NORWAY PINE IN THE LAKE STATES. 29 



NATURAL REPRODUCTION. 



The aim should always be to secure a second crop by natural 

 seeding of the ground by the trees in the original stand. This can 

 be insured in most cases by proper methods of cutting. Artificial 

 sowing or planting, because of the initial cost 1 and because of 

 low stumpage prices, should be resorted to only when natural repro- 

 duction fails. Even after reasonably successful reproduction takes 

 place there will be fail places or blanks. Where the stand is open 

 and overmature, forestation may be the only certain means of secur- 

 ing a new crop of Norway pine. Where sowing or planting is imprac- 

 ticable, the forest soil of the Lake States will, if protected from fire, 

 still restock naturally, though with some such species as aspen or 

 birch. These, while not as valuable as Norway pine, bring — in 

 Maine, for example — from $3 to $10 an acre. They also have the 

 advantage of rapid growth and ease of reproduction. 



There are several methods of cutting Norway pine to secure 

 natural reproduction, although no one has been tried out long enough 

 to establish it as superior to any other. These methods are (1) 

 shelterwood system, (2) group selection system, (3) clear cutting 

 and (4) leaving seed trees. No matter which of these systems is 

 followed, it must, in virgin stands, assume the character of a heavy 

 improvement cutting. 



Shelterwood system. — The shelterwood system of cutting — i. e., the 

 removal of the stand in two successive cuttings — has been suggested 

 as the ideal method of securing reproduction of Norway pine. 2 This 

 system, however, would probably be better adapted to white pine 

 than to Norway, because the former reproduces better under a par- 

 tial shade. If applied to Norway pine, the parent stand should be 

 removed before the seedlings suffer from suppression. If reproduc- 

 tion came in within a year after the first cutting, the parent stand 

 could safely be removed from 4 to 7 years later. Until fire protec- 

 tion is more certain it would, perhaps, be better to leave scattered 

 seed trees even after the second or final cutting, until the new crop 

 reaches the sapling or pole stage. This would have its disadvan- 

 tages, of course, on account of the additional cost of logging and 

 the unavoidable damage to the young growth in cutting. Another 

 alternative would be not to cut these "safety seed trees," but to 

 leave them for increased growth during the entire rotation. With 

 the shelterwood system it is important to keep close check on the 

 progress of reproduction after the first cutting. The owner should 

 not only guard against the suppression of the seedlings, but he should 

 also prevent the soil from becoming so covered with brush and weeds 



1 Mr. William T. Cox, State forester of Minnesota, states that planting has been carried on successfully 

 in parts of Minnesota for from $3.50 to $6 per acre. 



2 "Results of cuttings on the Minnesota National Forest under the Morris Act of 1902," Proceedings of 

 the Society of American Foresters, p. 104, Raphael Zbn. 



