Canadian Forestry Magazine, October, iq20. 



desirable elements, both pine and hard- 

 wood, was overtopped and suppressed 

 by inferior species and clumps of 

 stump sprouts. 



Harvard Forest Experiments. 



In respect to the various ways of 

 handling- the pure pine type which 

 have been tested on the Harvard For- 

 est it can be said that all of those 

 methods which involve the removing 

 of the stand in two or more cuts have 

 proved successful. On account of cer- 

 tain practical and financial factors 

 good reproduction, however, is not 

 the only criterion of a workable meth- 

 od. This will perhaps appear more 

 clearly from a statement of experience 

 with the different systems of cutting. 



Clear-cutting the Whole Stand. — 

 This method has been tried on areas 

 of from two to four acres. Cuts were 

 made in the winters following the seed 

 years of 1908 and 1914. Alfslash was 

 burned in piles. A reproduction fol- 

 lowed in which there were from three 

 to four thousand thrifty pine seedl- 

 ings per acre at the end of four years. 

 This method is obviously the best 

 from the point of view of cheapness in 

 logging, but can be practiced with suc- 

 cess only in seed years. 



Clear-Cutting in Strips. — Strip cut- 

 tings have been made in several dif- 

 ferent years. The cleared areas var- 

 ied from 100 to 200 feet in width and 

 in all cases were made on the margin 

 of the stand away from the prevail- 

 ing wind. The results have been var- 

 iable. On well-drained sites, where 

 the underbrush and small vegetation 

 was scanty, good reproduction has ap- 

 peared within five years. On moist 

 or rich land pine has been entirely 

 kept out by dense herbaceous growth. 



Clear-Cutting in Patches. — The 

 patches cleared by this method var- 

 ied from 50 to 100 feet in diameter. 

 The results have been similar to those 

 on the cleared strips, although the re- 

 production has been, on the whole, 

 more successful. Abundant seedlings 

 have come in on the drier sites where 

 the comi)etition with woody vegeta- 

 tion was not U) keen. This method, 

 like the preceding, is open to the ser- 

 ious objection of greater cost due to 



the smaller, scattered area. Further- 

 more, even if the groups of young 

 growth become established, it is dif- 

 ficult later to log the surrounding un- 

 cut timber without undue damage or 

 expense. 



The Selection Method. — Small areas 

 cut over by the selection method 

 where only single large trees or 

 grovtps of trees were cut, have resulted 

 in fair reproduction. It is not, how- 

 ever, a practicable means of handling 

 pure pine, being too costly and not 

 calculated to provide the necessary 

 density and growing conditions for the 

 new crop. 



The Seed Tree Method. — All exper- 

 iments with the seed tree method have 

 proved failures. In many cases the 

 tree? blew down. 



The Shelterwood Method. — Of 

 all methods tested this has result- 

 ed in the best reproduction. The 

 first cutting has consisted in a 

 uniform thinning in which mainly 

 the overtopped and defective trees 

 were taken. This meant the re- 

 moval of about one-quarter of the 

 trees and one-fifth of the volume 

 per acre. Up to the point where 

 windfall becomes a risk the heav- 

 ier the thinning the better was the 

 reproduction. Stands so treated 

 have in five years shown as many 

 as 25,000 seedlings per acre. 

 Where the overwood was allow- 

 ed to stand more than five years 

 the reproduction became stunted 

 and too weak to recover prompt- 

 ly when the removal cutting was 

 made. 



A Neiv Forest Husk red. 

 The cutting method now in practice 

 on the Harvard Forest, though based 

 largely on the outcome of the experi- 

 ments above described, was adopted 

 with considerable relerenco also to 

 l)ractical and linancial considerations. 

 The rotation lor white pine is set at 

 60 years. As the working plan is bas- 

 ed upon the principle of a sustained 

 aimual yield, linal cuttings have to be 

 made each year. In tliis respect the 

 property is in the same case as that 



