1446 A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY 



CUTTING 



Economic selection should be practiced as described for the long- 

 leaf-slash pine type. Where clear cutting is economically justified, 

 there should be reserved for seed 2 to 4 sound, thrifty pines per acre, 

 in all openings exceeding about 10 acres, and 700 feet wide between 

 uncut timber. These trees should be not less than 10 inches diameter 

 breast high and well-distributed over the opening. Occasionally 

 such trees are not present in the stand, and their equivalent in 

 larger trees must be left. 



COSTS 



Second-growth shortleaf and loblolly pines usually have no immedi- 

 ately recoverable stumpage value of 12 inches or less in diameter. 

 Careful studies have shown that with an average stumpage value of 

 $3 a thousand board feet, a common figure for second growth, only a 

 few cents may be realized from a 13-inch tree. The cost of second- 

 growth seed trees will, therefore, run from practically nothing up to 

 about $1 an acre. In virgin stands this maximum might be doubled. 

 For a general discussion of the compensating financial advantages 

 to many landowners of leaving their lands productive, see the later 

 paragraphs under " Total cost of preventing devastation of private 



lands." 



OTHER EASTERN TYPES 



In the absence of slash fires, the remaining forest types of the East 

 are rarely devastated, in spite of very close cutting of the mer- 

 chantable stand. There are three main reasons for this : The presence 

 of hardwoods, capable of sprouting from stumps, or the base of fire- 

 killed stems; the small size of the ordinary commercial cutting area; 

 and the presence of advance growth of valuable species under stands 

 allowed to reach maturity as saw timber or even of full pulp-timber 

 size. 



SOFTWOODS 



Pure stands of softwoods are not as common as mixed softwood- 

 hardwood stands in any type. They occur most frequently today 

 as second growth on old fields throughout the oak-pine, the white, 

 norway, and jack pine-hardwoods, and the spruce-fir-hardwoods 

 types, and on cut-over land in the Lake region formerly in white and 

 norway pine but now occupied by jack pine. These stands are nor- 

 mally even-aged. Provided fire can be kept out of the slash, clear 

 cutting of all merchantable material in these even-aged pure soft- 

 woods does not eliminate the prospect for a merchantable stand in 

 due -time, because cutting areas are no longer large and, in the all- 

 aged stands, because young growth is already on the ground. 



Slash from second-growth pine in the South rots very rapidly, but 

 that from conifers of the North much more slowly. Twelve to 

 fifteen years may be required to eliminate the hazard from slash of 

 spruce and northern pines. This is so long a period of special hazard 

 that the general system of fire protection, even though intensive, 

 cannot be depended upon to cope with it in many areas. Some form 

 of disposal must often be considered as a necessary step in preventing 

 forest devastation. 



The best form of slash disposal, from every point of view, is close 

 utilization. If the trees can be used to a 3- or 4-inch top for pulp- 

 wood or any other purpose, no other disposal is likely to be necessary. 



