64 PRACTICAL FORESTRY IN THE ADIRONDACKS. 
left lying on the ground to decay. (PI. XX, fig 2.) Careful lumber- 
men use marsh hay or manure to stop the sleds on steep inclines, and 
the slashing of small Spruce for this purpose is considered wasteful 
and unnecessary. 
SPECIAL WORKING PLAN FOR THE TWO TRACTS. 
DIAMETER LIMIT FOR CUTTING SPRUCE. 
Where a company is operating its own camps in the Adirondacks, 
Spruce logs are usually cut for pulp as small as 5 inches in diameter at 
the small end, and there are almost no sound trees left standing over 6 
inches in diameter on the stump. On the other hand, where the logs 
are cut under contract, it is usually customary to use only such as 
will square 6 inches, and the timber is cut to about 8 inches on the 
stump. In the first case it is estimated that it will be fully 75 years 
before a second crop equal to the first can be obtained, and if the 
timber is cut to 8 inches, 50 years will be required. Under this system 
of cutting a third crop would require even a longer period for growth 
than the second, because most of the trees capable of bearing seed 
would have been removed, and much of the ground which might have 
come up to Spruce, had there been a sufficient number of trees to dis- 
tribute seed, would be covered with hardwoods. 
Whether it is best to restrict the cutting of Spruce in the Adirondacks 
to 10, 12, or 14 inches in diameter depends upon a variety of circum- 
stances. In certain sections it may be best to leave the majority of 
trees under 14 inches, in other sections only those under 10 inches, and 
in some few localities everything ought to be removed on account of 
the danger from windfall. In most places on the western side of the 
Adirondacks it will be safe to cut the Spruce as low as 10 inches, pro- 
vided a sufficient number of the seed trees are left standing. There are, 
on an average, 40 to 50 trees per acre between 5 and 10 inches in 
diameter, of which about 50 per cent bear a certain amount of seed. 
This number, supplemented by larger trees when necessary, is probably 
sufficient to maintain the present proportion of Spruce in the forest for 
succeeding generations. Much better results as regards reproduction 
would, however, be obtained if all trees under 12 inches in diameter 
were left standing, for then there would be a larger number of seed 
trees. Moreover, those 10 and 11 inches in diameter bear more abun- 
dantly than the smaller ones. If 12 inches were made the minimum 
limit of cutting, a second crop could be obtained in a shorter period and 
the annual growth of merchantable timber would be greater than if the 
trees were cut as small as 10 inches. From Table A, page 47, it will 
be seen that a forest which has a yield of about 3,000 board feet per 
acre will produce the same amount again 36 years after the first 
cutting, if all trees 10 inches and over in diameter are left standing. 
Y 
