14 



IMPROVEMENT THINNINGS IN 



IS THINNING PRACTICABLE? 



There are many owners of forest property who, although they 

 do not doubt that a thinning will benefit their woods, say that the 

 cost of the work is prohibitive. Of course there are many places 

 in this State so remote from a market that the product will not 

 even pay the charge for labor; but the trouble with most of these 

 people is that they want to get back their wages, a fair stumpage, 

 and often an additional profit from work meant for improvement 

 only. It is an especially valuable line of work for the landowner 

 who is obliged to keep men and horses through the winter months, 

 with little for them to do. Such a man makes something out of 

 the thinning work, no matter if the actual returns are small. 



In the sprout hardwood stands, from 3 to 8 cords will be found 

 to be the usual product of thinnings, depending on the age and 

 density of the stand. In the seedling hardwoods and mixed stands 

 the density is so variable as to make any definite statement in re- 

 gard to the probable product of thinnings impossible. As a rule, 

 about one-third of the trees, and from one-fifth to one-quarter of 

 the total volume in the wood lot, are taken out in this work. 



Two years ago this office published a small pamphlet containing 

 data on the white pine. Part of this booklet was given over to 

 yield tables. A pine yield table is one which shows the volume of 

 well-stocked pine stands at different ages, which in this case ranged 

 from twenty-five to fifty-five years. These tables were made by 

 measuring the trees on many sample plots of all ages, and averaging 

 the results. When these sample plots were calipered, those trees 

 which would be removed if the stand was thinned were noted sep- 

 arately. From this data a table of the yield from pine thinnings 

 was made and published at that time. We print it again in this 

 pamphlet, on account of its connection with the subject. 



YIELD FROM THINNINGS. 



Trees under 5 inches, from report of the New Hampshire Forestry Commission, 1906. 



