INTRODUCTION 



Douglas-fir (Psendotsuga menziesii var. glauoa (Beissn.) Franco) still reigns as 

 king of the Christmas tree industry in the northern Rockies, accounting for over 80 

 percent of the Christmas trees harvested. Montana alone supplied over 80 million 

 Christmas trees in the last three decades--practically all of them Douglas-fir (Benson 

 1967). Its harvests increased rapidly during the 1930 's and 1940' s, reaching a peak 

 in 1956 when 4.2 million trees were exported from the State (Wilson 1957); since then, 

 harvests have declined to 2 million trees annually (Benson 1965). However, Montana 

 still accounts for about 5 percent of the trees sold in the United States, but this 

 amounts to less than half of its share of the market during the 1940 's when it supplied 

 over 10 percent of the Nation's wants. 



Several factors probably account for this decline. Disease and insects, such as 

 needlecast disease (Rhabdooline pseudotsugae Syd.), needle midge insects (Ceoidomyia 

 sp.), and Cooley's gall louse (Adelges aooleyi Gill.), periodically flare up and re- 

 duce tree quality (Roe 1948). Spruce budworm (Choristoneura sp.) populations built 

 up in the 1950' s and still continue to defoliate extensive areas of Douglas-fir. All 

 of these pests reduce the number of good quality trees available for the increasingly 

 competitive Christmas tree market. Artificial Christmas trees have increased nation- 

 wide and may also be a factor involved in the decline of Montana tree sales. 



Douglas-fir trees have many inherent desirable Christmas tree qualities--soft 

 short needles, deep green color, pleasant aroma, a "natural" look, good needle reten- 

 tion after cutting, and good shipping characteristics. As a result, the demand for 

 Douglas-fir trees has always been strong and they command a good price, sometimes 

 twice as much as similar quality pine trees (Wright 1965). However, an increasing 

 number of buyers are demanding trees with crowns that are denser than crowns of trees 

 commonly found in wild stands. As a result, cultured trees are commanding an increas- 

 ing share of the market --uncultured trees from natural, wild stands dropped from 57 

 percent of the total shipments from the Pacific Northwest in 1959 to 24 percent in 1964 

 (Douglass 1965). 



Christmas tree producers in the Northern Rockies seek to promote both the area 

 and the species in the eyes of the buyer by increasing the quality of trees reaching 

 the market. To do this, they are using numerous cultural methods in their natural 

 stands. 



However, many growers are uncertain whether they are benefiting from using such 

 methods or which methods yield the greatest number of marketable trees on their site 

 conditions. This study was designed to determine if these commonly used cultural treat- 

 ments actually do increase the total production as well as the quality of Christmas 

 trees in natural Douglas-fir stands. 



CULTURAL METHODS TESTED 



Three types of cultural methods--stump culture, basal pruning, and thicket thin- 

 ning--were tested over a 10-year period starting in the late 1940 's. Five study plots 

 in western Montana near Eureka, Kalispell, Greenough, Plains, and Lolo (fig. 1) pro- 

 vided a cross section of stand and site conditions. Tree quality and size, based on 

 Hutchison's and Huey's (1949) standards for Montana,^ and growth data were collected 

 5 and 10 years after the treatments. 



^The Christmas tree grades used in this study- -premium, standard, utility, and 

 cull--are very similar to the present grades (U.S. Dep. Agr. 1962) --premium, choice, 

 standard, and cull--respectively . 



