﻿WHITE PINE UNDER FOREST MANAGEMENT. 39 



number of trees per acre at the end of a 50 or 60 year rotation, and 

 therefore the number to be pruned, will probably be less than 200. 

 Thrifty trees, scattered evenly through the stand, should be selected 

 for pruning, and these should be favored in subsequent thinnings. 

 In fact, pruning is practically useless if unaccompanied by thinning. 

 Plantations in which pruning is to be practiced may be spaced wider 

 than otherwise, and the saving hi plant material and labor may often 

 exceed the cost of pruning, which, in addition, will bear interest for 

 a less number of years. 



FINAL CUTTING AND NATURAL REPRODUCTION. 



The mature crop should be harvested in such a way that the 

 ground will be left evenly stocked with thrifty reproduction. Since 

 pine seedlings soon demand full light, the removal of the mature 

 stand should be complete, though not necessarily in a single year. 

 There are four ways of providing the necessary seed supply for the 

 cut-over area: (1) Clear cutting the entire stand during the fall and 

 winter of a prolific seed year; (2) clear cutting in strips from 100 to 

 150 feet wide to be seeded from the side; (3) clear cutting with 

 scattered seed trees; (4) the shelter-wood method of successive 

 partial cuttings over the whole area. 



Clear cutting the whole stand. — Clear cutting the whole stand in one 

 operation is the cheapest method, since it is not necessary to return 

 later for a second cut. It is especially suitable for small areas of 

 4 or 5 acres with adjacent bodies of "seed-bearing pine. If done 

 after a heavy fall of seed, young pines will usually appear in abun- 

 dance the subsequent spring. Care must be taken for the first 5 or 

 6 years to see that valueless rapid-growing hardwood seedlings and 

 sprouts, which are usually present, do not choke out the pine (see 

 PL III, fig. 2). When young pine seedlings are thus threatened, 

 the slender hardwood saplings should be lopped back at a height of 

 from 1 to 2 feet from the ground with a sharp corn knife or brush 

 hook. This is known as a "disengagement cutting." It should be 

 done when the young stand is 6 or 8 years old, when the pines will 

 usually be from 2 to 6 feet and the hardwoods from 6 to 12 feet 

 high. If released at this age the young pines should have little 

 trouble in keeping down the hardwoods thus handicapped. 



The cost of lopping will vary with the size of ttfe saplings and the 

 efficiency and cost of labor. In a fairly dense stand a good man can 

 cover from 1 to 2 acres per day, provided the hardwoods are small 

 enough to be severed with a single, stroke of the knife. Lopping 

 should be done during the summer, if possible, since the hardwoods 

 are apt to sprout less vigorously then than after a cutting in winter 

 or early spring. Often a second cutting four or five years later will 

 be necessary. This will consist chiefly in cutting back the more 



