﻿40 BULLETIN 13, U. S. DEPARTMENT OE AGRICULTURE. 



aggressive sprouts which have succeeded in overtaking the young 

 pines. Really valuable hardwoods, such as white ash or black cherry 

 need not, of course, be cut back with the others. 



A judicious burning of the cleared area would destroy much of the 

 competing vegetation, expose the mineral soil, and destroy the slash 

 left after logging. On the other hand, it would also destroy most of 

 the pine seed. It is not safe, therefore, to use fire except when adja- 

 cent timber insures an abundant seed supply or when artificial repro- 

 duction is contemplated. Furthermore, it involves some additional 

 expense and inevitably results in more or less serious damage to the 

 soil. Lopping of branches from the treetops after logging will cause 

 the slash to lie flat on the ground, and so present the least risk of 

 being ignited. At the same time it will give the young seedlings the 

 shade they need, and by its decay add to the moisture retaining 

 humus layer essential for the best growth of the stand. In situations 

 exposed to intense sunlight or to drying winds the protection given 

 by the lopped branches is especially beneficial. On clear-cut pine 

 lots in New England excellent reproduction springs up in old slash, 

 while open places often bear little or no young growth. Along rail- 

 road rights of way and in other places where the fire risk is great, 

 the brush should, of course, be piled or scattered and burned. In 

 such cases, however, it may be necessary to reproduce the stand by 

 artificial means. 



Clear cutting in strips. — Under this system the stand is cut in strips 

 from 100 to 150 feet wide, while strips of equal width are left to seed 

 up those cut over. When this is accomplished, the remainder of the 

 timber is removed. Manifestly, enough timber must be left to war- 

 rant the expense of a second logging, and the total area or total yield 

 of the stand must, therefore, be twice as large as when one cutting is 

 made. With average yields a minimum area of 10 or 12 acres might 

 warrant logging by this method, provided about half of the timber 

 is removed in each of the two cuttings. On level land the strips 

 should lie parallel and in a direction which will insure that the pre- 

 vailing winds will blow the seed across the cleared areas. In rough 

 country this arrangement will often have to be modified in order to 

 facilitate logging. If it becomes necessary to cut the strips parallel 

 to the prevailing wind, they should be narrower than otherwise, to 

 insure a complete seeding. In making the second cut, if there are no 

 adjacent seed-bearing trees to windward, reproduction must be 

 secured by the seed tree or the shelterwood method, or artificially. 



Where the area comprises 20 acres or more, with fairly uniform 

 conditions, the strip method may be extended to allow 3, 4, or 5 

 cuttings at fairly regular intervals during the rotation. Thus, if the 

 contemplated rotation was 60 years, one-third of the stand could be 

 removed every 20 years, or one-fourth every 15 years, or one-fifth 



