 

 number of secondary trees under 8 inches in diameter, which had been 

 left as too small to be merchantable. The majority of them had had 

 their tops injured by the felling of the surrounding .trees. There 

 was nothing unusual about all this. Thousands of acres of just such 

 lands have been left in the same region after logging. The unusual 

 thing was that the almost inevitable slash fire did not occur, and the 

 remaining growth was permitted to live and resulting in the begin- 

 nings of a second crop which is now a thick brush, some 5 feet 

 high and in a few years if left to itself will in all probability completely 

 re-establish forest conditions on the area. It seemed therefore an 

 excellent opportunity to study the origin and character of the re- 

 production. This was done by sample plots located more or less at 

 random throughout the area. The plots were taken by students having 

 their first experience in silvical work and therefore were probably 

 less exact than older observers, but from a careful check on their work 

 the writer is confident that their figures are indicative of the actual 

 conditions, 

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