212 STUDIES OF TREES 



under the favorable influence of more light and growing 

 space. Considerable care is required to prevent injury 

 to the young trees when the older specimens are cut and 

 hauled out of the woods. The marking of the trees to be 

 removed can best be done in summer when the dead and 

 live trees can be distinguished with ease and when the 

 requisite growing space for each tree can be judged better 

 from the density of the crowns. The cutting, however, 

 can be done most advantageously in winter. 



Immediately after cutting all diseased and infested 

 wood should be destroyed. The sound wood may be 

 utilized for various purposes. The bigger logs may be 

 sold to the local lumber dealers and the smaller material 

 may be used for firewood. The remaining brush should be 

 withdrawn from the woodlot to prevent fire during the dry 

 summer months. 



In marking trees for removal, a number of considerations 

 are to be borne in mind besides the elimination of dead, 

 diseased and suppressed trees. When the marker is work- 

 ing among crowding trees of equal height, he should save 

 those that are most likely to grow into fine specimen trees 

 and cut out all those that interfere with them. The 

 selection must also favor trees which are best adapted 

 to the local soil and climatic conditions and those which 

 will add to the beauty of the place. In this respect the 

 method of marking will be different from that used in 

 commercial forestry, where the aim is to net the greatest 

 profit from the timber. In pure forestry practice, one 

 sees no value in such species as dogwood, iron wood, june- 

 berry, sumac and sassafras, and will therefore never allow 

 those to grow up in abundance and crowd out other trees 

 of a higher market value. But on private estates and in 

 park woodlands where beauty is an important consideration, 



