A non-commercial thinning is one that removes very 

 small trees. This type of thinning produces no immediate 

 revenue. It is an investment in the land and it will 

 yield returns at a later date. Because overcrowding of 

 trees begins at an early age, non-commercial thinning 

 cannot be overlooked if maximum woodland returns are to 

 be expected. 



Pruning forest trees is an important means of 

 increasing the value of timber in those species for 

 which clear wood has a premium value. Pruning consists 

 of removing the limbs from young trees so that future 

 diameter growth will contain no knots. 



Pruning is a more expensive measure than thinning. 

 It costs about UO cents to prune the first log (18 feet) 

 of a tree. However, less than one dollar spent per 

 tree to prune the first log should result in a five to 

 ten dollar higher conversion value for the tree . 



The potential pruning opportunity is best when trees 

 are young. The physical gains from pruning will depend 

 on (1) how well the pruning has done, (2) the size of the 

 tree when pruned, and (3) the size of the tree when cut. 

 If a tree is pruned when it is h" in diameter and logged 

 when it is 12", the butt log will produce $0% clear wood; 



-3U- 



