BORDER CUTTINGS 149 



the east, southeast, south, southwest, or west, but on the northwest, 

 north, and northeast slopes the borders should run up and down the 

 slope, progressing in a southwest, west, and southeast direction respec- 

 tively. This change from the customary north to south direction will 

 have no ill effect silviculturally, since northwest, north, and northeast 

 slopes are ipso facto protected from undue sun, and therefore are usually 

 moist enough to encourage seedling growth. 



Logging is made easy in this method if, as far as possible, the main 

 skidding trails or skid roads are laid out running north and south be- 

 tween the cutting series. These will also serve as boundaries between 

 the areas, and on occasion may be kept as permanent roads or as fire 

 lines. In logging all material is moved away from the regenerated 

 parts; hence the method minimizes injury to young growth during re- 

 moval of the mature crop; the mature trees left as "protectors" are 

 removed while the reproduction is still in the seedling stage, when dam- 

 age is negligible, whereas in a later stage it is often exceedingly damag- 

 ing to the laboriously achieved regeneration and may destroy it entirely. 

 Any fail places which persist after ample opportunity has been given 

 for natural regeneration must be seeded or planted. This measure is 

 inevitable in any method of natural regeneration ; it is minimized in the 

 "border" method, because of the favorable position in which the stand is 

 placed for natural reproduction, and the prevention of injury to the 

 established young growth in the "second cut." 



The final remaining strip should be regenerated by a groupwise selec- 

 tion cutting unless, of course, it joins on to a closed stand of seed- 

 bearing age. 



As for the distance between the cutting series or points of attack, 

 this depends on the time within which the entire area must be regener- 

 ated arid the size of the area. The quicker an area must be cut over and 

 the smaller it is, the closer together must the cutting series be. Con- 

 versely, the slower the area can be cut over and the larger it is, the far- 

 ther apart can the cutting series be ; but in order to secure the manifest 

 advantages of a relatively even-aged stand i, e., ordinarily one with no 

 greater divergence than 30 years in the age of its component members 

 the cutting series should seldom be more than 60 chains (three-quarters 

 of a mile) apart. This is based on an annual progression of two chains, 

 a factor which must be varied as local experience dictates. 



Assuming a unit area and different periods in which it is to be cut 

 over i. e., regenerated we get the following table of factors. (Areas 

 to be regenerated in a single cutting extending over less than four or 

 five years, of course, do not come under this method :) 



