CONVERSIONS 101 



other tolerant species will be favored against the more desirable oak. 

 After the final felling great care should be taken to free the oak. Con- 

 versions should begin only where the conditions are favorable and not 

 all over the forest. 



Cuif, 19 in charge of research at Nancy, favors conversions by group 

 selection rather than by the shelter wood for the following reasons: (1) 

 It is applicable to large and small forests alike; (2) forest capital is more 

 evenly distributed; (3) the method approaches nature; (4) it profits by 

 seed trees here and there; (5) mixtures are encouraged; (6) each species 

 can be cut when ripe with coppice-under-standards. He favors the 

 best stems and seedlings, cutting sprouts level with the ground to pro- 

 vide them with good root systems ; he plants in the openings and cuts the 

 coppice back to favor the best trees. 



Probably the best-known conversion 20 in France is that for the State 

 forest of Amance undertaken by the Nancy Forest School. It was 

 started by Lorenz in 1826 and the working plan was revised in 1856, 1877, 

 1888, 1901, and 1908. It offers the best chance in France for a detailed 

 study of conversion methods as applied to hardwoods. In the original 

 working plan Cuif says: 



"The conversion of a coppice-under-standards to open high forest (futaie claire) 

 does not seem to present very serious difficulties. It is even likely that it would auto- 

 matically follow the application to a coppice-under-standards of a rotation equal to the 

 period of an open high forest. It would suffice then, in order to accomplish this, to add 

 to the reserve every 15 years the oak and ash seedlings which would be found mixed with 

 the young coppice shoots and to eliminate systematically from the high forest the beech, 

 elm, and light woods which it actually includes. This method of procedure would 

 surely lead to the final aim. But the conversion would be long, and it would require 

 sacrifice even greater than the coppice, destined to disappear only gradually and only 

 because of natural forces would furnish products without commercial value. In order 

 to alleviate this inconvenience we propose to adopt the following rules in marking the 

 conversion fellings which follow one another at 15-year intervals: 



"1. Preserve all the reserves of the oak and ash species except those which are 

 defective or too weak to warrant the hope of seed. 



"2. Complete lopping of coppice around these reserves, this lopping being extended 

 far enough so that the circumference of the crowns may be freed completely and bathed 

 in sunlight. 



"3. Levying of a moderate yield among the trees 10 inches and above in diameter 

 among the other species, the large beech with many by preference being eliminated. 



"4. In those localities where the cover of oak and ash reserves is lacking, form with 

 these trees (also small beech, elm, and linden, or with coppice poles) an open stand ca- 

 pable of serving as a nurse stand for the oak and ash. These plantations should be made 

 in the same year as the felling; they should aim to introduce these two species in the 

 parts where they are totally lacking. 



19 Personal notes supplied the author in 1913. 



20 Amenagement de la Foret domaniale d' Amance (Meurthe et Moselle), 1908. Par 

 Cuif. 



