12 THE WOODLOT. 



aged stands. In this country thej^ are somewhat complicated by the 

 fact that woodlands have suffered from forest fires and other causes, 

 and that in consequence there are a large number of very defective 

 trees in nearly every stand, which it is necessary to remove, even 

 when they are not interfering with other trees. Where the number 

 of such trees is large the thinning partakes more of the character of 

 a reproduction than of an improvement cutting. The gaps thus made 

 in the woods will be too large to be filled up by the spreading of the 

 neighboring crowns, and it is desirable that young growth should 

 come up to replace the old trees; this virtually constitutes a repro- 

 duction cutting. 



In making improvement cuttings care should alwaA^s be taken not to 

 expose a stand to danger of windfall. In very dense Black Birch and 

 Soft Maple woods, for example, the trees are very tall and slim, and 

 any severe thinning would certainly be followed by loss from this 

 cause. 



It is impossible to explain in a book of this character all of the individ- 

 ual problems which the woodlot owner will meet in making improvement 

 cuttings; but in the diagrams at the end of this bulletin an attempt 

 has been made to show typical cases. It is believed that, with these 

 diagrams before him, any woodsman who has good judgment concern- 

 ing the health and thrift of trees can learn by himself to make 

 improvement cuttings. 



IN IRREGULAR, UNEVEN-AGED WOODS. 



As already explained, many New England woodlots contain trees 

 varying in age, size, and condition. Such are the sparse, stragg'ling 

 woods which have come up on old fields and pastures; the Birch woods, 

 in which White Pines are coming up plentifully underneath; woods 

 which have been broken into groups of many ages through having 

 been cut into here and there; Oak and Chestnut woods with a lower 

 growth of Hemlock; neglected sprout woods, and burned woods in 

 which some of the trees haA^e died from time to time and have been 

 replaced b}^ new growth. Woods like these require improvement 

 cutting quite as much as the regular, even-aged stands. 



Improvement cuttings in irregular woods are governed by the prin- 

 ciples already described for improvement cuttings in regular stands. 

 But the very irregularity of such woods makes them present a wider 

 range of problems to the owner. They require more knowledge and 

 judgment in selecting trees for cuttings. For an illustration of the 

 general nature of these problems we may take the common case of 

 old oaks and chestnuts which have been left in isolated positions, and 

 underneath and about which a relatively even-aged stand of younger 

 trees has grown up, which are being injured by the shade of the other 

 trees. Improvement cuttings in such a place would call for the removal 

 of these old trees, as well as the thinning out of the younger ones. 



