126 THE PRINCIPLES OF HANDLING WOODLANDS 



The distance between the strips is ordinarily about 

 the same as the width of the clearings. This is deter- 

 mined on a basis of the percentage of timber to be re- 

 moved at the first cutting. If 50 per cent, is to be cut, 

 then the strips and bands of standing timber are the same 

 in width. If more than 50 per cent, is to be cut, the 

 intervening bands of timber are correspondingly narrow- 

 er than the areas cleared. Ordinarily, the strips are 

 of uniform width. There will, however, be many spots 

 where a strip will run through a site with an exception- 

 ally shallow or soft soil, and danger of windfall would be 

 great. In that case, a widening of the strip is made, to 

 comprise the endangered area. In the same way other 

 special conditions will often require a departure from 

 uniformity in the width of the strips. 



THE SECOND CUTTING. When the cleared strips have 

 become stocked with young growth, the bands of standing 

 timber may be removed. Sometimes reproduction takes 

 place promptly in the first seed-year succeeding the cut- 

 ting. More often several seed-years are required. This 

 is particularly true when wide strips are cut. Ordina- 

 rily, with wide strips the second cutting may be made 

 within 10 or 15 years; with narrow strips in from 5 to 6 

 years. 



The second cutting cannot, like the first, be a clear- 

 ing, for there would then remain no seed-trees for natural 

 reproduction. The simplest silviculture would be to 

 clear-cut and plant, but that is often out of the question. 



If these second strips must be practically all taken off 



