THE NORTHERN HARDWOODS REGION 283 



for the best production of sap and indeed for the growth of the 

 sugar maple are then disturbed. 



2. Stvamp. — The swamps furnish the most difficult silvicul- 

 tural problem of all the types. This is because it is hard to get 

 good natural reproduction on these sites. Under present meth- 

 ods of cutting the softwoods are removed as well as the good 

 hardwoods. Soft maple, to which species the wet land is no 

 great hindrance, and other inferior species are then apt to get 

 possession of the cut-over land. To keep the poorer species out 

 greater care must be taken in the cuttings to leave plenty of 

 seed trees, softwoods preferably. 



The swamp land is the site which can best be devoted to soft- 

 woods, for they will reproduce better here and produce a better 

 quality of timber than the hardwood species. Trees like sugar 

 maple and beech will not grow in poorly-drained swamp soil, but 

 the competition of inferior species like soft maple combined with 

 close cutting is driving, or has driven, the softwoods from many 

 swamps. 



The best way to bring the swamps into productive condition 

 is to plant softwoods hke spruce after cutting clear. Often this 

 may appear too intensive an operation for the present, in which 

 case the best method is to remove only the largest softwoods 

 leaving several trees of seed-bearing age to an acre, at the same 

 time cutting out all hardwoods to the smallest size the markets 

 allow, either for cordwood or charcoal. 



Where no softwoods remain and the ground is already stocked 

 with such trees as soft maple the simple coppice system may be 

 employed, by which the stand is cut clear and a new stand 

 secured by sprouts from the stumps. For profitable use this 

 requires good markets, as the product secured is nearly all 

 cordwood. 



3. Birch and Poplar. — The treatment for this t>Tpe has been 

 fully described under a similar heading in the spruce region, 

 which should be consulted for details. The question will arise 

 whether it is more advisable to maintain the birch and poplar 

 permanently or to allow it to take the natural course and revert 



