588 JOURNAL OF FORESTRY 



lowing percentages: Balsam, 36 per cent; yellow birch, 26 per cent; 

 red spruce, 20 per cent ; white cedar, 7.3 per cent ; sugar maple, 5 per 

 cent; paper birch, 3 per cent ; hemlock, 1.4 per cent ; beech, 13 per cent. 

 This type contained from two-thirds to three-fourths of the forests of 

 the entire region, namely, the lower St. Maurice Valley. 



Strip surveys were made on compass lines and were one-half chain 

 wide and varied in length from i to 80 chains. All trees on the strips 

 above 8 inches in diameter were calipered. At the end of every second 

 chain a square-rod plot was marked out and the seedlings counted. All 

 trees below breast height were classed as seedlings, without regard to 

 age. The number of seedlings per acre was calculated on the basis of 

 the square-rod plots. The ages of the previous cuttings were deter- 

 mined and the age of the seedlings in reference to the cuttings. The 

 total area of the strips comprised 60 acres. 



The author states that the primeval forests of the lower St. Maurice 

 Valley were dominated by white pine, and from evidences of stump 

 remains he believes there were considerably more than 5 mature trees 

 per acre. Although white pine was dominant, it was far outnumbered 

 by other species. The pine really formed an open upper story, with 

 birch, maple, spruce, and balsam subordinate in a lower story. With the 

 elimination of the upper story of white pine, the forest is no longer 

 coniferous in aspect, but rather a typical "green" forest or one in which 

 hardwoods are dominant. Although white-pine stumps are every- 

 where common, this species is not reproducing itself in any part of the 

 forest. There are, however, abundant spruce and balsam between the 

 dominant hardwoods, which in time will grow up through the hard- 

 wood crowns and change the forest from its present "green" form to 

 a "black" one. 



The author's studies show that, so far as numbers go, the reproduc- 

 tion of pulp wood species is sufficiently abundant to insure another pulp- 

 wood stand on these extensive cut-over lands, were it not for the extra- 

 ordinary mortality after the seedlings become well started. This is 

 shown in the following table : 



Seedlings Saplings Poles (4 in. Poles (8 in. 



Species (trees up to (i in. to 4 in. to 8 in. to 12 in. Total Per 



I in. diameter) diameter) diameter) diameter) cent 



Spruce 63s 99 30 6 770 14.8 



Balsam 3,972 161 59 6 4,198 80.8 



Cedar 180 32 8 4.2 



Hemlock 8 2 i .. 11 0.2 



Unfortunately, numbers alone in reproduction studies are not criteria 

 for future crops. The mortality rate must be considered. Thus, from 



