426 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF 



later, even for smaller sizes, although, even with these woods, spruce, pine, etc., a 

 certain portion must be left in the forest, entailing dead work in its disposal or detri- 

 ment to the young crop. With the .hardwoods, not only is the crop of marketable 

 logs smaller and the transportation, necessarily by land, more expensive, but they 

 produce a still larger portion which can only be used as fuelwood. From the market 

 point of view, therefore, the disposal of the large amount of firewood is the impor- 

 tant problem. 



This problem at once affects the silvicultural problem of securing the most valu- 

 able young crop, if we wish to rely upon natural reproduction as supposedly the 

 cheaper method. 



The most valuable crop to be grown in the Adirondacks, — and, as for that, in 

 most locations of the Northeastern United States, — and especially for the State, are 

 the conifers. Coniferous wood represents three-quarters of the total wood consump- 

 tion of this country, and there is no reason to expect a change. Spruce and white 

 pine hold now and promise for all future to hold the most important position in the 

 Northern market, hence their reproduction should be the main object of the forester's 

 skill. Mixed with the hardwoods, as they originally were, the white pine, culled out 

 as the most easily marketable wood, has been almost eradicated in the Adirondacks, 

 because it cannot reproduce under the shade of the remaining deciduous trees and 

 spruces; the spruce, being more tolerant of shade, has persisted in producing young 

 growth, but by culling it out of the mixed forest, as it is culled in the usual lumber- 

 man's fashion, with the hardwoods left, not only is the development of the young 

 spruces retarded and stunted, but in the composition of the crop it must, by 

 necessity, take a less prominent part. 



Removal of Hardwoods. 



It is, then, the reduction and removal of the old hardwoods which alone assures 

 success in the silvicultural program of re-establishing and giving advantage to the 

 conifers. If this program be conceded as correct, then it might appear even good 

 business policy to be satisfied if only the cost of removal of the undesirable mate- 

 rial were covered by its sale. To find a market for the hardwoods, minor material 

 as well as logs, is the key to the solution of the silvicultural problem : increase in the 

 proportion of the more valuable spruce and pine. 



In hardwoods, at least in the Adirondacks, the proportion of log material is much 

 smaller than that of mere cordwood material, the latter averaging probably more 

 than double in cubic contents of the former. The cordwood market, therefore, as 

 stated before, is even more important than that for logs. 



