FOREST TREE PLANTING CAMPS 407 



At this stage of development such stands are an almost impenetrable 

 thicket, and a veritable fire trap. It is next to impossible for any 

 human organization to stop a fire within a stand under such condi- 

 tions unless specially favored by natural agencies, such as rain, snow, 

 dampness, and wind. The first reliable vantage points from which 

 the fighting crews may work are the borders of the stands or planta- 

 tions. Therefore, the less remote these borders are, that is, the 

 smaller the stands, the less will be the acreage burned over and lower 

 the consequent loss. The present status of the fire problem, and the 

 white pine bHster rust and weevil situation, should automatically tend 

 to arrest the present tendency of establishing 100 to 500 acre planta- 

 tions. 



There appears to be general unanimity among European and 

 American foresters concerning the second question. Mayr^ saw in 

 the small stand the only sure means of keeping the pure stand within 

 proper limits of insuring the retention of valuable species, and of 

 making possible the proper and timely conduct of eventual cleanings, 

 thinnings and accretion cuttings. According to his point of view the 

 establishment of species in small plantations was in full accord with 

 the naturalistic fundamentals of silviculture which required that each 

 species must be planted upon the particular site to which it is best 

 suited. This is practically impossible in case of large, pure planta- 

 tions, except where extensive areal uniformity of habitat exists, which 

 is a very rare occurrence. He also states that the necessity for the 

 small stand increases the warmer the climate, the better the soil, and 

 the greater the number of valuable species inhabiting the region, and 

 recommends that the subcompartment — the stand of today — be sub- 

 divided into stands of 1 to 8 acres each, and only in special cases 

 should the aggregate area of stands be increased to 13 acres. Wagner^ 

 goes a step farther and recommends that each compartment (30-50 

 acres) should gradually be transformed into an independent cutting 

 series (Hiebszug), comprising a variable number of stands or age 

 gradations. Roth^ states that good silviculture calls for small cutting 

 areas, and furthermore maintains that it is much easier to reproduce 

 a stand of timber, whether by natural or artificial reproduction, if the 



^ Mayr, Heinrich: Waldbau atif nattirgesetzlicher Gnmdlage, s. 546-551. Berlin, 

 1909. 



8 Wagner, C: Der Blendersaumschlag und sein System, s. 258. Tubigen, 1912. 



9 Roth, Filibert: Forest Regulation, p. 122. Ann Arbor, Mich. 



