74 THE PRINCIPLES OF HANDLING WOODLANDS 



to secure reproduction and to permit the new stock to 

 develop. 



It is not applicable to even-aged stands. As the 

 market in a given region improves, and as the smaller 

 sizes of trees and those of inferior species become mer- 

 chantable for fuel and other purposes, the tendency is 

 away from the selection system. As intensive methods 

 become practicable, the tendency is to use one of the 

 systems resulting in a clearing and an even-aged new 

 stand, rather than to use the intensive application of 

 the selection system. This is well seen in continental 

 Europe. There, the selection system is most widely used 

 in the protection forests and the less accessible regions of 

 the mountains, in which the market is still very poor. 

 In regions in which all of the products have commercial 

 value and the markets are good, it is the clear-cutting 

 systems and the shelterwood system which are most used, 

 and, as a result, the common form of forest is even-aged. 



In this country the better-settled regions have an 

 increasing proportion of even-aged stands on the cut- 

 over lands. This is partly because of the prevalent 

 method of cutting, but partly because fires have followed 

 cutting and made clearings. The second growth has 

 more the character of an even-aged forest than otherwise, 

 particularly among the conifers. 



Example in the Spruce Forests of the Northeast 



The spruce forests of northern New England and 

 New York contain extensive areas to which the selection 



