SILVICULTURAL SYSTEMS 105 



expensive; if at long intervals, logging may be relatively inexpensive. 

 These cutting cycles may be 10 to 60 years apart, in the United States; 

 they generally are less than 10 years apart in Europe. Such modifica- 

 tions as strip selection, group selection, and area selection may be 

 followed. It is the basis of selective logging introduced and used 

 within recent years and described later in the text. 



The selection method is likely to be best adapted to general silvi- 

 cultural and economic conditions found in this country. It is simply 

 and inexpensively applied. Individual trees are generally marked for 

 cutting. It permits wide flexibility in diameter limits of individual 

 trees as well as in areas or age classes to be logged. Reproduction is 

 easily secured, the forest site is constantly protected, and there is less 

 danger of fire than by some other methods. Sometimes problems of 

 brush disposal may be difficult. It is the method chiefly used in the 

 National Forests, and it is being introduced on many private hold- 

 ings, notably of the Goodman Lumber Company in Wisconsin; the 

 Camp Manufacturing Company at Franklin, Virginia; Weyerhaeuser 

 Timber Company and the Potlatch Forests, Inc., in Idaho; the Cros- 

 sett Lumber Company at Crossett, Arkansas; and in many other 

 locations. 



5. Coppice Method. This is applied generally to hardwoods which 

 sprout readily from the stump when the tree is cut. An even-aged 

 stand is produced. Trees are generally clear cut, as on chemical wood 

 cuttings in southeastern New York and northern Pennsylvania. Low, 

 sloping, even stumps should be cut, and the felling should be done 

 with the axe. Trees under 30 years of age sprout with the greatest 

 vigor and rapidity of growth. The system is best applied on short 

 rotations of 10 to 40 years. Some of the most profitably managed 

 forests in the world are the sprout chestnut forests in Italy near Rome. 

 Coppice growth is often supplemented by seedling reproduction, either 

 naturally or artificially (planting) applied. Pollarding is the cutting 

 of the top of trees at 4 to 12 feet above the ground to obtain small 

 sprouts. In Europe, rotations are sometimes 1 year in duration for 

 willow rods for basketware; 5 to 15 years for cooperage hoops, mine 

 props, charcoal, etc.; and up to 40 years for fuelwood. Much of the 

 hardwood forests of France and Italy are managed for fuelwood on 

 20-year rotations. Redwood sprouts vigorously and frequently forms 

 second-growth stands after the virgin timber is logged. Combined 

 coppice and seedling forests are sometimes maintained in Europe. 

 This is a composite of sprouting and other cultural methods of repro- 

 duction previously described. 



