FORESTRY IN SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND 



13 



preferred. The writer inclines strongly to the use of 

 red pine. 



Three-year-old transplants are used in planting old 

 fields where the grass sod is thick or low brush cover 

 abundant. Where the sod is very light and conditions 

 of competition with brush are not severe, smaller stock 

 may be used. There is, however, less field for small 

 seedling stock in southern New England than is the 

 case farther north. 



A good many individuals and corporations have planted 

 considerable areas of this type already. The New Haven 

 Water Company, with about 1,500 acres planted, probably 

 heads the list. Many plantations in the old field type 

 need subsequent treatment in order to protect the pines 

 from encroachment of 

 hardwoods. There are apt 

 to be large hardwoods scat- 

 tered on old fields with 

 broad crowns which over- 

 top the pines. These 

 hardwoods are cut. 



Hemlock Type. A hem- 

 lock stand lends itself well 

 to aesthetic treatment and 

 where retained should be 

 managed principally along 

 such lines. The type locat- 

 ed in cool, rocky gorges 

 and on steep slopes occu- 

 pies poor and relatively in- 

 accessible sites from which 

 the timber production can- 

 not be high. As a com- 

 mercial proposition hem- 

 lock lands are better plant- 

 ed with pine. When the 

 aesthetic purpose governs 

 the management, selection 

 cuttings, with the idea of 

 developing an unevenaged 

 forest, are employed. 



Extent to Which Fores- 

 try Practice is Now 

 in Effect. 



As you go through south- 

 ern New England, not 

 much intensive forestry practice can be observed. The 

 great drawback is the lack of the necessary wood capital 

 in the forest. Most owners find themselves with cut 

 over lands on which the timber is too young to admit of 

 annual cuts and a regular income. The average forest 

 owner is in a stage of development where he is marking 

 time and waiting for his forest capital to accumulate by 

 growth. When recently cut over land is acquired, a 

 period must be spent of several decades in building up 

 the wood capital before profits can be secured. Hence 

 intensive forestry taken up now requires investment 

 which will not bring annual returns for a good many 



MAKING A LIBERATION CUTTING TO FREE WHITE PINE 



Conversion of the upland hardwood type to pine. In this case the 

 area was planted to_ pine before cutting the hardwoods. The 

 stand was thinned twice before underplanting with pine. Now the 

 remaining hardwoods are being felled. 



years. Such an investment is impossible tor a large 

 majority of forest owners. 



There are, however, more owners than is commonly 

 believed who have benefited by the educational campaign 

 and who are practicing forestry in a crude way and will 

 practice on an intensive scale as soon as their wood capi- 

 tal is built up. 



In many instances simple protection of the growing 

 timber means a rough practice of forestry. 



Another difficulty met with in practicing intensive for- 

 estry is in marketing cordwood and hardwood logs profit- 

 ably. Although a densely populated region, the demand 

 for cordwood is far below the available supply. It is 

 often hard to find a market for many of the common 



hardwoods of southern 

 New England. This is due 

 partly to the scattered dis- 

 tribution of the hardwood 

 timber, making it difficult to 

 get a reasonable quantity 

 of one kind of material at 

 one place. Then, native 

 hardwoods are of poorer 

 quality than those grown 

 in the South. This is not 

 because high grade hard- 

 wood timber cannot be 

 grown in southern New 

 England. As soon as the 

 virgin hardwood timber of 

 the southern Appalachians 

 becomes exhausted, south- 

 ern New England timber 

 will appreciate in value. 



The extent to which for- 

 estry can be practiced dif- 

 fers with different classes 

 of owners. In the case of 

 the State Parks, and State 

 Forests, they may be said 

 to be already under man- 

 agement. On the State 

 Parks the aesthetic idea of 

 course predominates, but 

 this need not interfere 

 with the commercial pro- 

 duction of timber on most 

 sites. Nearly all the municipally owned forests are under 

 good management. 



Among corporation owned forests there is a difference 

 in management depending upon the character of the 

 owning corporation. The water companies, of which there 

 are a number in this district, are all practicing relatively 

 intensive forestry. This is true to a lesser extent of the 

 brass industry which uses thousands of cords of wood in 

 manufacturing processes. 



In the case of the lime kilns and brick yards there is 

 very little practice of forestry. Such plants are interested 

 in cord wood which is a low grade product and which can 



