158 FARM FORESTRY 



instrument even to an experienced chopper, especially if it 

 catches on a branch of a young tree and springs back. All 

 precautions should be taken, but as little cutting should be 

 done as possible. It is on these young trees and seedlings 

 that start under the shade of the larger trees that the owner 

 must rely to fill in the vacant spaces caused by the trees re- 

 moved. Often a fine young sapling can be bent down- and 

 held in place by a forked stick driven into the ground until 

 a tree has been cut. The sapling can be straightened up later 

 without injury. The growth of many years can be destroyed 

 thoughtlessly by a single slash with the ax. 



In logging or skidding logs from the woodlot a little care 

 will prevent useless breakage, bending and trampling of young 

 growth. All the logs from a certain part of the woodlot 

 can be dragged out over the same path often with much less 

 effort and with less damage to the woodlot than where each 

 log is skidded out over a separate path. When the trees in 

 the woodlot are sold to lumbermen they should be made to 

 protect young growth as much as possible. The owner should 

 formulate and have carried out by written contract such rules 

 in regard to the trees to cut and the methods of logging used 

 as will tend to protect young trees and seedlings and benefit 

 the future stand of timber. By this method it is possible to 

 sell only certain material from the woodlot and to avoid the 

 skinning of the land. The owner can have the defective and 

 diseased trees and the trees of inferior species removed as 

 well as those of high quality. If the inferior trees are left 

 to grow and scatter seed and the better kinds cut, the future 

 stand will be of less value than the present timber. The owner 

 can stipulate that with the better kinds of trees those above 

 a certain size only shall be cut, and that inferior trees shall 

 be removed down to a low diameter limit. It is rarely that 

 trees of less than 10 inches in diameter at breast height have 

 any special value. They usually cut only a small amount of 

 low grade lumber. The lumberman does not figure on paying 



