18 



IMPROVEMENT THINNINGS IN 



OWNER'S DESIRE. 



It was Dr. Goldsbury's first desire not to mar the beauty of his 

 farm, or to make his woodlot an eyesore to the village of his town by 

 cutting and stripping the land of its fine growth. Furthermore, he 

 desired to take such steps as would improve his lot and place it in 

 a more flourishing condition, so that it would come down to the 

 younger generation unimpaired. Lastly, his difficulty in getting any 

 one to attempt the thinning of his lot influenced him to sacrifice his 

 woodlot to an experiment which would make a basis of calculations 

 for such work in the future. 



GENERAL POLICY. 



For the first condition above mentioned or the even-aged growth, the 

 plan was to thin out the weak and poorer trees, leaving the good speci- 

 mens with sufficient room for their tops to spread and develop without 

 retardation for some ten years at least. The ground for this policy 

 was based on the fact that the trees had made their main height growth, 

 and their energies were now towards developing their diameters. The 

 growth in diameter of a tree is in proportion to the size of its top, 

 since the leaves are the laboratories of the food material which goes 

 to make up the growth, the more laboratories, the faster the growth. 



With this theory in mind, actual practice meant leaving the better 

 and more promising individuals with sufficient room about them to 

 allow the tops to grow unchecked for at least ten years. If this is 

 successfully accomplished, the trees will have developed a larger top, 

 more laboratories or a larger feeding area. 



The following data shows the proportion of trees in number and 

 volume removed and left on the same area : 



A total of 225 removed and 286 now standing; in volume (according 

 to Massachusetts volume tables), 27,050 B. M. feet were removed and 

 50,140 B. M. feet left; in fact, about two-fifths of the trees in num- 

 ber and one-third the volume were taken out in the thinnings. 



For the second condition the policy was that of encouraging a 

 natural regeneration where a good reproduction did not exist, and 

 assisting a good reproduction where it did exist. Wherever the trees 

 were close enough together, so as to form a complete shade, certain 



