14 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



be secured by clear cutting wodland at a relatively early 

 age. Yale University furnishes one example of a cor- 

 poration practicing intensive forestry with a holding of 

 1 ,500 acres in this region. 



The lumbermen who own lands in southern New Eng- 

 land, with a very few exceptions, do not practice for- 

 estry. They mainly aim to sell their lands as soon as 

 possible after they have been cut over. In a few cases 

 quite intensive work is being carried on by lumbermen 

 along the lines of planting, or in reproducing stands 

 of pine. 



Among individual owners, two classes can be dis- 

 tinguished. The first class would consist of city men of 

 more or less wealth who have gone into the country 

 either to live the year round or for summer homes. 



WHITE PINE SET IN 1909 



This plantation of white pine was established seven years ago. The 

 trees are now growing in height at the rate of about 2J4 feet per 

 year. The large hardwood in the background should be removed. 



These men, when they acquire forest property, usually 

 desire to put the land to the use to which it is best suited 

 and to bring it to a high state of productiveness. They 

 are pursuing a similar policy with respect to their agri- 

 cultural lands and are glad to do the same with the forest 

 land. While this class of owners is increasing, it as yet 

 owns only a small fraction of the forest area probably 

 around five per cent. 



The second class of individual owners is composed 

 mainly of farmers whose chief interest is in the manage- 

 ment of agricultural land, and who cannot afford to make 

 large investments to develop their forest land. As yet 

 farmers have put into practice very little forestry, but 

 it is probable that a large percentage of them have done 

 some thinking on the subject, and as their timber comes 

 to cutable size they will endeavor to handle it more con- 

 servatively than in the past. A difference can be noted 

 in the attitude of the southern New England farmer to 

 his woodland as contrasted to the northern New England 

 farmer. The latter knows the value of young, immature 

 trees, realizes the relative value of the different species 

 and in his cuttings for cord wood or lumber is apt to 

 take pains to save these smaller trees. 



In southern Connecticut small trees as yet receive little 

 or no consideration. This is due partly to the methods 

 of cutting, which are mainly clear cutting and also to 

 the fact that as yet special markets (more or less stand- 

 ardized) for each of the different species have not been 

 developed. 



For the rough practice of forestry, the chief essential 

 is fire protection. This is true since the main type, 

 upland hardwood, perpetuates itself by sprouts and con- 

 sequently clear cutting does not necessarily decrease the 

 producing power of the site. 



For intensive work, thinning, in order to increase the 

 production, longer rotations, in order to bring a larger 

 part of the forest crop to timber size and planting of 

 waste lands, are the important lines of work. As time 

 passes and market conditions become better, unquestion- 

 ably a large percentage of the present small holders will 

 voluntarily take up more intensive methods. 



Future Development. 



Within the next decade or two, a large increase in the 

 acreage of State Parks and State Forests should be ef- 



A PORTABLE MILL 



Sawing away at hemlock and hardwood cut in a forestry operation. 

 In the foreground a stand of timber 100 years old and yielding 30,000 

 board feet per acre was cut and the land planted with red pine 

 transplants. The mill is set up in an old field which will be planted 

 as soon as the lumber is hauled away. In the background is the hard- 

 wood type from which the chestnut has been removed. 



fected. A minimum of half a million acres is not too 

 large to look forward to as the ultimate goal ' for such 

 ownership. 



Municipal forests may enlarge to some extent but it is 

 not believed that a very considerable increase in this line 

 of ownership need be expected. 



Corporations as forest owners are apt to slowly en- 

 large their holdings, but here also it is unlikely that any 

 great change will take place. 



The holdings of lumbermen are more likely to decrease 

 than to increase. As their present timber and the avail- 

 able supply that they can buy becomes exhausted, these 

 men are apt to turn their attention to other lines of busi- 



