Concerning Site 9 



Keeping in mind that site classification has a very practical 

 bearing, that the determination of sites on any property is a 

 necessary and important part of survey, the question arises what 

 the basis of classification should be and what qualities must this 

 basis possess to be of value. 



As far as the classification is concerned, the following seems 

 agreed upon : 



1. It must fit actual conditions, size and yield, and will therefore 

 move within limits actually set by the timber itself. 



2. It will be arbitrary within these limits; there may be 2, 3, or 

 5 site classes as man chooses and the intervals between these 

 classes are set arbitrarily, they may be equal or not. 



As regards the basis this seems true : 



1. It must be applicable in any forest, in any stand, and, there- 

 fore, independent of the degree of stocking, excepting certain cases 

 where overstocking leads to stagnation. It must apply as well 

 to a broken stand of wild woods, to a mixed stand, to a stand con- 

 taining several age classes as to the pure, even-aged stand. 



2. It must be sensitive and reliable, and readily and fully indicate 

 a change in site. 



3. It must be applicable in ordinary field work, i. e. it must be 

 simple enough to be used in ordinary work by ordinary men. 



The voltmie of the fully stocked stand is not a satisfactory 

 measure for the following reasons : 



1. Even in the pure, even-aged, "man-made" stand, Schwappach 

 admits that proper stocking and proper care must have worked 

 together for "a long period." But how is the man to know this, 

 and what is proper stocking and good care under these particular 

 conditions? Who decides? 



2. In the mixed stand the normal yield table is not normal, it 

 is not accepted. What then is the volume of an 80-year-old 

 stand to be? If we do not agree on this volume, how can it serve 

 as a measure ? 



3. In our wild woods with several age classes, mixture of species, 

 accidents of all kinds, with the average 40-acre lot normally 

 irregular and only partly stocked, what use is the volimie of a 

 fully stocked, even-aged stand as a measure ? 



But even granted that it might be, how is any one to ascertain 

 the age of such a stand? 



The height of the dominant tree, the average height of the 



