226 FORESTRY IN NEW ENGLAND 



Old Field Spruce. — The stands in this type are extremely 

 dense with closely interlocked crowns, and fairly even-aged. 

 Since these stands, as already stated, occur chiefly on the borders 

 of the region and near settlements, they can be handled more 

 intensively than those of the other types. 



One of the best systems of treatment will be the clear-cutting 

 system with replanting. Under this system the stand would be 

 allowed to grow until fifty to seventy-five years of age, when it 

 would be cut clear, the brush burned, and the area replanted.^ 

 The greater part of the material can be sold for pulpwood, as 

 straight sticks can be taken down to a three-inch top. For pulp- 

 wood a lower rotation can be used than for saw timber, which 

 requires at least seventy-five years. Such treatment is espe- 

 cially adapted to tracts of small size, where comparatively httle 

 timber is found and it is desirable to harvest this at one time. 

 Reproduction of spruce is absolutely assured by this system. 



On tracts of some size the strip method of clear cutting can 

 be used, with strips not over one hundred feet in width. Seed- 

 ing is secured from the adjoining stands. The last strip to be cut 

 must be restocked by some other method. The danger in this 

 method is that other species may seed in ahead of the spruce, and 

 where this is especially to be feared the land should be cut and 

 artificially restocked. 



Still another method, an adaptation of the shelterwood system, 

 can be used to advantage, when it is desired to insure the natural 

 reproduction of spruce. Under this method a heavy cutting, 

 removing about one-third of the volume, is made throughout the 

 forest. Theoretically this should remove the poorer individuals, 

 single trees, scattered here and there through the stand. An old- 

 field spruce stand, however, is not adapted for such a system of 

 cutting because of the thickly interlacing crowns, which make 

 the felling of single trees a laborious and expensive operation. 

 Instead, then, of cutting scattered trees, narrow alleyways, 

 possibly ten feet in width, are cut through the stand, leaving 



1 The Norway spruce, a European variety, should be planted rather than the 

 native red spruce. The former grows much faster and yields excellent pulpwood. 



