32 



IMPROVEMENT THINNINGS IN 



allow the tops to grow unchecked for at least ten years. If this is suc- 

 cessfully accomplished, the trees will have developed a larger top, more 

 laboratories or a larger feeding area. 



The following data show the proportion of trees in number and 

 volume removed and left on the same area : 



A total of 225 removed and 286 now standing; in volume (according 

 to Massachusetts volume tables), 27,050 B. M. feet were removed and 

 50,140 B. M. feet left; in fact, about two-fifths of the trees in number 

 and one-third the volume were taken out in the thinnings. 



For the second condition the policy was that of encouraging a nat- 

 ural regeneration where a good reproduction did not exist, and assisting 

 a good reproduction where it did exist. Wherever the trees were close 

 enough together, so as to form a complete shade, certain of the poorer 

 specimens were taken out, allowing light to enter and encouraging the 

 growth of any seedlings. 



Wherever a good reproduction had started around or underneath 

 any of these large pines, better known to lumbermen and foresters as 

 the " pasture pines," they were removed, taking care to destroy as few 

 of the smaller or young trees as possible. 



Through the entire work there were not any hard-and-set rules which 

 could be followed entirely, for there was here and there a problem 

 which could be decided only on the spot. Around the edges of the 

 stand, thinning if carried on at all was not very heavy, since it was 

 thought that too much sun and wind would be admitted from the sides. 

 The presence of a ledge outcropping and lying very near the surface 

 in one instance resulted in a very light thinning, since it was thought 

 that the stand on it was liable to windfall. Other local problems were 

 treated in like manner, but as a rule the main ideas were not deviated 

 from. 



THE OPERATING. 



Every tree to be removed was blazed with a hatchet, in order that 

 the choppers might not make any mistake. In marking, care was 

 necessary in order to mark those \vith which there would not be any 

 difficulty in felling. Oftentimes it was necessary to remove trees where 

 some difficulty could not be avoided; yet there were also times when a 

 little foresight would obviate any trouble and still allow good specimens 



