8o THE SHELTERWOOD METHOD 



logging can be so arranged as to permit shelterwood cuttings. 

 Numerous instances of this use can be found on the small 

 tracts typical of thickly settled districts. 



Many of the heavy seeded hardwoods, particularly the oak 

 family, are species which can be best managed under shelter- 

 wood. 



Species such as red spruce, eastern balsam and eastern 

 white pine,* which under certain circumstances desire partial 

 shade and protection for reproduction, frequently can be 

 successfully handled by the shelterwood method. 



For parks and estates where aesthetic effects are desired 

 along with production of timber in evenaged stands shelter- 

 wood should be chosen. 



Shelterwood extensively applied, i.e., with two cuttings, is 

 suitable for all evenaged stands where the individual trees 

 are mainly of merchantable size and condition but not over- 

 mature. Throughout the western United States, where in 

 many places conservation of soil moisture and protection 

 from sun and wind is essential for the success of natural re- 

 production, a crude form of shelterwood can often be applied. 

 The pure forests of western yellow pine found in the Black 

 Hills ^ of South Dakota furnish a good illustration. Natural 

 reproduction in this region starts so abundantly under a par- 



* An illustration can be drawn from a permanent sample plot established 

 in 1905 in a 53 year old white pine stand at Keene growing on a gravelly sand of 

 second quality. 



Two cuttings have been made, a light one (preparatory cutting) in 1900 

 followed by a heavy one (seed cutting) in 1904 which left the crowns of the 

 remaining trees a few feet apart. 1904 was a heavy seed year. At the time 

 of establishment in 1905 over 11,000 white pine seedlings per acre were pres- 

 ent nearly all from the 1904 seed crop. In 1909 seedlings up to 18 inches in 

 height to the number of 4000 per acre still persisted under the shelter of the 

 old stand. The overwood was cut clear in the winter of 1912-13. In 1915 

 there was an average stand of 1500 white pine seedlings per acre ranging up to 

 four feet in height. The stand had been successfully reproduced by the shel- 

 terwood method. 



