THE XOKTHERN HARDWOOD FOBEST. 

 Plot No. 17. — Age, 45 years; yield, 24.9 cords per acre; height of dominant trees, 55 to 60 feet. 



27 



Species. 



Propor- 

 tion 

 based on 

 volume. 



Number 

 of trees 

 per acre. 



Diameter breast- 

 high. 



Average. 



Ex- 

 tremes. 



Volume 

 per acre. 



Average 

 annual 

 growth 



per acre. 



Red maple... 

 Yellow birch. 

 Black birch . . 

 Sugar maple . 



Beech 



Fire cherry.. 

 Service berry 

 Ironwood 



Total.. 



Per cent. 



40.5 



26.9 



26.4 



4.1 



1.1 



.2 



228 

 348 

 124 



96 



116 



8 



20 



Inches. 

 5.5 

 4.0 

 5.9 

 3.0 

 2.1 

 3.8 

 2.6 

 2.3 



Inches. 

 ltolO 

 lto 9 

 2 to 9 

 lto 7 

 lto 4 

 lto 5 

 1 to 4 

 lto 3 



Cubic feet 



856 



570 



558 



86 



24 



11 



7 



4 



Cubic/eet. 



19.02 



12.67 



12.40 



1.91 



.53 



.24 



.16 



100.0 



948 



2,116 



47.02 



Colchester Township, Delaware County, N. Y.; altitude 1,400 feet; slope 20 per cent, northwest; soil 

 very scant, fresh, brown, loamy sand in interstices of loose sandstone fragments; humus thin; plot one- 

 fourth acre, in similar stand covering 1 or 2 acres; density 0.9; reproduction very scanty; a few small sugar 

 maple and birch seedlings, and an occasional hemlock sapling; most of the red maples and beeches are 

 sprouts; the birches are mostly seedlings. 



Thinned Plot. 

 [Originally similar to plot No. 15 in composition and yield.] 

 Plot No. 18. — Aga, 32 years; yield, 9.7 cords per acre; average height of dominant tree, 50 feet. 



Species. 



Propor- 

 tion 

 based on 

 volume. 



Number 



of trees 



per acre. 



Diameter breast- 

 high. 



Volume 



Average 

 annual 



Average. 



Ex- 

 tremes. 



per acre. ; growth 

 per acre. 



White ash 



Per cent. 



44.7 



43.8 



9.0 



2.5 



200 



104 



16 



8 



Inches. 

 4.2 



6.o 

 5.0 



Inches. 



2to6 



4 to 8 



6 to 7 



5 



Cubic feel. 



370 



262 



74 



21 



Cubic/eet. 

 11.56 



Red maple 



11.31 



Black cherry 



2.31 





.66 



Red maple sprout clumps, 3 years old 





560 







Total 









100.0 1 888 





827 



25.84 













Cooks Falls, Delaware County, N. Y-; altitude 1,300 feet; slope 10 per cent, south; soil very shallow, fresh, 

 sandy loam, full of rock fragments; humus scanty; plot one-eighth acre, representative of 5 or 6 acres simi- 

 larly thinned. The stand was heavily thinned 3 years before, when from 10 to 15 cords per acre of 4-foot 

 wood were removed. The material removed was chiefly yellow and black birch, sugar maple, red maple, 

 beech, and ironwood. Density 0.7; reproduction, heavy sprout reproduction of red maple, averaging 

 about 8 feet high. Numerous 1-year-old seedlings of black cherry and red maple, and unthrifty breech 

 sprouts. (See PI. XV, fig. 1.) 



ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE. 



GENERAL UTILITY.i 



In the amount and total value of their products the northern 

 hardwoods have always been overshadowed by the softwoods, par- 

 ticularly white pine. They have in the past contributed but little to 

 the purposes which require wood in large quantities, like general 

 construction, box making, and paper making, so that the hardwood- 

 lumber cut of the country has been less than a quarter of the total 

 lumber cut. On the other hand, the average value of hardwood 



*An account of the characteristics and uses of the wood of beech and various species of maple and birch 

 is given in Department of Agriculture Bulletin No. 12, "Uses of commercial woods of the United States: 

 Beech, birches, and maples," 1913. 



