50 PRACTICAL FORESTRY IN 



not only to fail itself but also to infect any seedlings which 

 may come in among it. Consequently if the slashing is not 

 large, and reproduction from the sides may be counted on, 

 the above considerations, coupled with the reduction of future 

 fire risk, may suggest slash burning just as in the case of fir. 

 The remarks apply particularly if it is considered necessary 

 to log as clean as possible. 



With a good, healthy start toward a new forest, however, it 

 will usually be best to keep fire out, for the material saved 

 will warrant greater expense in protection during the grow- 

 ing period. Representative tracts, both on the coast and in 

 the Cascades, have been studied which showed that, with 

 care in lumbering, enough good young hemlock too small for 

 logs or skids could be saved after present-day logging of a 

 heavy mixed fir and hemlock stand to produce in fifty years 

 11,000 or 12,000 feet of timber over 14 inches in diameter. 

 This would not be wholly additional to the second crop of 

 seedlings which might be produced if these trees were not 

 preserved, for the ground and light they use would be denied 

 to the seedlings, but undoubtedly the yield would be greater 

 than could be secured if they were destroyed. 



This means that under similar conditions we may go still 

 further and actually apply the selection system, especially if 

 the original stand is nearly pure hemlock. So far we have 

 discussed areas left by present-day logging methods. Sup- 

 pose, however, the owner of a good tract of hemlock, having 

 decided that conditions do not warrant trying to get fir, is 

 willing to modify his methods for the sake of better hemlock 

 returns at some future cutting. He would probably do best 

 to take out only the mature trees, leaving everything which is 

 still growing with fair rapidity. Greater light will stimulate 

 these immensely as well as encourage further seeding of the 

 ground. The few merchantable trees he spares, together with 

 those now unmerchantable, will, in perhaps twenty years, 

 make another excellent crop. By leaving a fairly dense 

 stand he prevents the windfall danger which threatens the 

 survivors of too vigorous cutting, and also prevents them 



