1904 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



509 



and usually merchantable from a tie 

 point of view. A tree only four inches 

 in diameter and ninety years old is 

 seriously handicapped in a race .where 

 there is no immediate prospect for 

 dominance and growth to merchant- 

 able size. Under the best conditions 



state, for the reason that the most vig- 

 orous grow rapidly when once assum- 

 ing dominance, and, in turn, suppress 

 the weaker trees. 



Pole patches are not results of nat- 

 ural occurrences, but, as stated at the 

 beginning of this subject, are the di- 



Burn of 1889 on Blackfeet Reservation, Near Midvale, Montana. 

 Densely Restocked with Lodgepole Pine. 



of soil and situations these pole patch- 

 es can develop into good standing- 

 timber; if the situation is not suit- 

 able, the merchantable stand is poor. 

 Scarcely ever do we see poles grow- 

 ing thick and slow in good soils and 

 situations, and continuing in that 



rect results of reproduction on burn- 

 ed over land. The young seedlings, 

 very dense when young, reduce their 

 density very slowly, and by the time 

 the tree has reached pole size, it is 

 still struggling for dominance over 

 its neighbors. 



