IMPROVEMENT CUTTINGS 9I 



cut, while the reverse is true. Thinnings are often confused in 

 the lay mind with the selection cutting described in Chapter II. 

 As a matter of fact, the removal of the lower crown classes rarely 

 inflicts a serious injury on a standing tree. 



The cost of cutting and removing the material is somewhat 

 greater than in cases where the stand is cut clear, but there is not 

 the great difference sometimes assumed. The added cost will, 

 of course, vary with the conditions, but ten to twenty-five per 

 cent will represent the usual range. Frequently unfamiharity 

 with the style of cutting and unwillingness to learn on the part 

 of the woodsmen are the chief factors in increasing the cost. 



Thinnings in young stands yield only cordwood and in stands 

 of all ages a large per cent of the material cut is cordwood. 

 Where this cannot be sold at a profit, as is the case in portions of 

 New England, thinnings are not practicable. Usually in conif- 

 erous stands they can be made under poorer market conditions 

 than in hardwood forests, as in the former smaller-sized logs are 

 cut into lumber or put into other products of greater value than 

 cordwood. 



4. Damage Cuttings. — Frequently a cutting is advisable in a 

 stand with the purpose of removing and utilizing material which 

 has been damaged by wind, insects, fungi, fire, or other causes. 

 It is altogether too common a happening to have a large per cent 

 of the trees in a stand killed by fire. Such a cutting, intended 

 to take out injured material, is called a damage cutting. It is 

 made without regard to the crown classes or species of the trees 

 cut, simply taking out all injured individuals. As the extent of 

 injury varies greatly so does the severity of damage cuttings. 

 They may range from the removal of occasional trees to clear 

 cuttings. In cases where the injured stand is mature or nearly 

 mature it is often possible to begin the reproduction cuttings 

 early, and arrange them so as to utihze the damaged trees. 

 But in immature stands special damage cuttings are made in 

 case of injury. Damage cuttings, so heavy as to remove a 

 large percentage of the trees, call for a sacrifice in immature 

 stands, as the trees are cut before reaching the most profitable 



