56 SECOND-GROWTH HARDWOODS IN CONNECTICUT. 



CHANGING THE TYPE. 



■ While chestnut is in many respects the best species for woodlot 

 management, the danger of infection from the chestnut blight is at 

 present so great that it will often be desirable to replace it with other 

 species. In stands of pure chestnut, with their persistent sprouting 

 capacity, there is little likelihood of accomplishing this economically. 

 Even if the chestnut were effectually prevented from sprouting after 

 being cut, the expense of planting or sowing the area with other 

 species would probably be prohibitive. 



The composition of mixed stands of chestnut and other species, 

 however, can be materially altered. The best way to do this is 

 through a modification of the pole-wood sprout system, in which the 

 first cutting leaves all the chestnut, together with enough seed- 

 bearing trees of the preferred species, to insure satisfactory repro- 

 duction. By deferring the removal of the chestnut the usual dense 

 and rapid growth of chestnut sprouts will be delayed, and the seed- 

 lings and sprouts of the preferred species given a much better chance 

 to suppress them when they do appear. When the ground is stocked 

 with thrifty young growth the seed trees should be felled, but the 

 chestnut left until the young growth is of sufficient height to maintain 

 itself successfully against the rapid-growing chestnut sprouts. Seed 

 reproduction from chestnut is normally so scant that there is little 

 danger from this source. 



The fact that sprouting is less vigorous after summer cutting than 

 after winter cutting suggests another method of controlling the com- 

 position of the succeeding stand. This is to cut during the summer 

 the species which it is not desired to reproduce, reserving the desirable 

 species for whiter cutting. By this method it may be possible to 

 eliminate or greatly reduce, if necessary, the chestnut in oak-chestnut 

 stands. If the cutting is made during a good seed year for oak, the 

 openings resulting from removal of the chestnut will stock with oak 

 seedlings. Similarly, in mixed stands of white pine and hardwoods, 

 good pine reproduction may be expected if the logging is done during 

 the summer of a pine seed year, and a few of the seed-bearing pines are 

 left standing. An instance of this is illustrated in Plate IX, figure 2. 

 It is often advisable, where a change of type is desired, to leave a few 

 seed trees of the preferred species. The number per acre, depending 

 on the lightness of the seed, will vary from 2 or 3 for white pine to 10 

 or 20 for oak. These should be removed as soon as reproduction be- 

 comes well established. If sprouts start from stumps in sufficient 

 numbers to choke out the seedlings, they should be cut during the 

 summer. 



