NEW BRUNSWICK FORESTRY CONVENTION 105 



generally left in place and the loss thus arising amounts to one tree per 

 acre, or 250 standards to the 1,000 acres, which, at 40 cents per standard, 

 would amount to $100.00. 



ROAD BUILT OF SPRUCE 



Where a road has to be cut through the forest, the necessary levelling 

 is accomplished by cutting spruce trees and laying them to form a corduroy 

 road. The loss resulting from this practice is considerable and variable, and 

 cannot well be estimated, but in many places, as in certain regions of New 

 Hampshire, compulsion has been brought to bear upon the contractor to make 

 Jiimuse hard wood instead of the more valuable spruce, and these efforts have 

 met with entire success. 



> 

 SPRUCE CUT FOR BRUSH TO CHECK SLEDS ox DECLINES 



Wherever it becomes necessary, on steep inclines, to check the speed of 

 the descending sleds heavily loaded with timber, it is not uncommon to fell 

 spruce for the exclusive purpose of securing the brush which the top affords. 

 This is spread over the roadway along which the sled must pass. In the 

 vicinity of such places the spruce is commonly all cut away, but the trunks 

 are always left where felled, to the operation of decay. 



In approaching the important question of reforestation, as applic- 

 able to lands from which the growth has been more or less com- 

 pletely removed, there are three primary factors to be taken into con- 

 sideration : 



1. The possible acceleration of growth as the result of thin- 



ning. 



2. The average rate of growth of a tree in diameter. 



3. The possible yield of a forest in stated periods after the first 



cut has been made. 



Upon a satisfactory answer to these questions, the entire subject of refor- 

 estation as a process justified upon economic grounds, to be executed by the 

 individual, or the corporation, may be said to depend, and I shall therefore 

 endeavor, briefly, to indicate the results which have been obtained in this 

 direction, and point out the inferences which they seem to justify. And 

 here again, I shall avail myself of the very important data obtained 



