WHITE PINE UNDER EOBEST MANAGEMENT. 43 
which are making rapid height growth, occupies the ground. The 
chief disadvantages of this method are the expense involved in logging, 
the damage to young growth caused by the removal of the larger 
trees, and the fact that, with the amount of light necessary for the 
pine seedlings, many tolerant hardwoods are likely to spring up and 
suppress the former. For white pine, therefore, this method should 
be modified so that only two cuttings, the seed and the final,, are made. 
The first is made during an abundant seed year, and consists of a very 
heavy thinning which reduces the crown density fully one-half, en- 
tailing the removal of more than one-half the trees. Logging opera- 
tions should disturb the leaf litter and expose the mineral soil for the 
germination of the pine seed. The trees left should be such of the 
dominant ones as give best assurance of windfirmness and seed-pro- 
ducing capacity. Good reproduction can be expected under these 
conditions. To insure the uniform stocking of the area, however, 
shelter trees are left standing until after at least the next seed year. 
All of them are then removed, when the mineral soil is again exposed 
and a chance given for new reproduction to take the place of that de- 
stroyed in logging. If logging is done in winter, however, when many 
of the seedlings are covered with snow, few of them will be damaged. 
The slash left after each cutting should be lopped and scattered 
on the ground, or piled in the larger openings and burned. A dis- 
engagement cutting will probably be necessary a few years after the 
removal of the older trees. 
This method has the advantage over that of leaving seed trees in 
that the entire stand is utilized, no trees being sacrificed to secure 
reproduction. It preserves a moist seed bed and insures the seed- 
lings protection against too much light during their first year and 
against frost and drying winds up to the time when they are able 
to withstand them. By fostering a rank growth of weeds, under- 
brush, and hardwood seedlings, however, it offers an element of 
danger to the young pine (see PL V, fig. 1). Logging is more ex- 
pensive than in clear cutting, with or without seed trees, because the 
ground is gone over twice and scattered trees must be taken in each 
operation. 
Mixed Stands. 
composition and improvement. 
White pine grows in such a variety of mixtures, both with hard- 
woods and with other conifers, that it is impossible to outline definite 
rules for management that will fit all cases. In general, however, 
mixtures may be classed as desirable and undesirable. A desirable 
mixture is one in which the pine is well distributed among and over- 
tops other valuable or more tolerant species. It was in such mix- 
tures that the white pine of the original forests reached its best 
development. On suitable soils valuable hardwoods may be en- 
