CHIEF FIRE WARDEN. 103 



which end either by leaving seed trees or in clean cutting. 

 The best stands of pine are finally cut at the age of from 

 130 to 140 years, and the middling at the age of 120 

 years, and the poorer at the age of 100 years. The 

 spruce stands in which thinning is much practiced are 

 nevertheless very sensitive to damage from excess of 

 light, wherefore timber cutting must be undertaken with 

 great care and skill, otherwise drought occurs. Spruce 

 is cut at the age of 70 to 100 years, according to its qual- 

 ity. During the past ten years there has been cut yearly 

 12,000,000 cubic feet of lumber of various sorts, namely, 

 of saw and building timber, 2,000,000 cubic feet; spruce 

 for paper pulp, 850,000 cubic feet; telephone and tele- 

 graph poles, 125,000 cubic feet; firewood, 2,275,000 

 cubic feet; wood for charcoal, 6,600,000 cubic feet; mis- 

 cellaneous, 150,000 cubic feet. Besides, there was each 

 year brought to the works and consumed stub-wood to 

 the amount of 1,500,000 cubic feet. 



Certainly not more than 15, or at the highest 20, per 

 cent of the cut-over area becomes restocked by natural 

 seeding. The cuttings are not so large but what the by- 

 standing trees can in an essential degree contribute to re- 

 newal, and, besides, very often 15 to 20 seed trees are 

 left on each 1.22 acre tract. The difficulties which forest 

 culture meets with in this locality are very stony land, 

 spring and summer drought, spring frost, sometimes, as 

 during the previous year, excessive rain, mossy or swampy 

 land and land heavily pastured by cows and sheep. On 

 the other hand, the forest area is not much troubled 

 with heath, strong growth of grass, insects, etc. In re- 

 gard to sowing, the twigs are burned immediately after the 

 frost is out of the ground, and while the ground is damp. 

 Generally the following year the cleared area is sown 

 with pine and spruce seed. On pine land spruce seed is 

 mixed to about 50 per cent. On land which is suitable 



