MASSACHUSETTS WOODLANDS. 9 



the better hardwoods; and there is no call to favor hemlock, be- 

 cause it is very " tolerant." 



After the trees have been classified and the order of preference 

 by species determined upon, a third consideration must enter into 

 our calculations. Defects, such as decayed trunks, fire scars or 

 extreme crooks, are a sufficient reason for the removal of a tree, so 

 that it is not impossible to have a wood lot in which the dominant 

 trees, being in poor condition or of a valueless species, would be 

 removed. Such a cutting could, however, scarcely be called a thin- 

 ning, but would rather partake of the nature of an improvement 

 cutting. 



One can readily understand that the man who is put in charge 

 of a thinning operation must have sound judgment, and be well 

 instructed in the principles of the work. Where possible, it is well 

 to have a trained forester mark the trees to be cut. It is better 

 to be conservative rather than radical in the selecting of the trees to 

 be removed, as a thinning which is too light can be easily remedied, 

 but one which is too heavy will take years to mend. A mere clean- 

 ing up of the underbrush and a few suppressed trees is not a thin- 

 ning, however. 



In practice it is customary to blaze the trees to be cut, and often 

 they are blazed twice, once about 4 feet from the ground, and once 

 low down on the stump. Unless one has great confidence in his 

 man, it is not wise to let the chopping out at so much a cord, 

 because as a rule in a thinning operation we take only the smaller 

 and poorer trees, so that the chopper is under a great temptation 

 to increase his pile by taking some of those intended to be left, 

 and it is difficult to detect the fraud. 



THINNING CHESTNUT WOODLANDS. 







Very frequently it becomes advisable for the wood lot owner 

 to carry on thinning operations in stands of pure chestnut or in 

 mixed hardwood growth, with chestnut forming a large part of 

 the mixture. 



This is especially the case in stands of from twenty-five to forty 

 years of age, where the competition has been so great that the trees 

 have grown very slowly in diameter. Height growth has been se- 

 cured at the expense of growth in diameter. 



Chestnut, because of its great sprouting capacity, generally 

 grows up in a dense stand, the number of sprouts from one stump 



