86 'CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION 



case thinnings are conducted with a view to- produce saw logs, and therefore dom- 

 inant trees are left standing; while in the former case the idea is to obtain, in the 

 long run, the greatest volume of merchantable material. To accomplish this it 

 seems better to remove the dominant trees, letting some light and air into the 

 younger growth, which will then attain maturity very rapidly under such condi- 

 tions. This system involves no expense for marking, and produces a large immediate 

 financial return. 



Again, what is very important, it requires no special skill on the part of the 

 woodsman to put through a successful operation. The remaining trees will be 

 large enough to seed any open places before the next cutting. Thinnings are 

 required wherever the growth over an area is so heavy that the soil, air and light 

 requirements of the individual trees are seriously interfered with. In the writer's 

 experience this occurs in spruce woods, most usually in the case of second growth 

 in old burns or abandoned farms. Yet there are many thousands of acres of 

 forest lands in New Brunswick, of what may be called old growth, of just this 

 character apparently, yet caused in part by crowded conditions, and in part by 

 unsuitable soil conditions to allow of a large sized growth. 



Green woods in the neighbourhood of burned lands and the so-called green 

 islands should be very conservatively handled, so as to afford every opportunity 

 for the burn to re-stock itself naturally. 



It is too early yet to proceed systematically to the removal of forest weeds 

 (undesirable species of trees) over large areas, but undesirable species should be 

 used in preference to spruce for all such work as skidding yards, road repairing, 

 bridge and camp building, etc. Any spruce used for these purposes should, as 

 far as possible, be taken for pulpwood, and the same is true of merchantable culls 

 or crooked or otherwise defective trees. Care should be exercised to avoid harm 

 to young growth, notably in felling trees, swamping and skidding. 



Trees should be divided into convenient lengths for handling, and skidding 

 should be done as much as possible (and it is nearly always possible) with one horse 

 to avoid cutting wide trails. 



LACK OF SKILLED LABOUR. 



No company need expect to introduce a fully developed system of conservative 

 lumbering into its woodswork all at once. The woodsmen themselves the 

 jobbers and bosses who carry on the logging operations can be brought to change 

 their methods, only by slow and patient work. They must not be overcrowded 

 with too many new ideas at the start. It is better to keep hammering away at a 

 few ideas at a time, and get these thoroughly established before inaugurating more 

 radical changes. One difficulty lies in the fact that men who have chased up 

 the cheapest logs available all their lives, fail to appreciate the value of what was 

 formerly accounted waste material. Then they discount the future very heavily, 

 and without close inspection pay little heed to regulations which look to future 

 returns Contracts should be in writing and contain all the detail possible con- 

 trolling their operations. The cruisers should keep in close touch with the logging 

 operations explaining repeatedly, helping and checking up where necessary. Ed- 

 ucative work, however, should be done on more thorough and systematic lines. A 

 short series of lectures, setting forth as concisely and simply as possible some of 

 the aims and methods of forestry might be delivered here and there through the 

 country with excellent results. The value of educative work cannot be over- 

 estimated. 



