30 BULLETIN 234, U. S. DEPARTMENT OE AGRICULTURE. 



In order to determine precisely what form marking should assume 

 at each particular place, a detailed map was made by the men who 

 did the work. Besides showing the different kinds of stands, this 

 map formed a valuable record of the area cut over. The cost of 

 marking, including that of the map, averages about 8 cents per thou- 

 sand feet. It costs more to mark the trees in winter than in summer, 

 and more for the selection system than for clean-cutting. Compared 

 with the cost in stands of such species as yellow pine, that for lodge- 

 pole pine is rather high, owing to the small size of the individual 

 trees. It has been found advisable, with the present system of cut- 

 ting, to mark rather lightly at first, marking again after the first trees 

 have been cut. This causes no hardship to the operator, for the 

 second marking is done before the choppers finish a strip. It costs 

 slightly more than a single marking, but gives more satisfactory 

 results. The marking rules for the Deerlodge are based upon the 

 requirements of the Butte market. They aim not only to furnish 

 the proper amount of each kind of material needed by the timber 

 purchaser, but also to secure the maximum benefits in the way of 

 increased growth, etc., for the Forest as a whole. This does not mean, 

 of course, that each individual acre cut over is left in the best possible 

 silvicultural condition. To do that, the operator would have to cut 

 a greater proportion of small material than the market could absorb. 

 The cutting in mature stands would yield all the lagging and con- 

 verter poles needed, so that it would not be possible to secure the 

 thinning of overdense immature stands. Lagging poles, for example, 

 can be secured either by taking very badly suppressed or dead trees 

 of the proper sizes from mature or overmature stands, or by thinning 

 dense young stands. If they are taken from old stands no improve- 

 ment in the rate of growth of the remaining trees will result; there 

 will simply be a utilization of material which is either at a standstill 

 or already dead. If, however, lagging poles are taken from over- 

 dense young stands, the remaining trees will be greatly benefited, 

 the stand being changed from one in which the production of large 

 material is going on very slowly to one in which it is comparatively 

 rapid. For this reason, timber of small diameter should, so far as 

 practicable, be taken in the form of thinnings from the younger 

 stands. 



Overmature stands of lodgepole pine on the Deerlodge Forest will 

 not be cut absolutely clean. A number of trees less than 7 inches 

 in diameter will be left on each area. Groups of young growth which 

 have come up in openings will also be left, together with scattered, 

 suppressed seedlings. The live trees which remain after the cutting 

 and the sealed cones on the ground will furnish enough seed to start 

 satisfactory reproduction in the open places. There may be occa- 



