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diameter limit are left in the woods to 

 take up room. Also, all healthy, fast- 

 growing trees above the diameter limit 

 are cut at a time when they are produc- 

 ing the greatest amount of high-quality 

 wood. 



The method should be used only 

 when the owner of the small forest has 

 little time to spend in supervising the 

 harvest of his forest. 



These three methods clear cutting, 

 seed-tree cutting, and diameter-limit 

 cutting are of little use in the man- 

 agement of the small forest. They may 

 be recommended for particular for- 

 ests, but generally they will ruin the 

 productive capacity of the small forest 

 for many years. 



4. Selective cutting, the best meth- 

 od of harvesting woodland products 

 in a mixed-aged forest, is a combina- 

 tion of stand-improvement cutting and 

 harvest cutting; it has many advan- 

 tages also in even-aged stands. 



Selective cutting should be made 

 whenever there are trees that are ready 

 for harvest. The following are guides 

 to help the owner in the selection of 

 trees for cutting: 



(a) Gut the mature trees; they are 

 ripe and have stopped growing. 



(b) Select the less desirable species 

 and any damaged, crooked, limby, or 

 diseased trees; this gives the better 

 trees more room to develop. 



(c) If there are too many young, 

 healthy trees in parts of the small 

 forest, cut several of them so that the 

 others can grow faster. 



All trees selected for cutting should 

 be marked: Paint is the best; it is 

 easy to see; it can be removed in case 

 of an error; it does not injure the tree. 

 (An ax or hatchet blaze may cause blue 

 stain or open the tree to insect attack.) 

 An old paint brush on a long stick 

 makes the marking easy. Medium-blue, 

 yellow, and white paint show up well 

 in the woods. Whitewash can also be 

 used, but both whitewash and paint 

 should be worked into the bark so that 

 the mark will remain on the tree for 

 the longest possible time. Often an old 

 sock filled with lime will make a good 



Yearbook, of Agriculture 1949 



mark if the cutting is to follow in a 

 short time. If paint is used in a spray 

 gun, it should be thinned with kero- 

 sene. It is often economical to use sur- 

 plus paint that collects around the farm 

 for marking timber. 



Put at least two marks on each tree 

 to be cut. One should be at breast 

 height and the other just above the 

 ground line ; the mark on the stump is 

 used to check the cutting after it has 

 been completed. Put both marks on 

 the same side of the tree and mark the 

 trees on the side where the cutters or 

 buyers usually enter the forest it saves 

 time that would be spent running 

 around hunting the marked trees. 



A defective or cull tree should be 

 marked differently from the trees to be 

 cut for salable products. An X mark or 

 two dots or some other symbol will in- 

 dicate that it is to be cut for fuel wood, 

 just girdled, or poisoned and left there 

 to die. The young, thrifty, straight, 

 vigorous, full-crowned crop trees to be 

 left for a future cut should have no 

 marks at all on them. 



An owner of a small woodland who 

 is practicing selective cutting for the 

 first time may find it difficult at first 

 to mark the trees to be cut. A careful 

 study of individual trees, advice or as- 

 sistance from the local forester, and 

 practice will make the job progressively 

 easier. 



PERPETUATION OF THE SMALL FOR- 

 EST is usually taken care of by nature 

 if the owner protects it from fire, graz- 

 ing, and other damage. 



If the trees are of mixed age, the 

 older ones produce seed and the spaces 

 opened up by selective cutting will be 

 covered in a few years with small seed- 

 lings. 



Trees that are all the same age and 

 about the same size can be harvested in 

 a series of three cuttings. 



The first cutting will take out the 

 larger trees, the ones that are mature 

 and ready for harvest, and any others 

 that need to be cut. Open spaces occur 

 where the trees have been removed; 

 the material on the forest floor rots 



