10 



low flood lands in the valley can be put is tree planting. It is inter- 

 esting to note that since these plantations were examined the present 

 owner has sold from them over 3,000 posts at from 20 to 25 cents each 

 after being seasoned. These posts were cut from an area of a little 

 over an acre. 



To get the best returns from these plantations, the larger one should 

 be cut clean and allowed to sprout, while in the smaller one an improve- 

 ment cutting should be made, as indicated below. 



Improvement cutting in plantation No. 5. — The block shown in figure 

 1 (page 29) represents one end of plantation No. 5. It is 128 feet north 

 and south by 120 feet east and west, and has an area of 0.35 acre. 

 It contains 15 rows of trees, running east and west, 8 feet apart. The 

 position of each tree in the block is accurately indicated in the dia- 

 gram. The trees were planted 4 feet apart in the row, and the present 

 stand is purely the result of natural thinning. The figures give the 

 diameter at breastheight, and the class is indicated by the accompany- 

 ing letter. There are standing on the block 206 trees, averaging 

 6.9 inches in diameter, which is 43 per cent of the original stand. The 

 trees now have an average space of 75 square feet each, against 32 

 square feet at first. The stand is irregular, but the average density is 

 sufficient to produce good forest conditions. 



At this stage of the plantation it will evidently be the most profit- 

 able thing to remove the poorer trees and let the better ones grow 

 for some time. All trees which should be removed are indicated by a 

 diagonal line. The proposed cutting includes all the suppressed trees 

 and a portion of the intermediate ones, which are of inferior form 

 or which are crowding better trees. It will take out a total of 51 

 suppressed trees of the following diameter classes: 3-inch, 14; 4-inch, 

 23; 5-inch, 10; 6-inch, 4. The average diameter of these trees is 

 4.2 inches. Twenty-three intermediate trees averaging 5.9 inches 

 in diameter should be removed. They are of the following diam- 

 eter classes: 4-inch, 1; 5-inch, 9; 6-inch, 9; 7-inch, 3; 8-inGh, 1. 

 The number of trees of both classes to be removed is 74, or 39 per 

 cent of the present stand. The trees left after the cutting will have an 

 average space of 116 square feet each. 



After the cutting there will be left in the block 132 thriving, 

 well-formed intermediate and dominant trees averaging 7.9 inches 

 in diameter, which should grow rapidly for several years, after which 

 all the trees now classed as intermediate and some of the present 

 dominant ones will need to be cut. It is evident that the present 

 stand is extremely irregular owing to natural thinning, and that if 

 the block had been properly thinned about ten years ago both the 

 quantity and quality of the stand would have been greatly improved. 



[Cir. 81] 



