20 Forest Club Annual 



SOME RESULTS OBTAINED THROUGH APPLICATION OF THE 

 QUADRAT METHOD. 



There is probably no more convincing means of emphasizing 

 the value of the quadrat method than to give briefly the story 

 revealed by sample plots on various vegetative types established 

 as already described. Obviously space will not permit of detailed 

 discussion of the findings in any one type, as it is desired to direct 

 attention more to methods of research applicable to arborescent 

 as well as herbaceous species rather than to give results in toto 

 in the case of any one project. 



Management of the Aspen T\pc. 



In various regions of the Wasatch Mountains Populus trcui- 

 ul old es occurs in practically pure stands and appears to be the 

 permanent type species. It has a high commercial value locally, 

 being used more or less extensively for excelsior, as box-wood 

 and as mine props. Reproduction, the reader will recall, is ac- 

 complished almost entirely from sprouts arising from roots and 

 coppice, much the same as in the case of species of Juglans, 

 Hicoria, Fagus, Castanea and others. The methods of study 

 employed, therefore, are more or less directly applicable to a 

 great many species or to an admixture of species. Let us con- 

 sider a few of the questions of major importance to which the 

 management of the species in question requires an intelligent 

 answer, and see how the quadrat method aids the investigator 

 in his task. 



The question of the best age at which a stand may be cut 

 is, of course, of high importance in the consideration of future 

 production. Will a stand cut at 70 years, for example, produce 

 more sprouts than a stand cut at 110 years, and, if so, will the 

 greater percentage of the sprouts composing the future stand 

 originate from the root collar or from lateral roots? From which 

 of these latter sources will there result a larger number of sprouts 

 whose vitality will be such as to tide them over the more adverse 

 conditions to which they will be subjected? 



Another question is the determination of the best season in 

 which to remove the parent stand. Will a stand cut in early 

 spring produce a more prompt and perfect reproduction than one 

 cut in midsummer or fall? In this question we encounter the 

 problem not so much as to the origin of the greatest number of 

 sprouts following depopulation, but the origin of the greatest 

 number of the most vigorous ones from which the new stand is 

 to be composed. The solving of these and similar problems has 



