26 TREES OF MASSACHUSETTS. 
ten such is 23 years. Others speak less definitely, from 15 to 
20, 17 to 30, 20 to 25, 20 to 30, 20 to 33, 20 to 40, 25 to 30, 25 
to 35, 30 to 35, for woods of miscellaneous growth. ‘The aver- 
age deduced from fourteen such statements, is, from 21 to 28. 
The general average from allis a little over 24 years. ‘These 
statements are probably as definite as the case admits. Differ- 
ences of situation, exposure, soil, and kind of trees, would of 
necessity lead to them. For particular trees, the answers are 
more precise. ‘I‘he white or grey birch 1s of most rapid growth, 
and springs at once from the stump. This may be profitably 
cut in from 10 to 20 years; a growth of maple, ash and birch, 
black, yellow and white, in 20 to 25; oaks in from 20 to 33. 
Where the trees are principally oak, white, black and scarlet, 
the forest may be cut clean three times in acentury. Cedar 
swainps, which grow from seed, cannot be profitably cut in less 
than 40 years. Pitch pies, which also spring only from seed, 
are very slow at first, and require from 40 to 60 years to be in 
a condition to be felled. In many places, the expcriment has 
been tried of burning over the surface, ploughing, and sowing 
with rye. When the trees have been of hard wood, this prac- 
tice 1s strongly condemned. In the case of the pitch pine, it is 
recommended. ‘The seedling pines make much more rapid 
progress when the surface has been softened by cultivation. 
An intelhgent gentleman of great experience, A. M. Ide, Esq., 
of South Attleborough, gives me a statement of some important 
facts bearing upon the subject. ‘‘ Having been, for thirty years 
past. more or less engaged in buying woodland and cutting it 
off, | wish to state that I know, from careful observation, that 
an acre of good land, where there 1s a mixture of the several 
kinds of oak and walnut, (hickory,) cut off while young and 
thrifty, will produce, during the first 20 or 25 years, a cord of 
wood yearly.” ‘I believe that most kinds of hard wood are 
worth twenty or thirty per cent. more, for fuel, at the age of 25 
years than at 75.” ‘This important fact is confirmed by many 
of the wood-growers in the Old Colony, and in other parts where 
the woods have been repeatedly cut down. It is remarkable 
that all the facts and testimony lead to the same conclusion. 
The trees best for fuel shoot again most readily and vigorously 
