Canadian Forestry Journal, April, ipi6. 



49B 



lish a new crop is in favor of natural 

 regeneration, avoiding the cash out- 

 lay necessary to start the crop by 

 artificial means, sowing or planting 

 by hand, in the end result the latter 

 often proves the cheaper. 



To use Nature as a planter re- 

 quires knowledge, judgment and 

 skill not only, but lucky weather 

 conditions of the ground for germin- 

 ation and growth of the seedlings. 

 This combination of favorable cir- 

 cumstances does not occur frequent- 

 ly. On the other hand, by growing 

 seedlings in nurseries where they 

 can be given the best care, and set- 

 ting out plants, success can be 

 forced, and especially time can be 

 saved. 



Hence, early attention should be 

 given to finding out the best mater- 

 ials and methods of planting. 



Jack Pine Problem. 



Large areas of sandy soils are 

 covered with a dense growth of pure 

 Jack pine, standing so dense that 

 each tree has little chance for de- 

 velopment, hence the individual de- 

 velopment is extremely slow. By 

 reducing the number per acre, i.e., 

 by thinning, as it is technically call- 

 ed, the remaining stand can be given 

 opportunity for better development. 



The problem is to find out at what 

 time of the life of the stand to thin 

 and how many trees to the acre 

 promise the most satisfactorv re- 

 sult. 



The most valuable use of the Jack 

 pine is for railroad ties, and it 

 would, therefore, be desirable to 

 grow tie trees. For this purpose, 

 there is no need of freedom from 

 knots, hence branchiness is no ob- 

 jection, and the increase in incre- 

 ment due to fully developed crowns 

 that can develop in open stand may 

 be secured without injuring quality. 

 That means an early and severe 

 opening up is indicated, only taking 

 care not to expose the soil too much 

 at a time. 



The Jack pine is a rapid grower 

 when young, but not persistent. 



hence this tendency should be util- 

 ized by giving it a chance to develop 

 its rapid rate early. This may, per- 

 haps, be done by reducing the num- 

 ber in the stand earlv to sav. 300 or 

 400 trees per acre or perhaps even 

 less. 



The narrow-minded manager will 

 object that the operation would not 

 pay because, perhaps, he could not 

 dispose of the material coming from 

 the thinnings profitably, but if it 

 could be shown that instead of hav- 

 ing to wait 80 to 90 years for a 5-tie 

 tree to develop, a full crop of rail- 

 road ties, 1,500 to the acre, could be 

 produced in 40 to 50 years, the pro- 

 fitableness of the operation might 

 justify its inauguration even with- 

 out the possibility of disposal of the 

 thinnings. Experiments, then, for 

 determining the most satisfactory 

 density of these stands should be 

 undertaken at once. 



The possibility of shortening the 

 time of production of sizeable ma- 

 terials by a rational thinning prac- 

 tice has even in Germany been fully 

 realized only during the last 30 

 years, and now, not only are from 25 

 to 50 and more per cent, of the final 

 harvest crop secured by thinnings, 

 without reducing the amount of the 

 harvest crop, but the rotation as far 

 as it is designed to produce sizes 

 can be reduced at last 20 years. 



Iz is desirable to institute thin- 

 ning experiments in other than the 

 Jack pine stands. 



The Muskeg Problem. 



Such experiments suggest them- 

 selves at once also for the Black 

 spruce stands on the peaty muskeg 

 areas Avhich occupy such large ex- 

 tent in the reserves, and usually 

 grow in overcrowded condition, re- 

 tarding the development to size of 

 the single individual. Whether by 

 thinning, the rate of growth can be 

 changed could be easily found out. 

 The probability, however, is that 

 lowering the water-table would 

 show better results. 



Altogether, the problem of the 



