SYSTEMS OF CLEAR-CUTTING 95 



cut over and most of the softwoods removed, and the 

 land was capable of producing pine and spruce; but nat- 

 ural reproduction would yield only hardwoods. A large 

 part of the stand was of poor quality, and it was found 

 that cuttings could be made profitable only by removing 

 most of the stand. It was therefore decided that the 

 best interests of the State lay in cutting clear and replacing 

 the forest by a new one of softwoods. This system in- 

 volved a large initial expenditure, with a view to large 

 future returns in the form of a large yield of valuable 

 timber. The experiment in the Adirondacks was the 

 first instance of clear-cutting and planting on a large scale 

 in this country, even in public forests. 



Use in Private Forests. It is probable that the sys- 

 tem of clear-cutting with artificial reproduction will not 

 be practised on a large scale by private owners in the 

 United States for a long time. It is not unlikely that 

 some owners may supplement the work of natural repro- 

 duction by planting, but this, like other intensive sys- 

 tems of forestry, will be chiefly confined to public owners 

 and to small owners. 



The system will, however, be used commonly on a 

 small scale. Owners of small tracts who are interested 

 enough to practise forestry at all, are impatient to see 

 results. They are not willing to wait 10 or 20 years 

 for natural reproduction to take place on a clearing. 

 The area cleared is usually small, and the cost of restock- 

 ing by planting not large. Not uncommonly the clear- 

 cut area would not be over 5 or 10 acres. When, for 



