78 PBINCIPLES OF AMERICAN FORESTRY. 



eter and ninety feet high to six per cent, in a tree forty 

 inches in diameter on the stump and one hundred feet 

 high. It will thus be seen that there is great loss from 

 cutting trees when small, especially if they are growing 

 rapidly. 



Improvement Cuttings is a term used to signify an 

 improvement of forests by cutting out inferior and crowd- 

 ing trees. This is a very important matter in getting 

 almost any forest tract into a condition where it can be 

 managed to best advantage under the group, strip, or 

 other systems. Generally it will at first consist in remov- 

 ing the dead, rotten, and mature trees and those of inferior 

 species, and so give better opportunity for the more valua- 

 ble kinds. This is a matter that calls for much good judg- 

 ment. Care should be exercised not to make openings 

 so large but what they will shortly be occupied by seed- 

 lings of valuable trees. Where large openings are madr 

 they are apt to become covered ^ith grass, which is ^ 

 great detriment to any forest growth and always indicates 

 that the cutting has been done too rapidly for best results. 



The Axe and Saw, then, as will be seen from the fore- 

 going paragraphs, furnish the most important means 

 when used judiciously in securing the best growth of tim- 

 ber in forests of this country and the proper succession 

 of growth on forest land. 



The Farm Wood-lot is a customary feature on many 

 farms in the Northeastern States. As a rule it occupies 

 land that is of very little value for any other purpose. 

 It is generally not managed at all, but left to look after 

 itself, and often it is pastured. It is expected to furnish 

 firewood, posts, and poles and an occasional stick of dimen- 

 sion stuff. Too often the best is cut and the poorest left 

 to grow. Under such rough treatment the wood-lot be- 

 comes stocked with an inferior growth that is of little 

 value except for firewood, and it does not produce as much 



