LUMBERING AND FORESTRY 



463 



and Easton, N. H., the supply taken 

 from those lands being driven down the 

 Connecticut river to the mills in Bel- 

 lows Falls. The entire cutting of tim- 

 ber for the past five years on these lands 

 has been on very steep mountain slopes 

 where the spruce was almost entirely 

 of solid growth. On these slopes where 

 it has been possible small patches of 

 timber have been left with the idea of 

 reproducing on the slopes from the seed 

 from the small clumps of trees which 

 have been left. We find this to be very 

 practical as on cuttings of ten years 

 ago, where there have been no fires, 

 under similar conditions there is now 

 a vigorous growth of young spruce 

 coming in with the hardwood and bird 

 cherry which usually follow where the 

 timber has nearly all been cut off. 



In these towns there were 21,346 

 acres which have all been logged over 

 except about 2,500 acres, located around 

 and near the top of Mount Moosilauke, 

 which have been left, partly because it 

 was expensive to log and partly as it 



was thought best to leave it at this time 

 with the idea that if it could be pro- 

 tected from fire it would aid in the 

 reproduction of timber on the lower 

 slope of the mountain by reseeding, 

 where the timber has been cut very clean 

 down to the hardwood growth. 



On these lands where there has been 

 a mixed growth of spruce and hard- 

 wood the spruce has been left to about 

 an eight inch diameter, for future 

 growth. The timber in this section was 

 cut much smaller than the Company in- 

 tends to cut on their lands hereafter 

 as it was likely that it would not be 

 profitable to log these lands again in the 

 next sixty years. 



In transferring their lumbering op- 

 erations from New Hampshire to Ver- 

 mont this season they are now cutting 

 to a twele inch diameter limit, two feet 

 from the ground, in mixed growth. 

 This is not a hard and fixed rule, how- 

 ever, much being left to the discretion 

 of the Forester who has charge of mark- 

 ing the timber before it is cut. By 



FIGHTING FIRE FROM BACK FIRE LINE. 



