16 IMPROVEMENT THINNINGS IN 



the trees severely, their growth will be impaired in some degree, 

 and the value of the lot for future measurements is destroyed. 



In the town of Petersham we found an old pasture, containing 

 a thick growth of gray birch, among which a lot of young pines 

 now about twelve years old showed in an ideal way their struggles 

 to get above their grasping neighbors. A half-acre sample plot 

 was measured off, and all the birches cut on one-half of this plot. 

 The other quarter-acre was not touched, so that there could be a 

 comparison made of the difference in the growth of the pine on 

 the improved and unimproved sections. If our theory proves cor- 

 rect, a very few years will suffice to show the difference. 



Two men spent two and one-half days in getting out the birch 

 and piling the brush, and the usable product was 4 cords of fire 

 wood. 



In the fall of 1907 Mr. J. J. Dearborn, then assistant in this 

 office, marked for a thinning a pine lot of 12 acres, belonging to 

 Dr. P. W. Goldsbury, in Warwick, Mass. When the time came to 

 let out the contract for chopping the trees, no lumberman would 

 take it, saying that such work was impracticable, as it would be 

 impossible to fell the trees without lodging them. Mr. Dearborn 

 then gathered together a crew of his own, employing them as day 

 laborers. After spending a couple of weeks with them at the start 

 of the work, he allowed the crew under the direction of a practical 

 woodsman to complete it, and the result was satisfactory in every 

 way. No insurmountable difficulties appeared in either the chop- 

 ping or the logging. 



Mr. Dearborn's report, describing the conditions, explaining the 

 methods of work, and showing the financial results, forms a valua- 

 ble document, and we herewith reproduce it. 



REPORT ON THE PRACTICAL THINNING OF A WHITE PINE 



WOODLOT. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The following report is a record of the conditions and facts con- 

 nected with the experimental thinning of a white pine woodlot in 

 Warwick, Mass., belonging to Dr. P. W. Goldsbury. 



THE TRACT. 



The tract extends over an area of 12 acres of gradual swales and 

 ridges at the bottom of a valley. Excepting for a small area where a 

 ledge outcrops or lies very near the surface, the soil is a deep, sandy 

 loam of good moisture, and everywhere well drained. 



