FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 



199 



ting to 12 inches the present yield is 19.43 standards per acre, an amount 

 sufficiently large to make sure a margin of profit in lumbering. With a 

 12-inch limit the trees of large size which have reached their maturity will 

 be removed, with a consequent benefit to the remaining growth and to the 

 forest, while a sufficient number of seed trees will be left to insure the repro- 

 duction af Spruce. 



A diameter limit of 12 inches is preferable to a smaller limit, because 

 a larger number of seed trees would be left standing and the chances for 

 the reproduction of the Spruce wovtld be proportionately increased. More- 

 over, cutting to 10 inches would remove many trees which although old 

 are still thrifty, and which, after the first cutting, will add to their merchant- 

 able contents far more rapidly than would those smaller trees which would 

 remain if a lower diameter limit were fixed. The more conservative limit 

 will also protect the watersheds better and minimize the damage to the 

 forest from lumbering. It is believed, therefore, for the several reasons 

 above stated, that 12 inches will be preferable to any other diameter limit to 

 which to cut the Spruce. It must be clearly understood, however, that this 

 diameter limit is subject to local modification at the discretion of the man 

 who marks the trees. It is not an arbitrary figure, but merely an average 

 to aid in fixing the yield and in marking the trees to be cut. It will, under 

 certain conditions, be necessary for the good of the forest to leave Spruce 

 of over 12 inches and to cut trees below 12 inches in diameter. 



Table No. 22 is constructed from Table No. 21, and shows what will 

 be the money returns of future cuts of Spruce in from 10 to 50 years, at 40, 

 50, and 60 cents per standard. It is not intended to be more than an 

 approximation; but, assuming that the present prices will obtain in the 

 future, it shows the returns to be expected. 



TABLE No. 22— ESTIMATE OF FUTURE RETURNS FROM SPRUCE STUMPAGE ON 

 MERCHANTABLE AREA AT THE END OF TEN-YEAR PERIODS. 



Cutting limit: 



diameter 



breastliigh. 



Present value. 



10 



20 



30 



40 



5° 





$155 039 

 131 315 

 105 181 



STUMPAGt 'c 40 Cents per Standard. 



Inches. 

 10 



12 



$12 841 

 14868 

 25 682 



$35 144 

 41 902 

 62 177 



$67 584 



83804 



112 189 



$108 810 

 139 899 



$163 553 



14 







