126 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



small a diameter in the tops as the 

 spruces and firs. Generally it will not 

 be possible to use them below 8 inches 

 and often the top is dissipated into 

 limbs at a point where the trunk is 

 12 or 15 inches in diameter. Such trees 

 invariably result in a large quantity of 

 brush. The regulations require that all 

 of the limbs be cut from the trunk and 

 that the brush three inches in diameter 

 and smaller be piled or scattered at the 

 discretion of the Forest Officer in charge. 

 It is the purpose of the Forest Service 

 to ascertain by careful study the best 

 means of handling this kind" of brush. 

 There is to be a great deal of it in the 

 White Mountain sales and we want to 

 learn as soon as possible how to deal 

 with it. 



The branches larger than three inches 

 in diameter are to be trimmed up and 

 left flat on the ground unless they can be 

 utilized as cordwood. The contract 

 has been drawn on the supposition that 

 much of this material can be utilized 

 as fuel. If so it will be easier to clean 

 up the sale area and leave it in neat 

 and tidy condition. 



SPECIAL TREATMENT FOR STRIP ADJACENT 

 TO HIGHWAY 



It is proposed to give special treat- 

 ment to an 8-rod strip bordering the 

 State Highway. On this strip the ut- 

 most care will be taken to do the cutting 

 and to handle the material to be 

 removed and the brush in such a way 

 as to give no offense to the critical 

 observer. Before the sale was awarded 

 a special marking Board, consisting of 

 three experienced men of the Forest 

 Service, went over and marked the trees 

 to be removed on most of the strip. 

 The purpose was to determine in 

 advance the trees to be removed, and 

 to provide a sample marking for the 

 purchaser and for the forest officer 

 who will have charge of the sale. 

 The result of this special study and 

 marking is to leave slightly more good 

 young merchantable timber on the 

 ground here than on other portions of 

 the area. If a thrifty birch 12 or 15 

 inches in diameter is needed as a cover 

 or to fill a gap it has been left. The 



ground was gone over tree by tree and 

 nothing was marked for removal unless 

 it was defective or could be removed 

 without damage to the appearance 

 of the area. 



Also on this 8-rod strip pains will be 

 taken to dispose of the brush. As 

 elsewhere the softwood brush will be 

 piled and burned and the hardwood 

 brush will be handled in the same way 

 unless the cost is found to be prohibitive. 

 Another thing which will be done to 

 improve the appearance of this border 

 strip is to cut down the decayed snags 

 and dead trees, of which unsightly 

 specters the strip contains more than a 

 hundred. These will be brought to 

 the ground, and while it may not be 

 possible to remove them, lying flat upon 

 the ground it will not take them long 

 to decay. 



RESULTS 



We confess to a feeling of considerable 

 responsibility in undertaking to cut any 

 timber in the White Mountains where 

 the public interest in forest protection 

 is so keenly active. The knowledge 

 that this keen interest exists makes us 

 all the more anxious to try to put the 

 forest in the best possible growing 

 condition. In many places the condi- 

 tion is bad now and there is no doubt 

 but that it can be greatly improved. 

 The question is whether we can do the 

 work successfully by meeting the three 

 essential requirements : 



(1) Give the forest the grooming it 

 needs for future thrift and production. 



(2) Accomplish the work without 

 alarming a watchful public which has 

 come to abhor the old destructive 

 method of timber removal. 



(3) Secure returns which will cover 

 the cost of the timber to the Govern- 

 ment and the cost of making the sale. 



This is the first sale and we may not 

 succeed as well with it as with later 

 ones but because it is the first sale 

 and because we believe the purpose is 

 right, we bespeak the sympathetic 

 interest of the public. Let us try to 

 restore to these mountain slopes a 

 forest that is as good and if possible 

 better than the virgin stand. 



