162 NEW BRUNSWICK FORESTRY CONVENTION 



The dragging of logs by means of one horse accomplishes a double purpose. 

 It not only saves the baby growth, but at the same time, removes the moss 

 from the mineral soil, when the yarding is done in the fall of the year before 

 the snows get deep, which affords opportunity for the spruce to reseed. Fir, 

 as is well known, reseeds very rapidly by germinating in the moss, but this 

 is not true regarding spruce, which is a very much more valuable wood and 

 must have a mineral soil in which to germinate. The idea is discussed very 

 frequently in this region of limiting the size to which trees may lie taken, 

 and upon this subject I find a wide range of ideas. In some localities the 

 limit is placed at fourteen inches at the butt, while in otheVs it is twelve or 

 ten, and even no limit whatever. In my judgment, it would be wise and 

 proper to place a limit where it is mixed growth and where future crops may 

 be expected from the under-sized trees left standing ; but all must realize 

 that there are many exposed places where, if the lumber is thinned, allowing 

 the winds to enter, it is almost sure that the balance of the growth will blow 



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down. When this condition results, the effect is far worse than as though 

 ?the ground had been absolutely deforested. It is also true that there are 

 many lowlands where perhaps the extreme size that trees ever have grown, 

 vip to the present generation, may be only ten or twelve inches, or even less, 

 on the stump. In such localities, whatever wood is removed by the thin- 

 ning process is clear gain, because the growth on the balance after thinning, 

 in many instances, is much greater than the growth on the whole stand 

 before the thinning takes place. 



By following the suggestions as above outlined, much of the lumber 

 that heretofore has been worse than wasted, because when left on the ground 



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it served as fuel for forest fires, will be saved, and material advance along 

 forestry lines will be made ; and when these methods are once fully estab- 

 lished, they wiU suggest other ideas for still further improvement. Making 

 it compulsory to take the small sized trees, when once cut, serves a double 

 purpose. As the profits from small sized trees are very small, when the 

 lumberman is obliged to take them, if cut, he will be much more conserva- 

 tive, and plan to leave a much larger stand of under-sized growth than by 

 present methods. The expense involved in adopting methods outlined is 

 very small, because it simply requires the supervision of a few experienced 

 men to see that the different operators conform with the rules and regula- 

 tions. It is not fair to expect that best results will be obtained in one year, 

 because it would be a somewhat radical change, but after two or three years 

 experience there is no reason W 7 hy every operator may not have reached 

 fairly satisfactory results along these lines. Prior to any cutting having 



