UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



,S%JS'* < &*SU 



BULLETIN No. 285 



Contribution from the Forest Service 

 HENRY S. GRAVES, Forester 



Washington, D. C. 



PROFESSIONAL PAPER. 



October 22, 1915 



THE NORTHERN HARDWOOD FOREST: ITS COM- 

 POSITION, GROWTH, AND MANAGEMENT. 



By E. H. Frothingham, Forest Examiner. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



Introduction 1 



The northern hardwood forest 2 



Topography and climate 3 



Composition 6 



Form 16 



Growth 17 



Second growth 20 



Economic importance 27 



General utility 27 



Economic importance — Continued. 



Annual cut 28 



Present supply 31 



Value of standing-timber 31 



Management 33 



Place of northern hardwoods in forest man- 

 agement 33 



Species mentioned in this bulletin 45 



Appendix . . .' 47 



INTRODUCTION. 



The great hardwood forests of eastern North America separate 

 naturally into two divisions — northern and southern — the one rela- 

 tively simple, the other varied and rich in composition. What dis- 

 tinguishes the northern from the southern hardwood forest is the 

 presence of yellow birch, white pine, and hemlock and the absence of 

 yellow poplar, red gum, sycamore, and many other southern species. 

 The geographical extent of the northern hardwood forest, hi fact, 

 practically coincides with the range of yellow birch (fig. 1, p. 2). It 

 centers about the region in which the white pine lumbering industry 

 was developed. 



Early logging in the northern hardwood forests took chiefly the 

 white pine, little hardwood timber being felled except in clearing for 

 settlement. As time went on and demands increased, the cullms-s 

 extended to spruce, hemlock, and even the more valuable hardwoods. 

 The poorest of the species are now so valuable that stands are often 

 cut clean, and even the tops, branches, and larger undergrowth 

 utilized. There are many reasons why the consumption of hardwoods 

 may be expected to decrease, yet the qualities of these slow-growing 

 trees are so obvious and their woods are so admirably adapted to 

 such a variety of uses that the problem of perpetuating at least a 

 reasonable supply is one of public concern. 



637°— Bull. 2S5— 15 1 



