472 APPENDIX 



stand the year before our visit which was not a seed year, another part was to be so 

 treated the coming year which gave promise of a rich mast. The marking was of that 

 type where the trees which are to be left standing are marked at breast height and 

 at the base with a marking hammer. This had been done some time before, and at 

 the time of our visit the marking had been completed. Since the number and diameters 

 of the trees which were to be felled were recorded in printed directions, which served 

 as a basis for the sale, the marking and measuring had to be done very accurately. 

 Subsequent variations in the formation of the seeding stage, such as sometimes seem 

 desirable, are not permitted. 



In making the seed cutting about one-third of the volume of the stand is removed. 

 In good 200-year-old stands this amounts to 10,000 to 11,430 cubic feet per acre. The 

 cuttings following this one are yet more severe. The seed cuttings which we saw had 

 7,150 to 8,575 cubic feet per acre of standing timber. In mixed stands the first trees 

 to be marked for cutting are the beech which are overtopping the oak to a considerable 

 extent and whose reproduction is at the same time undesirable; next those oaks which 

 have poorly-formed, one-sided, faulty crowns. 



As contrasted with the light-seeded conifers especial value is placed upon uniform 

 reproduction. A dense reproduction is given preference over a uniform crop of seed. 

 Any incidental disadvantages to the natural advance growth are not considered. Obser- 

 vations made on the light requirements of young oak in most German forest regions 

 prove entirely inapplicable to the sites under consideration. It is astonishing to what 

 degree they are able, under favorable conditions, to endure a complete cover during 

 the seeding stage. Reproduction, which for a considerable time continues to thrive 

 under an almost complete cover, can be seen in stands in which no reproduction cuttings 

 have been made. Later, when such advance growth has reached a height of 3.3 feet 

 the thickly crowded young stems begin to die off. But they are stiU abundant even 

 after that, so that they are depended upon for the stocking of the stand. 



The second cutting, la coupe secondaire, is ordinarily made about 3 to 5 years after 

 the seed cutting. The young growth is given first consideration in deciding upon 

 the exact time for this. This requires as vigorous and heavy an opening up as the 

 first cutting was light. After that attention is given to distributing the income. There 

 is taken out at'this cutting about half the volume of the stand. In mixed stands, what- 

 ever beech are still present, they are the first to be removed. The last cutting, la 

 coupe definitive ("the final cutting"), is made when it would be detrimental to the 

 growth to leave the stand any longer. 



The period for natural reproduction (on such soils) is 10 years. However, when it 

 is necessary to do so, reproduction can be secured in an even shorter time. Great 

 freedom of management is allowable in this regard because of the favorable conditions 

 for growth. The causes which under other conditions indicate a delayed reproduction 

 cutting are here absent. Damage from late and early frosts is not to be feared; and 

 competition with weed reproduction, which is one of the most universal and important 

 factors considered in locating cutting operations, can be endured safely by the oak even 

 from an age of 3, 4, or 5 years and up. The second cutting is not absolutely essential; 

 it can be made earlier or later, or entirely omitted. The cuttings afforded abundant 

 evidence that the young growth shows the best development in those places where the 

 stand had been opened up quickly. In other forest regions also experience indicates 

 a hastening of the final cut. As a general proposition a gradual reduction of the pro- 

 tection afforded by the stand through a number of cuttings (in the marking of which 

 due regard is given to the development of the seedling oaks, the distribution of income, 

 and the damage caused in felling) is to be preferred to a single felling. In view of the 

 damage done in felling and bringing out the heavy logs, a longer wait than 10 years is, 



