THE SPROUT HARDWOODS REGION 361 



very wet situations (where soft maple usually is pure or pre- 

 dominates) seedling reproduction starts with difficulty and the 

 main dependence should be placed on sprout reproduction. Thus 

 the simple coppice system is needed. The soft maple furnishes 

 excellent cordwood and on the wettest sites no attempt should 

 be made to grow other products. A rotation of thirty to thirty- 

 five years will be sufficiently long. On the drier sites of the 

 type, where seedling reproduction can be more easily secured, 

 the polewood sprout system is best. This will allow of a longer 

 rotation and the growing of more valuable products than cord- 

 wood. Where soft maple composes the stand a forty to fifty- 

 year rotation will be long enough, but with the other swamp 

 hardwoods fifty to sixty years is better. When present, white 

 ash, whitewood and swamp white oak should be favored. The 

 first two, especially, scattered as single trees in association with 

 soft maple, make a desirable combination. In order to secure 

 a good yield of lumber in forty to sixty years, frequent thin- 

 nings must be made. 



4, 5. Cedar Swamp and White Pine. — The methods of hand- 

 ling these two types have been discussed in the white pine 

 region under the types of the same name, which should be con- 

 sulted for details as similar treatment is needed in the sprout- 

 hardwoods region. 



6. Old Field. — The object in managing this type is to 

 hasten its conversion into some more valuable type of forest. 

 This process is a natural one but so slow that it requires fifty 

 to one hundred and fifty years. No treatment to improve the 

 growth of the present trees in the type is advisable. The con- 

 version can take place in two ways; either by artificial repro- 

 duction, the existing stand being cut clear and planted, or by 

 aiding the natural seeding of the hardwoods which is slowly 

 progressing beneath the shade of the old-field species. This 

 latter can be accomplished by cutting out the inferior species 

 wherever a valuable young seedling has gotten a start, thus en- 

 couraging its rapid development. Such cutting must not be 

 made until the valuable seedlings are already started, as other- 



