THE WHITE PINE REGION 



323 



can be cut clear at the end of the rotation and the reproduction 

 allowed to develop. The last thinning has then really been a 

 first cutting under the shelterwood method. 



The most profitable rotation for the pure white pine type is 

 about fifty or fifty-five years. This is shown by the yield 

 tables given in the New Hampshire Forestry Report for 1905- 

 1906, and in "Forest Mensuration of the White Pine," issued 

 by the State Forester of Massachusetts. These two tables 



By permission of F. F. Moon. 



Fig. iig. — A thinning in the white pine type showing the character of logs secured and 



the brush piled. This operation was carried on under the direction of the State 



Forester of Massachusetts. 



differ in the exact financial returns to be secured, but agree in 

 showing that the best returns are obtained by rotations of 

 fifty to fifty-five years.^ Using their figures it seems safe to 

 assume a return of from five to six per cent compound interest 

 on the investment for stands of the pure white pine type. 



5. Pine and Inferior Hardwoods. — The object here is to get 

 rid of the hardwoods, and to transform the type into a pure 



1 It may often be desirable to allow white pine stands to grow until seventy 

 or seventy-five years of age, in order to obtain the large yields of high-grade tim- 

 ber, which can be produced on such a rotation, although a smaller return on the 

 investment is secured than when using a lower rotation. 



