﻿WHITE PINE UNDER FOREST MANAGEMENT. 45 



weedings made at intervals of a few years will gradually remove from 

 the stand all undesirable species. Stands should be kept fairly 

 dense, however, and no trees need be removed which appear to be 

 succumbing to the competition of more desirable associates. The 

 expense of improving the composition and increasing the value of 

 mixed stands should be relatively small. 



The growth of valuable broadleaf seedlings which, like white ash, 

 sprout vigorously from the stump "may be accelerated by cutting 

 them back when the last of the original stand is finally removed. 

 The "seedling sprouts" thus produced grow very rapidly, and soon 

 attain a commanding position in the stand. Ash and black cherry 

 cast only a light shade, and the presence with the pine of a reason- 

 able number of those trees will greatly increase the value of the 

 stand, both- through their value for lumber and through their ten- 

 dency to clear the pine trunks of branches. 



OLD GROWTH. 



Only scattered remnants of the original white-pine forests remain. 

 These, however, are being logged in such a way that the complete 

 disappearance of pine from such areas is threatened. Attempts to 

 secure natural reproduction have rarely been successful, either 

 because of defects in management, or fire. 



While fire more than any other agency may play havoc with the 

 forest, yet, if rightly used in connection with lumbering, it may be 

 the means of insuring a natural growth of white pine on cut-over 

 areas. The soil on which white pine does best is good enough to 

 support many kinds of woody undergrowth, as« well as relatively 

 worthless broadleaf trees. As long as the shade from the old pines 

 is dense the undergrowth is kept down. When the pine reaches an 

 advanced age, however, the crown cover becomes thinner and the 

 woody and herbaceous undergrowth increases in abundance. When 

 the stand is finally cut nothing remains to hinder the development 

 of the brush and hardwoods. Should a fire burn over the area just 

 before a heavy seed year, however, and should the cutting follow 

 immediately after seed fall, an abundant stand of pine reproduction 

 is almost sure to come in, giving competing vegetation little room 

 in which to grow. The problem from then on consists simply of 

 protecting the young growth from fire. 



Since it is almost impossible to prevent occasional fires from 

 burning over large areas of pine slashings and destroying the 

 young reproduction upon them, it is necessary to provide some 

 means of reseeding such areas. This can be done either by leaving 

 scattered see,d trees or, better still, by removing the stand by the 

 shelterwood method. In either case cuttings should be made only 

 during years of heavy seed production. In most cases a careful 



