278 FORESTRY IN NEW ENGLAND 



tioned. Moreover, they all reproduce well in small openings 

 such as would be made by a selection cutting. The cutting can 

 be based on a diameter limit of, say, twelve inches breast high, 

 but the trees to come out should be carefully selected and marked 

 without strict adherence to this limit. 



Such a system can be used in the most remote sections of the 

 region. Where markets are better a thinning among dense, 

 even-aged clumps of middle-aged growth should accompany the 



Fig. 96. — Open land too ledgy for pasture in the northern hardwoods region; should be 

 planted. 



selection cutting. All large trees so defective as to be of no 

 timber value should be cut and put into cordwood. Under 

 present methods of cutting, these trees are ordinarily left where 

 they take up much of the crown space and greatly reduce the 

 growing power of the tract. Too many examples can be found 

 of stands half stocked because of the presence of such trees. 

 Trees of this class are hard to cut and work up into cordwood, 

 and oftentimes it requires considerable efTort to get the work 

 done, for the average lumberman would rather claim that it is 

 impossible than make a trial to learn the cost. 



