WHITE PINE UNDER FOREST MANAGEMENT. 39 
number of trees per acre at the end of a 50 or 60 year rotation, and 
therefore the number to be pruned, will probably be less than 200. 
Thrifty trees, scattered evenly through the stand, should be selected 
for pruning, and these should be favored in subsequent thinnings. 
In fact, pruning is practically useless if unaccompanied by thinning. 
Plantations in which pruning is to be practiced may be spaced wider 
than otherwise, and the saving in plant material and labor may often 
exceed the cost of pruning, which, in addition, will bear interest for 
a less number of years. 
PINAL CUTTING AND NATURAL REPRODUCTION. 
The mature crop should be harvested in such a way that the 
ground will be left evenly stocked with thrifty reproduction. Since 
pine seedlings soon demand full light, the removal of the mature 
stand should be complete, though not necessarily in a single year. 
There are four ways of providing the necessary seed supply for the 
cut-over area: (1) Clear cutting the entire stand during the fall and 
winter of a prolific seed year; (2) clear cutting in strips from 100 to 
150 feet wide to be seeded from the side; (3) clear cutting with 
scattered seed trees; (4) the shelter-wood method of successive 
partial cuttings over the whole area. 
Clear cutting the whole stand. — Clear cutting the whole stand in one 
operation is the cheapest method, since it is not necessary to return 
later for a second cut. It is especially suitable for small areas of 
4 or 5 acres with adjacent bodies of seed-bearing pine. If done 
after a heavy fall of seed, young pines will usually appear in abun- 
dance the subsequent spring. Care must be taken for the first 5 or 
6 years to se*e that valueless rapid-growing hardwood seedlings and 
sprouts, which are usually present, do not choke out the pine (see 
PL III, fig. 2). When young pine seedlings are thus threatened, 
the slender hardwood saplings should be lopped back at a height of 
from 1 to 2 feet from the ground with a sharp corn knife or brush 
hook. This is known as a " disengagement cutting. 5 ' It should be 
done when the young stand is 6 or 8 years old, when the pines will 
usually be from 2 to 6 feet and the hardwoods from 6 to 12 feet 
high. If released at this age the young pines should have little 
trouble in keeping down the hardwoods thus handicapped. 
The cost of lopping will vary with the size of the saplings and the 
efficiency and cost of labor. In a fairly dense stand a good man can 
cover from 1 to 2 acres per day, provided the hardwoods are small 
enough to be severed with a single stroke of the knife. Lopping 
should be done during the summer, if possible, since the hardwoods 
are apt to sprout less vigorously then than after a cutting in winter 
or early spring. Often a second cutting four or five years later will 
be necessary. This will consist chiefly in cutting back the more 
