1766 



Canadian Forestry Journal, July, 1918 



been carried out in previous years? 

 The pine amonijsl hardwoods gener- 

 ally dominated the stand, but when 

 it was cut out the hardwoods held 

 the ground. Their shade prevented 

 germination of the pine seed or the 

 development of the tree, if the seed 

 did germinate. The res\ilt was that 

 the forest became a hardwood forest 

 and there is no evidence left of the 

 existence of the pine except the old 

 stumps or an occasional young pine 

 that has happened to have special 

 circumstances in its favour in a 

 l)articular spot. In some pine forests 

 the understory was of spruce and fir, 

 both of which germinate and grow 

 better under shade than does the 

 pine, and when the pine was cut out 

 the understory became the forest and 

 the pine had no op,;ortunity for 

 reproducing itself in such adverse 

 circumstances. In many cases these 

 results may have been satisfactory to 

 the interested parties but in a study 

 of the possibilities of the natural 

 regeneration of white pine the cases 

 are significant. The^^ show that the 

 problem is not a simple one for even 

 if the pine had not been taken out 

 in the circumstances indicated and 

 was left. to produce and scatter seed 

 it would in time have been van- 

 quished by the understory unless a 

 fire or hurricane had come and opened 

 up a space to light where the seeds 

 could germinate and the seedlings 

 grow. 



The pine is firm rooted and can 

 therefore stand isolation without dan- 

 ger of windfall better than some 

 other species and while it requires 

 light its demands in this respect may 

 ]je considered as moderate. It would 

 therefore lend itself to a system which 

 would permit of the opening up of 

 the stand of timber to a considerable 

 extent. 



Systems of Cutting 



There are several main systems on 

 which cutting is carried out. One is 

 the clear cutting system in which all 

 the pine is taken off the ground. 

 This system might be followed where 

 the stand of pine is mature and 

 fairly even-aged, but in order to 

 secure the reproduction of pine sev- 

 eral things are necessary. There 



must be a stand of young pine on the 

 ground ready to take the place of the 

 old or provision must be made for a 

 supply of seed before the old trees 

 are all taken out. If the cutting is 

 carried out after a good, seed year 

 there may be sufficient of a supply 

 of seed fallen which, germinating in 

 the light and warmth of the uncovered 

 ground, may furnish a satisfactory 

 stand for establishing a new forest. 

 If not then some of the pine must be 

 left to furnish seed. But these must 

 be left with reference to prevailing 

 winds and the distance to which seed 

 will carry. The pine seed furnished 

 with a light wing and borne high in 

 the tree in the long pendant cones 

 wdll carry for long distances, but the 

 proper distance within which a suffi- 

 cient seed supply will fall must be 

 determined by observation in difTer- 

 ent districts. If, however, the ground 

 is covered thickly w^ith pine needles 

 w^hen the seed falls it may never 

 reach the soil and get a chance to 

 germinate and grow. With the too 

 full opening of the ground, the 

 grass may get a chance to grow and in 

 a struggle with grass the pine has not 

 much chance. If, however, the new 

 growth is light, shrubs and such trees 

 as poplar and white birch, the pine 

 may be expected to hold its own and 

 to overtop the others in time, and it 

 may do this with the heavier shaded 

 hardwoods if they get away to 

 anything like an even start. 



If, however, when the pine is 

 removed, the ground is shaded by a 

 dense covering of hardwoods or of 

 spruce and fir, the chances for the 

 germination and growth of the pine 

 are almost nil, and to ensure pine 

 reproduction they would require to 

 be removed at the same time as the 

 pine. 



Local Conditions Mean Much 



The system most discussed in 

 Canada, however, and the one sup- 

 posed to be indicated by the diameter 

 limits for cutting set by the several 

 governments is the selection system, 

 the system by which a selected num- 

 ber of trees are taken out and the 

 remainder are left to increase in size 

 and to furnish a seed supply. But 

 this system, even though carefully 



