686 JOURNAL OF FORESTRY 



Criticism No. i. — The forest has not been put upon an annual sus- 

 tained yield basis. 



In reply it may be said that forestry does not require such action 

 on an individual tract. Provided the area is kept productive the yield 

 may be on either an annual or a periodic basis. There is one con- 

 trolling factor which makes periodic preferable to annual sustained 

 yield at the present cutting. This is the overmature condition of the 

 growing stock. Defective trees, both softwood and hardwood, or 

 sound trees approaching the maximum age for the species occupy 

 the greater part of the crown canopy. Decay more than offsets growth 

 in these trees; and the uncut forest as a whole may be considered at 

 a standstill so far as growth is concerned. Graves^ recognized this 

 but his first cutting did not succeed in materially changing the situa- 

 tion in the forest because only the old spruce was removed. Spruce 

 was the least decrepit species and occupied only a small part of the 

 forest canopy. The second cut cannot be made too soon if increase 

 in the annual production of the forest is wanted. 



Additional reasons for completing the second cut within a few 

 years are : 



(a) The decrease in taxes after the land is cut over. 



(b) The necessity, in order to pay for required logging improve- 

 ments, of logging larger areas in a year than the size of the tract, 

 divided into logging units on the basis of an annual cut, would allow. 



Criticism No. 2. — The second cutting has been too heavy. 



This is a debatable point and admits of considerable latitude of 

 judgment. The writer inclines to the view that the cutting is none 

 too heavy and that if any change were to be made, it should be toward 

 heavier rather than lighter cutting.^ 



In the balsam swamps after the lightest cutting (and even in the 

 uncut timber) the larger softwood trees blow over or are broken off. 

 To prevent loss from wind and fungi a diameter limit as low as six 

 inches is justified. Balsam is so short-lived and subject to butt-rot 

 that, in consideration of its growing principally on swampy ground 

 where trees are easily windthrown, clear cutting or use of a low cutting 

 limit is imperatve.® 



The limit for hemlock is correctly placed low because the tree is an 

 inferior species which it is not desirable to favor. 



