258 Forestry Quarterly. 



teenth acre sample plat. Reduction of density below .5 is suffi- 

 cient, but in dense stands it is generally easier to cut nearly all the 

 trees and let them fall in windrows. They can then be burned 

 readily. 



Chopping away Red Cedar, one or two inches in diameter, will 

 therefore pay on all, except, perhaps, those poor soils, like sandy 

 and rocky hills, where it occurs naturally and not because the 

 land has been cleared. On such lands, it might be questionable 

 whether the growth of the plantation would be rapid enough to 

 pay the added expense of clearing away the Cedar. If, however, 

 the Cedar on such lands is of less than .5 density, so that no clear- 

 ing is necessary, it is probably safe to make the expenditure neces- 

 sary for ordinary planting in the open. 



After Cedar becomes two or three inches in diameter, the ex- 

 pense of clearing increases considerably. The trees are very bushy 

 and are difficult to chop. Even although a small amount of sale- 

 able cordwood can be produced, the net cost of clearing trees 

 averaging three inches in diameter, will be from $8.00 to $11.00 

 per acre, a sum that will compound at 4 per cent, interest in fifty 

 years to $60.00 or $80.00. This figure was determined by a one- 

 sixteenth acre sample plot. 



Where there is a combination of good soil and good market, it 

 may sometimes pay to clear large Cedar, but as a rule, it will prob- 

 ably not pay to chop any Cedar after it is about two inches in 

 diameter. Furthermore, Cedar two or three inches in diameter 

 will probably yield posts in twenty years and it would be poor 

 business policy to undergo considerable expense to sacrifice a half- 

 matured although inferior crop. A practical rule is that it does 

 not pay to chop away Cedar after it is so large that the cutting of 

 a tree requires more than one stroke of the axe. 



It should be noted that it is only the dense Cedar — the "Cedar 

 Woods" that makes clearing necessary. Such stands are not 

 common and the unusual, half open pastures can very easily be 

 converted into profitable plantations. 



Gray Birch. — Gray Birch covers not only large areas of aban- 

 doned pastures, but also burns and other clearings. It occupies 

 open land quickly, and for this reason has an undeserved reputa- 

 tion for rapid growth. It tends to form more regular, dense 

 stands than Red Cedar. The age of three Birch sprouts, cut on 

 a large area of abandoned pasture at Mt. Carmel, Connecticut, 



