i8 



MATURE STANDS, 8o YEARS OLD OR OLDER, 



In old or mature stands, cuttings should be made in such 

 a way that natural reproduction will quickly follow in the open- 

 ings made throughout the stand. If possible these cuttings 

 should be made the year before a good seed-year in order to ob- 

 tain the best results and to insure the succession of the right 

 species. If the openings are made too long before a good seed- 

 year, grass and weeds soon come in and sometimes also the less 

 desirable tree species, and take complete possession of the 

 ground. 



In the final cutting or harvesting of the crop, some provision 

 should be made for the leaving of seed trees to assure the natural 

 replacement of the old stand by young pine seedlings. 



Nearly all of the white pine woodlots are at present cut clean 

 and the logs sawed by a portable mill placed at a convenient 

 point on the lot. This is the best and cheapest method and in- 

 cludes in some parts of southwestern Maine the working up of 

 the tops for fuel. Very rarely is any provision made for the 

 natural seeding of the ground cut over. This is the point of 

 vital importance for Maine, because pine land is of little value 

 for agriculture and should be made to yield crop after crop of 

 pine. Most of our waste lands here are just as good quality as 

 the forest lands of northern Germany or the southern part of 

 the Scandinavian Peninsula and they can be, and should be made 

 as productive. Although the present owner of the pine land 

 may not himself cut the second crop of timber, he will have the 

 satisfaction of knowing that the value of his land is constantly 

 increasing while if left to itself it would soon deteriorate and be- 

 come almost worthless "waste land." 



Cutting so as to get a natural replacement of the pine by young 

 pine seedlings costs the owner but little if any outlay of time or 

 money, while it makes sure another crop of trees instead of al- 

 lowing the land to become barren or to support only a scanty 

 growth of bushes and gray birch. This waste condition that is 

 so frequently seen throughout the State arises directly from the 

 lack of trees to provide natural seeding. 



There are two methods of cutting, either of which may be 

 used successfully on the woodlots of Maine. 



The Scattered Seed-tree Method: Every acre of a pine 

 woodlot has usually two or three trees on it that are short- 



