LOGGING PRACTICE IN THE LAKE STATES 39 
less desirable species cut out or the tops broken off so as to remove 
their competition with the more desirable species that may be lagging 
behind. The same is true when a scattering of white pine or white 
spruce comes up under the shade of aspen that springs up from the 
roots. To help the white pine and white spruce the aspen over- 
topping them may have to be removed. 
In dense jack-pine stands, in which the growth is slow because 
of the density of the stand and the poor soil, severe thinnings may 
have to be made so as to provide more room for the more promising 
trees. Such thinnings if made at an age of 25 to 30 years may pay 
for themselves from the products obtained from the thinnings. At 
present such thinnings would pay only in a few exceptional cases 
where the local market for firewood is especially good. The demand 
for such products will undoubtedly increase in the next 10 to 15 
years, and thinnings in jack pine, as well as in dense stands of white 
and Norway pine, will become practicable. 
Where jack-pine stands on the better soils are to be converted into 
white-pine and Norway pine stands and partial cutting of jack pine 
does not result in a perceptible increase of the better pine, under 
planting with those species may become necessary. If the remaining 
stand of jack pine is too dense for successful underplanting, the 
jack pine may have to be cut out and the entire area replanted. 
Underplanting is especially desirable where large areas of aspen and 
paper birch are to be converted into white and Norway pine stands. 
Where there is already a fair scattering of these species coming up 
under the shade of the aspen and birch, cutting off the tops of the 
aspen and birch that overshade the pine may be enough. If there is 
no natural reproduction of white pine, white spruce, and Norway 
pine, underplanting with white pine and white spruce is practicable. 
If the underplanting in fairly open stands of aspen is made when this 
species is about 25 years old, the aspen may be removed in 5 or 10 
years and may pay for the cost of its removal and even the cost of 
the underplanting. 
In cedar and black-spruce swamps, where the stands are too dense, 
thinnings will greatly improve the growth of the remaining stands, 
as will also superficial drainage for the removal of the excess water 
from the swamps. 
These measures and others will be applied more and more as forest 
practice becomes more intensive and as market and other economic 
conditions justify them. They will be necessary if the full produc- 
tive capacity of the forest soil is to be utilized and large yields of 
the desired species obtained. 
FOREST PLANTING © 
WHEN PLANTING IS NECESSARY 
In spite of the best efforts there will be failure occasionally to 
obtain natural reproduction of the desirable species, just as once in 
a while there are agricultural failures in spite of the best methods 
of cultivation. In such instances planting may be necessary. If 
within the forest tract under management bare areas are coming up 
too slowly to forest growth, planting may prove a profitable and 
6 KITTREDGE, JR., JOSEPH. FOREST PLANTING IN THE LAKE STATES. (In preparation.) 
