Of course this plan might not work so well in rolling, 

 sandy, or rocky country. 



The lopping of tops off of all timber cut is a good plan, and 

 very effective. But it is nearly impossible to get a good job 

 done, and besides it is more expensive, for two reasons. 

 First, the work has to be done in cutting time when men are 

 scarce and wages are high; and second, there is more labor 

 required to dispose of a given area of slash by the lopping 

 process than by burning in the spring. Especially where the 

 timber is thick and it is nearly all cut, "for in a slashing 

 where a thick stand of the above mentioned timber has been 

 cut, the debris will burn in the spring with none or very little 

 piling. But where the stand is thin as it sometimes is in 

 scattering spruce, I think the lopping process the best. 



Rangers in Slash Disposal. 



There is another feature to be taken into consideration 

 when the slash is burned, that is, the destruction of young 

 growth of timber. There is no doubt that a great deal of 

 young growth is killed in burning spruce and balsam slash, 

 but not nearly as much as one would suppose. 



But in the cedar slash very little damage is done to young 

 growth. One reason of this is that nearly all of the timber 

 is cut. Every stick three inches or larger can be used for 

 fence posts. Besides the cedar that is left invariably dies 

 after they lose the protection of the surrounding timber. 

 These slashings grow up to other kinds of timber, nearly 

 always poplar which undoubtedly comes from seed blown 

 there after the cedar is cut. 



Slash disposal will soon become a solved problem. 



It is true that no set of rules will work in all cases or in 

 all localities. But the methods are being worked out by men 

 in each district 'whose business it is to find out which is best 

 in his particular locality. Most lumbermen realize that we 

 are trying to help protect them from their own carelessness. 



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