THE 



57 



plantation and in making the necessary early thinnings (Fig. 12). 

 Forest planting, however, is seldom justified unless a reasonable 

 profit can be shown. In the United States where the value of 



FIG. 12. A 40-year-old plantation of Norway spruce spaced 4 by 4 feet in 

 which about two-thirds of the trees have been removed in the thinnings. 

 Near Tharandt, Saxony. 



forest land is very low, the cost of labor high, and there is but 

 little market for early thinnings, spacing should be as wide as pos- 

 sible without seriously interfering with the development of the stand 

 due to soil deterioration and excess of side light. 



7. Wide Spacing and Delayed Thinnings 



When economic conditions prevent the making of early thin- 

 nings, close planting can be made only at large financial loss. 

 The initial cost of establishing a plantation, at a spacing of 4 by 4 

 feet, is more than double that where the spacing is 6 by 6 feet. 

 Competition is longer delayed in the wide-spaced plantation and 

 the crop trees are not so seriously dwarfed or otherwise injured 

 after the stand closes. 



A white pine plantation near Keene, N. H., planted in 1871 

 (Fig. 13), was studied by the author in 1915. This plantation 

 was spaced at 8-foot intervals and has never been thinned. The 



