514 JOURNAL OF FORESTRY 



pice. On the south and west slopes and on the plateau level where the 

 soil becomes shallow, dry, and rocky, oak predominates in both stories, 

 with considerable mountain ash, some beech, and a little hornbeam. 



The proportion of species is to some extent in forests which have 

 been under management for several rotations, the result of silvicultural 

 practice which in turn is partly guided by the relative value of the 

 different species. 



Management. — These hardwood forests, whether under private, gov- 

 ernment, or municipal ownership, are managed to furnish a sustained 

 annual yield. The regulation of the annual cut is on an equal-area 

 basis. Forests as small as 40 or 50 acres may contain a complete cutting 

 cycle. The rotation depends upon the age at which the coppice reaches 

 an average size which gives it a ready sale as fuelwood. On the better 

 soils this age may be as low as 20 years and on the poorer soils, 

 especially on the State forests, it may be as high as 40 years ; 30 years 

 was about the average in the region under consideration. In other 

 words, a forest is divided into 30 parts of equal area, one of which is 

 cut over each year. Thus a complete series of age classes from 1 to 30 

 years is always present. 



The standards are composed of those trees which are reserved to 

 grow for more than one rotation. Some of them are cut at the end of 

 each 30 years, but a few of the best and thriftiest may be reserved 

 over as many as six coppice rotations, or until they are 180 years old. 

 At the time of cutting there are present standards of all the interme- 

 diate age classes; that is, 60, 90, 120, and 150 years. 



Marking. — The marking is done in the spring before the leaves come 

 out and when the trees are easily visible for reasonable distances. It 

 would be almost impossible in the dense coppice after the foliage ap- 

 peared. As a first step, two or three of the gardes brush out a series of 

 straight lines across the area, usually parallel to one of the sides. Some- 

 times a compass is used, more often one man simply lines the others in. 

 The smaller sprouts and brush are cut off at 6 inches or 1 foot from 

 the ground, just enough so that the line is readily detected and fol- 

 lowed. These lines are from 50 to 100 feet apart. 



The technical forester in charge then has from three to five or six of 

 his rangers and gards meet on the parcel for the actual marking. He 

 carries the tally book and each of them has a marking hatchet with the 

 poll bearing the raised stamp of the owner. The party works back 

 and forth across the area between two of the brushed lines , the rangers 



