RAISING OR KEEPING UP THE FOREST 65 



they were injured in logging. For this reason many 

 foresters have changed this method as follows : 



Suppose a ten-acre stand of spruce or beech has reached 

 the age at which the owner wishes to cut it (maturity, or 

 age of rotation). Instead of cutting only a tree here 

 and there, he thins out the entire stand, taking out about 

 twenty per cent of the trees. After a few years more, 

 when he expects a seed year (a matter which every for- 

 ester watches closely) or when an abundance of seed has 

 been produced during the summer, he cuts out more of the 

 trees, leaving only about fifty to seventy per cent of the 

 original stand, so that the crowns of these trees, which 

 are so tolerant of a great amount of shade, would be sepa- 

 rated by about two or three yards, thereby allowing con- 

 siderable light to get to the ground. The marking out for 

 this cutting (for every tree is marked by the forester) is 

 done in the early fall when the foliage is still on the broad- 

 leaved trees, and the cutting is done the following winter. 

 In the spring the seedlings spring up and grow under the 

 protection of the mother trees, which shield them from sun, 

 wind, and frost. After three years, when the seedlings 

 are well started and are in need of more light, about half 

 of the old trees are cut out ; and a few years later, when 

 the young plants are about one or two feet high, the 

 remaining seed trees are removed, and any spots which 

 have no young plants are stocked with plants from a 

 nursery. In this way the forest is harvested, and a new 



