THE SPRUCE REGION 219 



ing seed can be found here and there, which make excellent 

 seed trees. Where such a clump is left there should be no 

 cutting within the group, not even the removal of a single tree; 

 as any breaks in the cover expose the other trees to wind throw. 



Groups of young growth often contain a few old trees, and 

 where the young growth is left the old trees among them also 

 should be uncut, unless they are dead or dying. 



Where the spruce slope type occupies but a small space among 

 other types, seed trees can sometimes be left on the edge of the 

 slope. 



The timber left in the clumps of seed trees may range from 

 almost nothing of commercial value to, in rare cases, twenty or 

 twenty-live per cent of the merchantable stand. Whatever is 

 left as seed trees remains for a forest generation, until the new 

 reproduction is mature. 



Another form of the clear-cutting system can sometimes be 

 applied, described as follows: about one- third of the forest is 

 left uncut, in the form of large, irregular-shaped patches, or in 

 strips, running usually up and down the slope. These patches 

 or strips furnish seed which is blown over the cut area. The 

 reserve groups are an investment to be left for future cutting. 

 The bodies of uncut timber should be located either above or to 

 the windward of cut-over areas and near enough for the seed to 

 reach all parts of the area. 



Spruce seed often falls on the snow and may slide along the 

 crust for a considerable distance. The distances between the 

 patches of standing timber should never exceed five hundred 

 feet and much better reproduction will be secured with half this 

 distance. When reproduction has been secured the remaining 

 timber is cut in a separate operation. This would take place 

 about ten to fifteen years after the first cutting. To obtain 

 reproduction on the strips it will be necessary to leave scattered 

 clumps of seed trees in safe positions. The advantage of this 

 strip system over that of leaving clumps of seed trees is that 

 greater protection from the wind is secured, and reproduction 

 is made more certain. But it requires two logging operations, 



