THE SPRUCE REGION 



in such portions of the type the method of clear cutting carried 

 out as in the slope type is advisable. 



Much of the spruce flat country, however, is not in great 

 danger of windfall. Here the selection system of cutting works 

 admirably. The forest is suited to such a system by its uneven- 

 aged character, and the location of the type relatively near the 

 main streams, together with its comparatively gentle topog- 

 raphy, makes it possible to take out scattered timber at a profit. 



Fig. 77. — A carefully made cutting in which a number of large hardwoods were removed 

 without injury to the understory of young conifers. 



Under the selection system as applied here a cutting is to be 

 made at intervals, which takes out the larger and less thrifty 

 trees. The cutting can most easily be controlled by establish- 

 ing a diameter limit below which size (theoretically) no trees 

 are to be cut, and above which all trees are to be cut. For spruce 

 a diameter limit lying between ten and fourteen inches at breast 

 height is the best. An arbitrary limit must not be strictly 

 adhered to. Where the timber is all of large size for several 

 acres, cutting exactly to a limit might strip the land, and there- 

 fore a clump of trees should be selected and left to furnish seed, 



