MANAGEMENT OF WHITE PINE 359 



have now extended over a period of 10 years, from 1908 to 1019, and 

 have involved the marketing of approximately 2^ million feet of 

 lumber. For purposes of test these cuttings have been made accord- 

 ing to the following silvicultural systems : the shelterwood method, the 

 selection method, the seed-tree method, clear-cutting by small groups, 

 by strips, and by lots or areas of several acres. By systematic study 

 on the ground, taken in connection with the annual records of the 

 forest, a thorough recapitulation of comparative si'vicultural results 

 was brought together. In respect to other cut-over lands a direct 

 examination was made of the reproduction following 54 separate log- 

 ging operations. These represented upwards of 4,000 acres scattered 

 through northern Worcester and Hampshire Counties, Massachusetts, 

 and Cheshire County, New Hampshire. The dates of these cuttings 

 fall between 1905 and 1908 inclusive. Each date was definitely ascer- 

 tained so that results could be correlated with records of seed years, 

 rainfall, etc. 



OBSERVATIONS ON CUT-OVER LANDS 



Of the 54 separate areas examined only 14 showed satisfactory 

 reproduction of pine. This was taken to mean 500 thrifty seedlings 

 or more per acre. All of these 14 lots were cut in seed years, that is, 

 in the autumn or winter following the fall of seed. Two lots cut in 

 seed years showed no reproduction, the failure being due to the fact 

 that the previous stands were unusually dense and below the seed- 

 bearing age. Of the remaining 40 woodlots ctit over in non-seed years, 

 only 10 showed any pine reproduction at all, and of these 10 only one 

 anything like a sufficient seeding. These partially satisfactorv results 

 were always explainable on account of accidentally favorable condi- 

 tions, such as the proximity of seed trees and the smallness of the area 

 cut. The examination showed that general site factors such as slope 

 and aspect had little or no effect, but that the condition of the seed-bed 

 was apparently of first importance. Heavy ground cover and leaf- 

 litter was unfavorable; thin leaf-litter and humus with mineral soil 

 mixed with it or exposed made the best seed-bed. If .seedlings failed 

 to start within from 2 to 5 years after the cutting, the development of 

 Other vegetation kept them out entirely. Incidentally the study showed 

 that under dense stands no reproduction survives, but that under open 

 or mixed stands advance growth of white pine may survive for years. 

 There was no evidence of reproduction from seed stored in the leaf- 



