THE SELECTION SYSTEM 71 



merit is really a series of even-aged groups, instead of 

 larger, even-aged stands, which means a much more 

 intensive management if each group is carefully handled 

 for its best development. A prominent European for- 

 ester, Dr. Ney, has carried out this idea still further, and 

 has merged the various groups of each age-class together 

 in the form of regular or irregular strips. 



Results of the Selection System 



The selection system results in a many-aged form of 

 forest which is well adapted to the protection of moun- 

 tain slopes, because in the management of selection forests 

 clearings are never made, and a permanent soil cover is 

 maintained. It is a form most admired from an esthetic 

 standpoint, and hence well adapted to public forests used 

 as recreation grounds. 



Comparing two forests, of which one has separate, 

 even-aged stands of different ages, and the other is 

 managed on the selection system, with trees of different 

 ages mingling together singly or in groups, it is usually 

 held that the growth of the latter is the less. In the 

 former, trees grow in even competition with each other, 

 and without cover overhead. In the selection forest the 

 growth of individual trees is retarded, because of the 

 shade either overhead or on the side during a large part 

 of the tree's life. In the selection stand there are a 

 very large number of trees, because the crowns overlap, 

 but usually this advantage is not enough to equal 

 the retarding of the growth by shading. There is no 



