362 JOURNAL OF FORESTRY 



based on the periodic fall of seed must make provision for securing 

 reproduction after the operations of the ofif years. The established 

 logging and milling methods almost necessitate the clear-cutting of a 

 considerable area in one place, a minimum of not less than 5 to 10 

 acres. Bearing on the composition of a desirable forest crop is the 

 fact that the present pine woodlots are transition types and as such are 

 difficult to maintain. Furthermore, the market for the better hard- 

 woods has greatly improved, and bids fair to improve still more in 

 the near future. In view of these considerations, it has become the 

 silvicultural policy on the Harvard Forest to replace the pure pine 

 type with mixed stands containing, in addition to pine, the best of the 

 local hardwoods, an abundance of which is almost always present on 

 the ground. 



The method of cutting is a combination of preliminary thinning 

 with clear-cutting. Each year an area large enough to yield the bulk 

 of the annual cut is cleared, and ordinarily thinnings are made on 

 adjacent areas in amounts sufficient to yield the balance of the total 

 cut. The object of the thinnings is primarily to stimulate reproduc- 

 tion of pine so that it will be available when and where cuttings are 

 made in non-seed years. In years when there is a heavy fall of seed 

 a clear-cutting made without preliminary thinning, especially if the 

 operation is carried out on bare ground, results in successful repro- 

 duction. Thus there is no rigid relation. between the clear-cuttings and 

 the thinnings, either in area or time. In some years, for convenience 

 in logging, the thinnings may be omitted ; in other years, where the 

 location is favorable, an extra large area may be thinned. Each year, 

 however, the bulk of the operation is a clear-cutting which keeps the 

 cost of the job within reasonable limits. 



Before the final clear-cutting is begun all the advance growth, hard- 

 wood and underbrush, both small and large, is cut close to the ground. 

 Usually this can be done with a bush-scythe and at a rate of an acre 

 or an acre-and-a-half per man per day. The purpose of this is to 

 eliminate misshapen and overdeveloped reproduction and to insure the 

 uniform starting of straight, vigorous, seedling sprouts. Cost records 

 show that the work is much more than paid for by a saving in the 

 cutting and hauling of logs due to the much greater ease of handling 

 and loading. When the logging starts the slash is burned in piles, 

 much of it in broken time while the job is in progress. The cost of 

 slash burning has varied from fifteen to fifty cents per thousand. 



