THE WHITE PINE REGION 311 



per cent of the area actually stocked with the pine. A forty-year 

 old stand having ten per cent of its area in pine, the rest in birch, 

 poplar, etc., would be estimated to have ten per cent of the yield 

 of a pure pine stand at forty years. Usually the quaHty of the 

 material is much poorer than in the pure pine stands, and must 

 be classed chiefly as boxboards. 



6. Mixed Hardivoods. — Without doubt the mixed hardwoods 

 type occupies more area than any one of the other forest types. 

 In commercial importance it ranks second to the pure white pine 

 type. 



It occurs chiefly on cut-over lands which originally bore hard- 

 woods or a mixture of hardwoods and conifers. These lands 

 have already been described as comprising the better soils. 

 Hence the type will be found on the richest of the soils now 

 forested. Occasionally stands of this t>'pe gain a foothold on 

 old fields, though ordinarily such fields seed up to pure pine or 

 pine and hardwood stands. 



The proportion of sprout to seedling trees is high, and sprout 

 growth may be said to characterize the type. This characteris- 

 tic explains why the type is classed as a temporary one. The 

 composition is the same as in portions of the original forest, and 

 on the better soils this composition would not change greatly if 

 the forest were left untouched, but seedhng stands would replace 

 sprout stands. 



A great deal of the land now in this type originally had a mix- 

 ture of conifers, which have disappeared under the influence of 

 repeated cuttings and fires. 



The leading species are chestnut, red and white oak, white 

 ash, soft maple, and gray birch, while white pine, black cherry, 

 and other trees occasionally occur. The stands are usually 

 thrifty and even-aged. No comprehensive study has been made 

 of the yield for the type, but sufiicient figures have been secured 

 to indicate that between a quarter of a cord and a cord of wood 

 per acre per annum, varying with the site, can be expected. 



At the present time the stands are cut rather young, and yield 

 material suitable largely for the rougher grades of lumber and 



