YIELD OF VOLUNTEER SECOND GROWTH 4!>.") 



land or peneplain, ranging from 700 to 1,000 feet above sea-level, and 

 featured mainly by shallow north and south trending valleys. The 

 silvicultural conditions thus represent probably the keenest competition 

 between white pine and hardwoods that occurs in New England. 



In order to follow the life history of a typical stand of mixed pine 

 and hardwoods, plots were located in four age-classes of this type, 

 namely, at five, twenty, forty, and fifty years. It is, of course, possible 

 in volunteer stands to find different areas with exactly the same compo- 

 sition, but the samples chosen are near enough alike for purposes of 

 comparison and represent conditions very prevalent in the region. 



Table i. — Summary of Reproduction 



Plot I. Area, 1/16 acre. Age, 5 years. 



Seedling sprouts. Stump sprouts. 

 Species Seedlings No. of clumps No. of clumps 



Red oak 38 21 i 



Black cherry 180 5 



Chestnut 19 8 9 



White ash 68 54 4 



Hard maple 33 9 



Red maple 25 4 2 



Gray birch 50 10 2 



Large-toothed poplar 55 17 * 



White pine 62 



Totals 530 128 18 



* Root suckers. 



The first plot examined (Tabic i ) shows what may fairly be expected 

 as a volunteer forest following clear cutting. This table gives an 

 enumeration of all trees, still growing and thrifty, five years after the 

 previous stand was cut off. The cutting took place immediately follow- 

 ing a heavy fall of pine seed, and differed from the ordinary commer- 

 cial operation only in that the slash was burned after the logging and 

 before the first growing season. The composition here shown is very 

 nearly the same as that of the stand shown in the illustration (fig. i). 

 Although the white pine and many of the valuable hardwoods in this 

 sample plot were still thrifty, they were already overtopped and plainly 

 soon to be suppressed entirely. 



It is in the older plots that the effect of the competition in height 

 growth on the progress of wood production is chiefly to be looked for. 

 By the time a stand is passing into the large sapling stage the relative 

 position and condition of the crowns is a true index of the rate of 

 growth and power of survival of the different trees. In analyzing these 

 older sample plots the aim was, first, to show graphically the silvical 

 condition of the stand, and, second, to get a basis for calculating the 



