68 COMMISSION OP CONSERVATION 



It is also undoubtedly true that the lopping of tops does bring a 

 larger percentage of this debris into contact with the ground than non' 

 lopping. In an ordinary lumbering operation, where the utilization 

 into the top is not close, this could not be seriously questioned, as the 

 difference in this respect would be obvious to the most casual observer. 

 It must, however, be borne in mind that, in the Adirondacks, a very 

 large percentage of present-day operations are for ptdp rather than for 

 Itunber, and that the material is utilized from the top down to a diameter 

 limit of four or five inches on an average. In this way, instead of the 

 tops being left in the woods below a diameter limit of eight or ten 

 inches, as in a lumbering operation, 75 per cent to 90 per cent of the 

 branches must be lopped as a necessary part of the operation in getting 

 out the pulpwood. This leaves affected by the top-lopping law in the 

 Adirondacks, aside from culls and small trees brushed out for roads and 

 skidways, only tops below an average diameter limit of four or five 

 inches. It will thus be seen that there is less necessity for a top-lopping 

 law in a pulp operation than in one for lumber only, as a result of the 

 much closer utilization in the former. The fire danger, which primarily 

 led to the enactment of the top-lopping law, was probably for the most 

 part due to slash resulting from lumbering, rather than from pulp opera- 

 tions. This may to a certain extent explain the present lack of sym- 

 pathy with the law, on the part of some of the pulp operators. 



If the tops are not lopped, the bulk of this debris can not come in 

 direct contact with the ground except in rare instances, as when the 

 top is broken down in falling, or when another tree falls across it. De- 

 cay will thus be relatively slow, since only the ends of the lower branches 

 will touch the ground, and since it takes many years for the lower 

 branches of a top to rot away sufficiently to let the main stem rest on the 

 grotmd, where decay will be facilitated. The upper and side branches 

 usually persist tmtil this process takes place, especially in the larger 

 tops, where the percentage of heartwood is high and the branches are 

 correspondingly stronger. The smaller tops resulting from a modem 

 pulp operation have a larger percentage of sapwood and will thus decay 

 more rapidly, either in the air or on the grovmd, than large tops under 

 similar conditions. 



On the other hand, where tops, are lopped, the branches must be 

 disposed of in the same way as those cut from that portion of the stem 

 which is utilized. This will usually be a combination of both scattering 

 and piling even though no extra pains are taken in this connection. 

 In the ordinary operation, the great majority of the lopped branches 

 from the utilized portion of the tree fall either directly on the ground, 

 or in piles which rest on the ground. A minority will be supported 



