Figure 14. — About 600,000 acres of forest land in New Hampshire are understocked. 



40 percent). Although only 13 percent of the white 

 pine area is poorly stocked, it seems likely that the per- 

 centage would be much higher were it not for the 

 rapid invasion of hardwoods on lands where pine has 

 been removed. The spruce-fir type is generally well 

 stocked. 



About 12 percent of the hardwood areas are poorly 

 stocked. But since most hardwoods sprout readily, 

 very little of the hardwood area is nonstocked. 



Distribution of Sawtimber 



Only about 13 percent of the commercial forest land 

 in the State is occupied by medium and hea\-y stands 

 of sawtimber. These are the stands that bear 5,000 

 or more board-feet per acre. They a\^erage 7,500 

 board-feet per acre. Light stands of sawtimber oc- 

 cupy about 26 percent of the forest land. These 

 stands bear 1,500 to 5,000 board-feet per acre. 



The heavier sawtimber stands are more prominent 

 among the softwood types. This is partly because the 



commercially acceptable diameter limits for softwood 

 sawtimber are lower than for hardwood. Also, less 

 cull is found in softwood trees. Many of the hard- 

 wood sawtimber stands are made up of oxermature 

 trees that were left after the softwoods had been 

 removed. 



In all forest types, sawtimber volume is concen- 

 trated on relatively small acreages. For example, the 

 hardwood types occupy 2.4 million acres and in 1948 

 contained 4.4 billion board-feet: but nearly one-half 

 this volume was found on one-tenth of the acreage — - 

 in the heavier sawtimber stands. 



Part of the sawtimber \olume is scattered through 

 stands of poletimber and stands of saplings and seed- 

 lings. In the same way, nearly half of the poletimber 

 \olume is scattered through sawtimber stands. Such 

 distribution pro\ides excellent opportunities for forest 

 management. Light harvest cuttings or improve- 

 ment cuttings can be made now. The voung trees left 

 to grow ensure another harvest in the not-too-distant 

 future. 



18 



Forest Resource Report No. 8, U. S. Department of Agriculture 



